When the gospel texts converge and diverge in their retellings of the Jesus story, it can be tempting to gloss over what makes each gospel text unique. Nathan Kitchen takes us through some examples to help us read the details better. As well as nerding out on synoptic studies, we also had a great conversation about sacred time and space, and what psalms fatigue means for our (lack of) appreciation for the Psalter.
I got started on this week's episode... and I didn't finish it. But the Leviticus segment, sparked by a note in the Jewish Study Bible, was too interesting to leave in the archives. So this minicast is a look at the tum'ah - the uncleanness - of Leviticus 12-15, from a different perspective than the one usually taken in both Jewish and Christian commentary. The JPS Torah commentary volume on Leviticus also helps to place the text's concept of contagion within its ancient Near Eastern origin.
None of this is to say that the contagious miasma posited by some modern Jewish scholars is (or was) actually a phenomenon in the real world: only that this may have been the original concept behind these tum'ah texts. Re-framed with the language of ritual impurity rather than physical aura, the texts remain relevant even as Jewish thought moves on to re-read re-interpret them: because it's the theology of the text that gives it enduring significance.
What do Christians do with Leviticus? That's what Kameron Mazurek and I are talking about this week, and it mostly involves paying closer attention to Jewish interpretation and tradition. Jesus lived near the end of an era in Jewish history, and it's that time period that we're looking to for wisdom.
In December 2019, I took part in the Living Faith day, in Dorridge in the UK Midlands. This is my paper from that day, on the subject of "Christian Ethics and Social Justice". It went really well, and I shared my script and slides here while we were waiting for the videos to be produced. You can now see the full talk on YouTube
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 is super-late because I've been ill, but here it is anyway. There's plenty of material in this week's readings to make everybody uncomfortable, and that's without the stuff that I cut for length. Sometimes the Bible does that.
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.
