The Biblical Mind

The Jewish and Christian faiths exist because of the events that happened in a particular place and time. To understand biblical texts—including issues of justice and loving strangers and enemies—we should learn something about the places where the events they describe occurred. Danielle Parish , pastor of Spark Church in Palo Alto, CA, who leads study tours in Israel, discusses the importance of...

One of the most countercultural sentences comes from the Heidelberg Catechism: our only comfort in life and death is that "I am not my own, but but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ." The loudest voices in the contemporary West seem to tell us that we belong to ourselves, that we author our own destinies and create our own identities. This is not the wa...

Where you are situated in time and space affects how you interpret the world. This cultural, geographical, and historical consciousness likewise forms a hermeneutical lens whereby we read and understand Scripture. Professor Liz Mburu, a Kenyan theologian and author of African Hermeneutics , joins us this week on the podcast to discuss how she views Scripture through an African hermeneutical lens....

In the latter half of 20th century, the evangelical community's developing attitudes toward crime and punishment overlapped with the increasingly punitive approach of the American criminal justice system. Faith leaders such as Billy Graham and James Dobson cast crime as an issue of the criminal's heart, deemphasizing its enmeshment with broader social structures and ills. On this episode, Aaron Gr...

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been afflicted by war and violence. The people are not always ready for reconciliation, because they are busy seeking justice. Dr. Jacob Onyumbe Wenyi, a professor and a Roman Catholic priest of the diocese of Tshumbe (D.R. Congo), discusses his book on Nahum, " Piles of Slain, Heaps of Corpses ." The violence in the book of Nahum connects directly to the e...

Reconciliation in practice involves local communities acknowledging the wrongs of their particular pasts and figuring out how to move forward— what the responsibilities are and how to live together in peace. In the area of racial reconciliation, we focus a lot on justice and the responsibilities of the offenders. But biblical reconciliation also requires the injured party to show mercy and eventua...

The nation of Israel was born into a world that was already culturally old and established. When the Torah appeared, the ancient Near East contained several law collections. CHT fellow Dr. Jerry Unterman explains that unlike other law codes of the ANE, the Torah is not a law book. Rather, its unique framework reveals it to be a treaty—a covenant between God and His people, embedded in a narrative....

People don't ask for or grant forgiveness in the Bible—at least, not in the way modern people are familiar with. Scripture is less focused on whether someone feels sorry or magnanimous than on practical reconciliation and restoration. Repeatedly in biblical narratives, characters demonstrate this reconciliation with a kiss. Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman discusses how forgiveness as we understand it is a...

Discussing her book African American Readings of Paul: Reception, Resistance, and Transformation , Dr. Lisa Bowens identifies how people twisted the Scriptures written by the Apostle Paul to promote slavery and justify it as a Christian practice. But at the same time, Dr. Bowens explains, Black Americans were interpreting Paul's writings for themselves, and throughout history, they still appealed...

When it comes to preaching, less is more. If you really understand a complex issue, you should be able to write it down on a postcard. In light of this, how does one avoid dumbing down their preaching while still clearly communicating a complex message? Dru and CHT fellow Dr. Jonathan Pennington discuss his book  Small Preaching: 25 Little Things You Can Do Now to Make You a Better Preacher , how...

It's that time of year again.  It's the time when those who hate eggnog, pretty lights, cheery music, presents, and joy itself crawl out of their dark, barren hovels, bent on ruining Christmas. Well, we aren't those people. Let us have our winter festival, says Dru. Let us have our (modest) presents, says Celina. Let us have our feasting, says Amy. But we all ask, what does the winter festival of...

There is a deep division between work and worship in the West. However, the worship of the ancient Israelites integrated the sanctuary into the streets. What are ways that our work today (even sending emails) can be celebrated and offered to God as a form of worship? With reference to his book Work and Worship , Matthew Kaemingk explains how the tasks we do every single day can be integrated into...

Pleas for justice in the book of Psalms—the imprecatory psalms—can make some Christians uncomfortable. They're often passed over in the psalter during worship. How do petitions for justice map onto the mission of Jesus? How are imprecatory prayers compatible with commands to love our neighbors? Though the Psalms contain many cries for vengeance, they also continually call readers back to a standar...

"Blackness is a part of American culture." Too often American Christianity is equated with white Christianity, while expressions of Black Christianity are overlooked. Continuing our series " By the Oppressed, to the Oppressed: How the Marginalized Church Reads Scripture ," Esau McCaulley , author of  Reading While Black , explains how American Black history has given Black Christians an important...

A couple of weeks ago, The Biblical Mind published an article by Michael LeFebvre titled Jesus Restored the Original Purpose of the Law in the New Testament . Some readers expressed concern that the article endorsed supersessionist views. Not intending to suggest supersessionism, Michael revised some language in the article to address the concerns. It was retitled Jesus' Concept of the Law in the...

Does the Torah mention wealth redistribution? What is the purpose of leaving the corners of your field unharvested? What economic system does the Torah advocate, and how would one live in accordance with it? Join us this week as Michael Eisenberg discusses these questions and more, covered his latest book, The Tree of Life and Prosperity .  Show notes: 0:26 Is the Torah capitalist or socialist? Or...

New CHT fellow Dr. Vince Bantu of Fuller Theological Seminary is back on the podcast, this time to discuss the how historically marginalized and oppressed parts of the church understand Scripture better than the dominant church does—from the early church to the African church to the Black church in the U.S. today. Dr. Bantu and Dru explore the interpretive advantages that the lack of political and...

Starting 10/22: "By the Oppressed to the Oppressed: How the Marginalized Church Reads the Bible," featuring Vince Bantu, Esau McCaulley, Lisa Bowens, and Anthony Bradley Upcoming Series on repentance and reconciliation, featuring Rachael and Jacob Denhollander, and others TBD

The Pillar Seminary was founded to address persistent problems in churches and their leadership. Its students not only receive a Scripture-first education—as opposed to theology-first—but also quickly begin practicing what they're taught. The purpose of studying the biblical texts is to be transformed by them. True "head knowledge" of Scripture involves "heart knowledge"; by practicing biblical pr...

Many Christians know that Jesus was a Jew, but they don't necessarily think much about this fact or grasp its significance. In this episode, Jen Rosner discusses the importance of recognizing that Jesus embraced his Jewish identity in his lifetime, and the implications of his Judaism for the church and for our understanding of the New Testament today.  Show notes: 0:27 Encountering the New Testame...

Left Behind. This Present Darkness. Love Come Softly. The culture of faith in the West has been greatly shaped by Christian fiction. Many books that are popular in Christian circles plant flags of doctrines within their pages, providing something for Christians to buy into.  Join us this week as Daniel Silliman (author of Reading Evangelicals: How Christian Fiction Shaped a Culture and a Faith and...

Somewhere along the line, we have inherited many "mistruths" about Scripture, as Dr. Brent Strawn calls them. These are conceptions that aren't completely false, but are misleading—and sometimes pose a greater threat to truth than complete falsehoods do. He discusses his latest book, Lies My Preacher Told Me , and how misconceptions have seeped their way into the church, affecting their views of S...

In seminary, Dr. Cyndi Parker of Narrative of Place became frustrated with the lack of focus on understanding the lived experience of ancient people in the Bible. She decided to go to Israel for a full year to understand the physical context of the biblical world —to experience the seasons, to see when the grass grows, to feel the hot Middle Eastern sun, to set foot on the soil. Sitting and readin...

Why is the Book of Psalms important? How does reading the psalms as poetry help us to understand them? In this conversation, Dru Johnson talks with Chip Hardy and Matt Mullins about psalm 93 and the importance of the structure, metaphors, and wording of the psalms . They warn against reducing the poetry to a fluffy expression of an internal state (if that were all poetry is, it wouldn't be worth r...

Many Christians have extolled the “Proverbs 31 woman,” but that proverb must be read in the context of the others, or we might miss what it is really about. Dr. Dominick Hernandez says people cannot skip the poetic sections of the Bible and still claim to value Scripture. In this conversation, Dr. Hernandez and Dru Johnson dive into the book of Proverbs. They discuss the structure of the book, why...