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.
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.
Looking at how a biblical text is written can help us focus on the right things when we're reading it. That's what we're looking at in Nehemiah and 2 Timothy this week: how the message is proclaimed and why it matters. On the other hand there's also Amos, who takes a prophetic flamethrower to his people in a scathing indictment of a religious piety devoid of social justice.
Don't forget, you can now register for the Living Faith Study Day 2019 on EventBrite! It's a gathering for those exploring their relationship to faith, the Bible, and community. There'll be four thought-provoking topics packaged in short talks, with ample time for questions and discussion. I'll be giving one of those talks, "Christian Ethics and Social Justice: The Gospel of the Human Jesus". It's going to be a great day for building faith, and for taking the Bible seriously - both in its ancient context, and in the present day.
There's an extended Joshua segment today, as we face up to the different versions of the conquest of Canaan presented throughout Joshua and Judges. To help us start framing the right questions to ask of the Bible - like, "Why there are multiple accounts in the first place?" - we go looking for help from archaeology.
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.
What happened at Sinai? This question faces us throughout the Deuteronomy narrative, and this week is our introduction to the Deuteronomist's retelling of the Exodus tradition. In John's gospel we're facing another perspective on John's Christology and theology - what are we to make of the Comforter passage?
What was the route of the exodus journey, and why does it matter? Can we really learn profound lessons about the Bible by reading a list of place names? (Spoiler alert: we can.) We move away from pithy one-versers in Proverbs, and take on the Jesus/cannibalism sayings in John.
The Leviticus segment for the next two weekly episodes takes us into the Holiness Code, a text that is quite distinct from the rest of the Priestly material in Torah. In this minicast we take a look at what sets it apart, and how that helps us to read these chapters.
It was supposed to be a few minutes of source criticism; it turned into a minicast; now it's a full special episode! After the minicast on the composition of Torah a couple of weeks ago, I'm testing the source critical approach on the stories of Rebekah, Isaac, and Ishmael: how does the approach work in practice, and does it really add anything useful to our Bible reading toolkit?
Happy new first full podcast of the new year! We dive right in with the iconic Babel story, which reaches forwards and backwards across the narrative of early Genesis, and seems written to resonate particularly with exile-era Israel. Add to that a few psalms, and Jesus as Lord and servant in Matthew's gospel, and we're off!
As we prepare to get stuck into Torah in 2019, here's the first 4QS minicast! It's a brief introduction to source critical theories of composition, particularly focusing on the modern form of the Documentary Hypothesis. I also give a quick intro to other composition theories, and discuss the important question: why does it matter?
