Scripture quotations taken from the Revised English Bible, copyright © Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press 1989. All rights reserved.

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Home » Archive for the month 2018

heavens and earth (2018/07/15)

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This week we introduce ourselves to Jeremiah, the Reverse Moses, and an epic, ironic, mythological indictment of Israelite idolatry. Jeremiah leaks into the Matthew reading this week as Jesus is compared to the prophet in a Matthean addition to the original account from Mark.

humanity (2018/07/08)

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This week we're looking for the first time at what I expect will be a recurring theme: sanitised and euphemised stories about David. There's also an interesting dialogue in Isaiah as the prophet sets up a knockout. And in Matthew, Jesus preaches a high view of humanity.

rebirth and reiteration: out-takes

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Another 'anchor point' of the Revelation narrative is the release of destructive forces from an abyss by an agent of God bearing a key. Here's one possible way of reading this bit of narrative in the context of the wider apocalyptic story of the book.

rebirth and reiteration (2018/06/24)

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The Bible Companion drops an enormous chunk of Revelation on us this week, almost as though it just wants the Apocalypse to be over. So, there's a double-length NT segment this week as we get stuck in to the narrative and its dual contexts: the Hebrew Bible propets, and the letters to seven early Christian churches that open the book.

severed (2018/06/17)

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No punches pulled this week, folks. The Judges story narrates a story of truly inhuman violence that pushes the tribes into a civil war, and we are forced to confront the age-old abomination of man's inhumanity to woman. Thankfully, Deutero-Isaiah and the John pull us back from the brink to show us the better way.

Taste and See (1 Peter)

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For this week's bonus episode is an introduction to 1 Peter that I recorded last year. We look at the social backdrop of the letter, and how its quintessentially Christian concepts of society and association arise from it. Its counter-cultural message of social equalisation, humility, and servant leadership still challenge us today.

kings and empires (2018/06/10)

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We're into the first of two weeks in Judges, with its downwards-spiraling narrative and mixed bag of characters. Jerub-baal (aka Gideon) is up this week, and we watch him swing from hesitance to not-a-king-but-actually-kind-of-kingly. In the prophets we're bridging the contexts of First and Second Isaiah, and in the New Testament we're back in James 5 with sociological and ecclesiological challenges.

faithfulness and re-creation (2018/06/03)

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Well, I hope you've enjoyed our time in Joshua these three weeks: this week we've reached the end of the dividing of the Land. The book still has surprises and challenges for us, as we explore the role of God's people in fulfilling God's promises. In Isaiah we have two chapters about re-creation, and in Hebrews we're looking at how the writers quotes Psalm 40.

peace and war (2018/05/27)

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We're still in the weeds of the conquest narrative in Joshua, and we're hitting that hard this week. Allow scripture to challenge and inspire you, and we'll be fine. In Isaiah we have a glorious, hopeful vision of the work of God in the world, as one who comes to bless all peoples. Finally, in 2 Timothy we take a wider view of the letter and try to restrain our natural affinity for reading scripture as an instruction manual.

history and commentary (2018/05/20)

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In the first of two weeks tackling one of the most difficult issues in the Hebrew Bible, we dive into the Canaanite genocide narratives in Joshua. Beginning with Jericho, we look at the historical and ideological background of the text and try to figure out where God is in this narrative. Isaiah 10 features Jerusalem unbowed, unbroken, and triumphant over Assyria; and in 2 Thessalonians there's a text critical issue to examine.

knowing and being known (2018/05/13)

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I've just about talked myself into doing a weekly Torah slot, because this is the last week in Torah on the Bible Companion for this year! This week, the end of Deuteronomy is our springboard for considering how we as Christians approach the Law of Moses and the wider Hebrew Bible. We're also starting the rest of our year with the Hebrew prophets (up first: Isaiah until July) and finishing Acts all over again (with a literary twist, this time around).

pilgrimage and belonging: out-takes

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I got a bit carried away with Torah this week, and tried to cram in an overview of all the stuff I would have spent the last four months talking about if I hadn't been off the air. They're both about the arrangement of the written material in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, and how an awareness of that can help us to read Torah more carefully and faithfully.

pilgrimage and belonging (2018/04/29)

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We're back! Our first weekly show in four months brings us back just in time to do Deuteronomy and catch the end of the wisdom literature in Ecclesiastes. In the New Testament slot we're trying a new feature to avoid repeating a segment from last October: looking behind the story in the text to consider the story of the text. In this extended show, we'll examine three text critical issues in Acts 7.

Introduction To New Testament Textual Criticism

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I'm excited to venture into New Testament textual criticism on the podcast, in a new format for the New Testament segment of the weekly show. To introduce the new segment, here's a special episode with a brief overview of the discipline.

Changing The Script (Esther 1-2)

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After an extended break due to illness, four cubits and a span will be returning with new episodes in April!

To tide you over, this special episode is a nice follow-up to last November's episode Justice with Addie Whitcomb, where we looked at Esther 1. It picks up on some threads that we didn't have time to explore, and moves along into chapter 2 to look at Mordecai's part in Esther's story. I even have a go at putting Esther in its Jewish literary context by comparing it with other biblical and extra-biblical texts that put female perspective and power front and centre.
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