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Alden Thompson

Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Walla Walla University

Alden Thompson is currently professor of Biblical Studies at Walla Walla University. He has been a faculty member at WWC since 1970. From 1972 to 1974, he was on college-sponsored doctoral study leave at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. In 1980-81 he was an exchange teacher at Marienhöhe Seminary in Darmstadt, Germany. After serving as WWC academic vice president for four years (1986-90), he returned to full-time teaching in the School of Theology. He retired in 2009, but continued to teach part time until he fully retired on June 30, 2020.

The Sacred in the Common

  • Lesson 7 for the week of February 7 to February 14
https://wwugoodword.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2004-02-14.mp3
Relevant Passages John 6 The Sacred in the Common. John 6 links together three events in the life of Jesus: the feeding of he 5000, walking on water, and his “bread of life” sermon at...

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Alden Thompson

Putting the Past Behind You

  • Lesson 6 for the week of January 31 to February 7
https://wwugoodword.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2004-02-07.mp3
Relevant Passages John 5 Putting the Past Behind You. Today’s lesson takes us to the story of the man whom Jesus healed at the Pool of Bethesda, a man who had been sick for 38...

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Alden Thompson

The Struggle to Be Real

  • Lesson 5 for the week of January 24 to January 31
https://wwugoodword.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2004-01-31.mp3
Relevant Passages John 4:43-54 The Struggle to Be Real. The “living parable” which is the focus of today’s lesson involves Jesus’ return “home” to Galilee and an encounter with a royal official whose boy was...

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Alden Thompson

Grace Is All-Inclusive

  • Lesson 4 for the week of January 17 to January 24
https://wwugoodword.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2004-01-24.mp3
Relevant Passages John 2:23-4:42 Grace Is All-Inclusive. The two major incidents studied in last week’s lesson contrasted Jesus’ leisurely experience at a Jewish wedding with the intensity of his anger in cleansing the temple. This...

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Alden Thompson

Something Better

  • Lesson 3 for the week of January 10 to January 17
https://wwugoodword.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2004-01-17.mp3
Relevant Passages John 2:1-22 Something Better. After the highly abstract prologue, John continues his Gospel with two down-to-earth stories in chapter 2 Jesus’ week-long stay at a wedding and his cleansing of the temple. Both...

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Alden Thompson

Jesus Is the Best

  • Lesson 2 for the week of January 3 to January 10
https://wwugoodword.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2004-01-10.mp3
Relevant Passages John 1:1-18 Jesus Is the Best. The Gospel of John opens with a magnificent cluster of verses establishing both Jesus’ full divinity and his full humanity. In addition, Jesus is compared with two...

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Alden Thompson

The Unique Purpose of John’s Gospel

  • Lesson 1 for the week of December 27 to January 3
https://wwugoodword.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2004-01-03.mp3
Relevant Biblical Passages Luke 1:1-4; John 15:1-8; 17:20; 20:24-31; 21:20-25 The Unique Purpose of John’s Gospel. Our studies for this quarter take us to the fourth Gospel, often called the “beloved” Gospel because the author...

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Alden Thompson

A Picture of God

  • Lesson 13 for the week of December 20 to December 27
https://wwugoodword.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2004-12-27.mp3
Background Considerations: Ways of accessing God’s portrait in the story of Jonah. A straight-forward hearing or reading of Jonah conveys a picture of God as repentant and forgiving, as characterized by the vocabulary of grace...

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Alden Thompson

The Sign of the Prophet Jonah

  • Lesson 12 for the week of December 13 to December 20
https://wwugoodword.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2004-12-20.mp3
Background Considerations: Jonah outside the book of Jonah. The contribution of the story of Jonah to Old Testament thought and practice must have been a real surprise, given its attention to the wider world of...

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Alden Thompson

The Last Word

  • Lesson 11 for the week of December 6 to December 13
https://wwugoodword.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2004-12-13.mp3
Background Considerations: Sense of an ending. Does the story of Jonah end? Is there what some literary analysts call “a sense of an ending” to this biblical book? Do we have closure on the plot?...

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Alden Thompson

A Wind, a Worm, and a Plant

  • Lesson 10 for the week of November 29 to December 6
https://wwugoodword.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2004-12-06.mp3
Background Considerations: Literary considerations. Again, we reflect on the literary features which not only give the story of Jonah richness and character, but teach us theologically as well. What about irony? Any of that in...

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Alden Thompson

Conversing With God

  • Lesson 9 for the week of November 22 to November 29
https://wwugoodword.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2004-11-29.mp3
Background Considerations: The section of Jonah that we consider here is perhaps the most important to the point of the story. It speaks of a prophet whose success angered him precisely because of divine grace...

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Alden Thompson

Jonah, the Amazing Evangelist

  • Lesson 8 for the week of November 15 to November 22
https://wwugoodword.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2004-11-22.mp3
Background Considerations: The nature of prophecy. The popular definition of prophecy is almost always tied to predictions of the future. But the future is only part, in fact a small part, of the prophets’ arena...

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Alden Thompson

Second Chances

  • Lesson 7 for the week of November 8 to November 15
https://wwugoodword.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2004-11-15.mp3
Background Considerations: Structure of the book of Jonah. As we enter chapter 3, something becomes apparent upon a close reading of the story: chapters 1 and 3 begin the same way (the command to Jonah...

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Alden Thompson
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That We May Know Him

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What Inspiration Is

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For more information about GOOD WORD contact the School of Theology at Walla Walla University by phone (509-527-2194), email (email us) or regular mail (Walla Walla University, 204 S. College Ave., College Place WA 99324).
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