The Biblical Mind

Steve Prince knew he wanted to be an artist since he was five years old. Art can be a powerful way to worship, and being a maker of things allows us to reflect God the Creator. For Prince, being a Christian and an artist go hand and hand—he sees his artwork as a calling. In this episode, Dru Johnson talks to Steve about his life as a Christian artist , the influence of his Catholic upbringing in N...

Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm returns to continue discussing the fascinating and fruitful ways that Jews approach studying Scripture. Dr. Lamm's Orthodox Jewish upbringing taught him to embrace the view of the Hebrew Bible as layered, complex, and challenging—for, the very idea of God suggests that He has complex and layered ideas to communicate with His creation. Dr. Lamm encourages Christians to be similar...

When you hear the word "pilgrim," your first thought might be of the pilgrims who arrived in Plymouth Harbor in 1620, or of English medieval pilgrims. You might be less familiar with the ancient Jewish pilgrims who journeyed to the temple in Jerusalem. CHT fellow Dr. Jeffrey P. Garcia joins Dr. Dru Johnson to discuss this overlooked practice that fills in some historical context of the first-centu...

Due to a technical issue, Dru's audio is of lower quality than usual. There are many factors that hinder people from learning biblical Hebrew––cost, lack of resources, and the belief that Hebrew is only for the “spiritually elite.” But Beth and Andrew Case believe learning Hebrew is for everyone and want to make learning the language the new normal in Christian discipleship. The Cases have tools t...

David Moore believes the cultural moment in the United States has never before displayed such a dangerous combination of ignorance and arrogance as it does now. Most people have limited knowledge about few things, but the glut of information makes them feel like they are an expert on many issues. Most people get their news primarily from social media and their favorite news channel. We live in ech...

The moment you dip your toe into the world of serious biblical interpretation, you might feel overwhelmed by all the literary techniques, historical-cultural context, linguistic nuances, and extra-Biblical references that could affect how you understand Scripture. The average person might begin to doubt whether they can ever just open their Bible and start reading. CHT researcher Amy Gabriel talks...

What is the biblical relationship between Christians and the Jewish community? Dr. Gerry McDermott wades through the tough topics of supersessionism, dispensationalism, and Zionism. Throughout history, beliefs about God's attitude toward the Jewish community have shaped Christians' treatment of Jewish people. Hence, Christian positions on supersessionism and dispensationalism are not merely academ...

Note: This episode was originally published February 25, 2020. ICYMI, please enjoy this lecture hosted by the Center for Hebraic Thought on February 15, 2020.  The Christian tradition describes God as “perfect”—but how the Bible describes this perfection might surprise us. When we think of God, we often start by asking, “What is God?” This is the approach of the Westminster Catechism as well as ma...

"Moral injury" has been associated with groups like wounded soldiers and sexually abused women, but it can also affect those who have simply learned about something incredibly painful or violent, whether it be in the media or in Scripture. Dr. Jill Firth has a PhD in the psalms of lament and a particular interest in suffering. In this episode, Dru Johnson and Dr. Firth discuss the issue of moral i...

We all need God’s word, and we need it desperately––this is why Jesse and Leah Roberts embarked on EveryPsalm. Jesse and Leah are parents, pastors, and musicians living in Kansas City, MO. They began their EveryPsalm project on January 1, 2020, after years of talking about the idea. They explain, “ EveryPsalm is a three-year long musical journey consisting of simple, meditative songs based on the...

Heather Cate reads " Recovering the Political Teachings of the Hebrew Bible ," by Joshua Berman, published March 3, 2020.

Christians who feel uneasy with tricky texts in Scripture have something to learn from Jewish Bible readers. Jews actually seek out challenges in the Bible, because they believe these are God’s invitation to develop and use wisdom.   In this episode, Dru Johnson interviews Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm, a “ historian of religion who is interested in the role of religion, religious values, and tradition in sh...

Is the church gradually abandoning the Old Testament? Surveys of Americans from all walks of life and church backgrounds show that we have grown less and less literate in the Hebrew Scriptures. This causes a host of problems, such as mistaken preconceptions of the text or belief that the Old Testament is outdated or unnecessary. Especially in a culture so far removed from the original world of the...

Why do we think of some music as sacred music and some music as secular? Is it merely a lyrical or a historical distinction, or is there something about the style and genre that makes certain songs feel "spiritual"? Is the music of the ancient Hebrews more or less sacred than that of a modern Catholic mass or an evangelical megachurch? We are likely to distinguish between these different eras and...

Many of us approach Scripture with an "intellectualist" lens: we're seeking clear ideas with straightforward moral application for our lives. Often we do so unconsciously, because of our church background or the way we were first introduced to the Bible. This way of reading Scripture, while not entirely bad, disassociates us from the text. We don't read novels or poems like this, so why would we a...

Sometimes it's good to take a step back—so this week, the Center for Hebraic Thought staff switched things up. Instead of interviewing a scholar, Dru Johnson (CHT director), Amy Gabriel (CHT research associate), and Celina Durgin (CHT administrative director) chatted about the evolving mission and audience of the CHT, Bible literacy and Bible fluency , good and bad Bible-reading habits—in short, a...

The Bible is full of references to other texts, containing a diverse range of cultural forces and ideas. The biblical authors engaged with Egyptian mythology, Babylonian theology, and Hellenistic philosophy with a discerning eye for what to keep, what to reject, and what to turn on its head. In this episode, Dr. Joseph Dodson, Associate Professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary, joins Dru John...

Critics of Christianity, and even believers, point to the instances of slavery in the Old Testament as evidence of a cruel or careless God. However, a view of the ancient systems of slavery and the Torah's treatment of the oppressed reveals a very different picture. Far from being opposed to human dignity, the Hebrew Bible strives to humanize everyone, including those at the margins of society. In...

What does it mean to say that Jesus is the vine? Does He have roots or produce grapes? What is the connection between giving birth and fighting a war? Why does the Bible refer to God's nose as being long? In this episode, Dr. Beth Stovell talks to Dr. Dru Johnson about the complex world of metaphor in the biblical texts. Rather than "just the facts," metaphors give us a way of thinking that involv...

There is a view of biblical inerrancy that is actually particular to some American Christians—and peculiar to outsiders. Dr. Michael Bird examines this and other peculiarities of some American Christianity in light of Scripture and other traditions. In this episode, Dru Johnson interviews Dr. Bird about American theology and the different meanings of biblical inerrancy. They discuss the distinctio...

Heather Cate reads " Neither Work nor Leisure Provides 'Our Daily Bread,' " by Dru Johnson, published July 16, 2020.

The foundations of our modern liberal democracies are found in the ideas of Enlightenment-era political philosophers such as Hobbes, Locke, Hume, and Rousseau. At first glance, these philosophers seem like they couldn't be more different from the premodern Hebrews. What does social contract theory and the idea of the consent of the governed have to do with the story of God and His people in the To...

Can we use Mountain Dew and Doritos for communion, or must the elements be bread and wine? Communion is one of the most prominent Christian rituals . Although celebrated differently by different traditions, from sharing loaves of bread and a common cup to distributing oyster crackers and little plastic cups of grape juice, the practice is meant to remind us of and transform us into the body of Chr...

American Christians often make two key mistakes when approaching the idea of sabbath in the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament . First, we assume that the command has been made irrelevant by the New Covenant. Second, we "spiritualize" the idea of sabbath and downplay the importance of formative rituals for our bodies, not just our souls. However, a closer investigation of sabbath in Scripture reveals it...

How should we read the book of Exodus? Dr. Leon R. Kass discusses his answer to this question from his recent book, Founding God's Nation: Reading Exodus . Dr. Kass is the Professor Emeritus in the Committee on Social Thought and the College at the University of Chicago, and formerly served as the Chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics under George W. Bush. He has published a host of wor...