The plague narrative is our jumping-off point for the epic that is Exodus, as our friend Nat Ritmeyer returns to 4QS to talk about how (and how not) to read it. We spend our time discussing how to let Exodus be Exodus, and not bring its towering theology crashing back down to a mundane level. There's just some much story to explore.
We're back with a summer hiatus special episode! I was delighted to invite my friend Jo Kitchen to re-record with me a segment on the second half of Deuteronomy 22. We look at how ancient patriarchal norms framed laws on sex and marriage, and how we can read scripture seriously today when we find in its pages the same attitudes that drive modern-day rape culture.
Special thanks to Viv Brown, Rebekah Lewis, and our other sisters in Christ who kindly volunteered their time to review drafts and notes of the material for this episode. Their feedback and input has been invaluable - thank you!
This week's episode opens up a conversation about the ethical implications of divinely-mandated violence and genocide in the conquest narrative in Joshua, and the real world danger of a superficial, white European reading of the text.
In the Joshua 3-4 segment there are some crucial issues to consider that help to frame this pivotal episode in early Israelite narrative history: entering the land of Canaan. The Isaiah passage on the other hand is pivotal to Christians, but the whole story in that passage is central to the meaning of the most quotable verse. In the New Testament, we're reading some second temple Jewish apocalyptic in order to better appreciate the early Christian apocalypticism of 1 Thessalonians.
Finally in this week's extra-long episode, I read some extracts from Inspired, a 2018 book by Christian writer (and fellow millennial) Rachel Held Evans. Rachel tragically and unexpectedly died on May 4th. She has rebuilt her Christian faith in the most public ways for over ten years - and even though, as a Christadelphian, I've had not really had any of the fundamental doctrinal issues to deconstruct, her story of re-framing and re-focusing her faith and Bible reading has resonated with me in so many ways. May we all be so valiant in challenging ourselves and our Christian culture to be more truly biblical and Jesus-like.
This week on the podcast we're returning to the seventh-year remission laws from last month, and the fascinating character (and book) of Koheleth from last year. We're also facing up to one of the rare "texts of terror" in the New Testament: the execution of Ananias and Sapphira.
Challenging texts this week, and three important conversations to hold. In Numbers, God is planning genocide again - and we have to ask ourselves whether or not God changes his mind, and how we read scriptures describing God's words and actions. The tables are turned on the reader in the New Testament, as we are forced to turn those same questions of ourselves, at the trial of Jesus.
In the Proverbs text, we take some time to consider ways to read - and not to read - the sayings in that book, and we take some examples. For texts from ancient times and places, all three this week are still sharp and extremely relevant. They speak directly to present-day moral, philosophical, and political issues.
Does God delight in the massacre of his people's enemies? In Chronicles this week, he enables the slaughter of towns and tents full of civilians. If that weren't challenging enough: when God will live with his people in the future Kingdom, will it look like ancient Near Eastern cultic worship? And just to cap it all off, Jesus likes you to believe some stuff, but what he really expects you to do is get out there and do something about it.
