Our Take: A New Book from One of Our Brainwavers

Posted 02.15.10

One of our Sermon Brainwave podcasters, Matt Skinner, has just published a book that preachers may find helpful.

Yes, he is capable of more than engaging in playful banter with his podcasting partners around each week's lectionary readings. He also writes about the Bible from time to time. This new book is titled The Trial Narratives: Conflict, Power, and Identity in the New Testament, by Matthew L. Skinner.

It is an exploration of the four Gospels' accounts of Jesus' trial and the trials of various believers in the Acts of the Apostles. It focuses on the literary presentations of these trials and the contributions they make to the theological and political messages of the Gospels and Acts. Skinner explains that the trial narratives are, among other things, stories about conflict and the exercise of power in human society. Because of that, they are stories that helped Christians understand who they were in a world of competing claims about truth, a world in which they aroused suspicion among those who held power over society. Indeed, these trial narratives still shape our Christian identity today.

Gail R. O'Day, who teaches preaching and New Testament at Candler School of Theology at Emory University, says that the book "makes a compelling case for trial stories as the key to the intersection of story, theology, and politics in the NT.  By including the trial narratives of Acts, as well as the Gospel stories of Jesus' trial, Skinner demonstrates the pivotal role played by stories of judgment and political power in the formation of Christian identity."

Skinner likes to write about the cultural contexts reflected in the New Testament and how the Bible shapes the theological imaginations of people who read it. That is a fancy way of saying that he thinks careful attention to biblical texts has the potential to foster faithful living among Christians as we make sense of who we are in the world. In the New Testament's trial narratives, the Bible speaks words of caution and hope to us as people called to bear witness to Christ within that world. Take a look at The Trial Narratives as you get ready to preach during Lent and to tell the rich and meaningful story of Jesus' Passion once again during Holy Week.