OnScript

This is a re-release of episode #12 with Jon D. Levenson on his book 'The Love of God' Episode: Jon Levenson joins OnScript to discuss his recent book  The Love of God  (Princeton, 2016). Jon and Matt L. discuss how the concept of ‘love’ differed in ancient Israel, whether Song of Songs can/should be read allegorically, and how understandings of love developed and changed throughout history.

Episode: It's time for part 2 of our journey into biblical poetry, this time with the inimitable Elaine T. James. Matt L. talks with Elaine about the poetry of Song, the relationship between humans and the land, the absence of God from the book, conceptions of bodily beauty in the book & ... well ... you'll just have to listen! Our conversation springs from her book  Landscapes of the Song of Song...

Episode: Hey all, we've got a very special announcement. Listen in ... and also enjoy a mix of interviews from the annual Society of Biblical Literature geek fest in Boston. The OnScript team also sits down for its AGM & an important conversation on bats. Stay tuned for more good episodes coming your way soon! Guests: We've got a mix this week, starting with ... J Richard Middleton, Professor of B...

Episode: Matt L & Dru try to find the Lost world of the Israelite Conquest with John Walton, of Wheaton College, and they give it their best. This discussion dips into the various provocative claims of John's book, but also manages to cover important items like John's response to sombreroed penguins, good novels, and counting one's steps to ensure the closest route between two points. If you've ev...

Episode: Biblical poetry can be tough going. It doesn't rhyme, doesn't have meter, and it comes from an ancient culture. But it makes up some 27% of the Bible! In this first of two episodes on biblical poetry, Matt L. talks with J. Blake Couey, who is a reliable guide through the challenging waters of ancient Hebrew poetry, and who brings listeners his infectious appreciation for the prophetic poe...

Episode: It is sometimes claimed that Jesus became God for the earliest Christians on the basis of Roman models of human divinization or apotheosis. Did the earliest Christians really promote Jesus to divinity in such a fashion? What's the evidence? And was the Roman model itself a ready-made pattern, or was it contested too? Seneca the Younger composed a biting political satire called the Pumpkin...

Episode: If Jesus said, “pluck out your eye if it causes you to sin” shouldn’t all Christian men be cyclopsed? If he literally said, “Do not swear an oath,” can Christians no longer testify in court? The steep ethical teaching of the Sermon on the Mount forces more questions than it answers. Dr. Jonathan T. Pennington of Southern Seminary talks with Dru Johnson about how we should read the Sermon...

Episode: With its messianic associations, pouring or smearing oil on the head is both foundational and divisive in Judaism and Christianity. Language about oil is—well, sorry—slippery. This is true in ancient contexts as well as modern. For instance, Trypho, a second-century Jew, is reported to have said: “The messiah, if he has indeed come and is somewhere, is incognito; he does not even know him...

Episode: When people say, “Well, that’s only a metaphor,” what exactly do they mean? A new book on metaphors in the NT takes on the literal versus metaphorical dichotomy, claiming that it is a false dichotomy. Metaphors in Paul, are not merely illustrative, but creatively evoke true meaning in a way that so-called "literal" cannot. Considering that Paul’s use of the term “righteousness” (δικαιωσυν...

Episode: It's a wide-ranging coffee-shop style conversation featuring Thomas Jay Oord and host Matthew W. Bates. Truly, since Tom was at his favorite local coffee shop in Idaho and Matt was drinking copious quantities of coffee at his desk in Illinois. What topics were brewed up? Chaos, the problem of evil, the limits of scientific materialism, the nature of the miraculous--and how all of this cou...

Episode: Grab a PBR (or craft beer) & get ready for a new perspective as Matt Lynch grills Gar Anderson (Professor of NT at Nashotah House Theological Seminary in Wisconsin) on his new book Paul’s New Perspective (IVP) . The basic argument of the book is that Paul’s old perspective is actually what is commonly referred to today as the “New Perspective on Paul” (NPP), and Paul’s new perspective is...

Episode: What causes our sin? At some point, a first century Jewish teacher stumbles out of the Galilee saying things like, “If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire” (Matthew 18:9). Unbeknownst to many modern Christians, the New Testament's teaching on sin's causes and soluti...

Episode: Grab a beer & lawn chair as Matt Lynch & Dru Johnson discuss your questions at this sizzlin' summer theology barbecue. Matt & Dru talk about Dru's imaginary friend(s), signing books, Christians and the law, David's failures, God's holiness, the ideas we think need to die, and other stuff. We also have an unplanned, and altogether impressive, call-in with Chris Tilling. Chris was grilling...

Episode: J Richard Middleton discusses biblical eschatology, creation, heaven, hell, Elijah's escape of death, theology in Jamaica, whether our pets go to heaven, and much more in The Boston Tea Party , Cheltenham, during Richard's tour through the UK. Guest: J. Richard Middleton is Professor of Biblical Worldview and Exegesis at Northeastern Seminary, on the campus of Roberts Wesleyan College in...

Episode: Matt & Matt talk violence in the OT with Greg Boyd, who has devoted the last 10 years to researching and writing about this vexed topic. Our discussion ranges from the relationship between the cross and the conquest, Greg's theory of 'literary crucifixes' in the OT, how to relate the two Testaments, and more from Greg's monumental new book The Crucifixion of the Warrior God: Interpreting...

Episode: The prospect of stoning a rebellious son or adulterer, or turning over an unorthodox brother or sister for execution is revolting. But how should a Jewish or Christian believer respond to such ideas when found in their own scripture? While resisting easy answers, Caryn Reeder offers a nuanced approach to books like Deuteronomy, where many of the harshest laws appear. Deuteronomy is the ep...

Episode: Evangelicals, grab your Noah's ark replicas. Atheists, seize your Darwinian fish symbols. It's the mother of all culture wars. Except Dennis Venema and Scot McKnight, who both hold traditional evangelical Christian convictions, suggest that the war is needless. It is okay to acknowledge the Jesus fish and to affirm that humans and fish descend from common ancestors. How did Dennis, an evo...

Episode: The story of German Christian anti-Semitism of the Nazi era is still being told. Susannah Heschel's book  The Aryan Jesus  brings to light the archives of the 'Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Religious Life,' and tells the story of how German churches found common cause with Nazi's over their shared anti-Semitic commitments. In this episode we discuss...

Episode:What role has the Hebrew Bible played in shaping our modern views on ethics? Many Christians have casually believed that the radical ethics of the New Testament provide the moral foundation of the West. Remarkably, Christians are often unaware of the deep roots of Western morality in Hebrew Bible. Many are often surprised to find out that Jesus did not invent the ideal of loving our neighb...

Episode: In this episode, Matt & Matt reflect back on the last year of OnScript-ing, answer some listener Q&A, and ... make a big announcement. Yes, we have some exciting news to share with you! Matt L. also quizzes Matt B. about his latest book  Salvation By Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Baker, 2017). Guests: OnScript co-hosts Matt Bates and Matt Lyn...

Episode: Guest Brent Strawn unfurls his provocative thesis that  The Old Testament is Dying with OnScript host Matt Lynch. Matt and Brent discuss the malaise of ignorance about, hostility toward, and success-driven re-packaging of, the Old Testament in recent and ancient history. Along the way Brent laughs a lot, sheds a few tears (I didn't verify that), and even sounds a few hopeful notes ... but...

  Episode: What's the verdict? Kevin J. Vanhoozer presents the case and renders a judgment. It is easy to charge the Protestant Reformation with the crime of fracturing the unity of the church. Others have added skepticism and secularization to the list of misdeeds. In Biblical Authority After Babel , Vanhoozer explores these common criticisms of the Protestant Reformation--and finds them wanting....

Episode: Matt L. and J. Daniel Kirk discuss the humanity of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels, and the idea that Jesus' humanity meant much more than the fact that he could eat, sleep, and become exhausted. Daniel argues that an unintended consequence of the studies that proffer a divine Christology is an underdeveloped human Christology. Matt and Daniel discuss 'idealized human figures' in early Juda...

Episode: Matt L. discusses with Dru Johnson his claim that the Bible offers an epistemology, one where humans know by ritual. They discuss key influences on Dru's work, the importance of the body for knowing, whether Dru burns incense in his office, and more. This is Johnson's third book on biblical epistemology (and it's really good!), so you won't want to miss his reflections on this topic. Gues...

Episode: Fred Sanders and OnScript host Matthew Bates talk Trinitarian theology. Fred's exciting book, The Triune God , is the launching point for the discussion. Discover why it is imperative that we correctly order our Trinitarian doctrine (and why Matt shouldn't be a narcissist), how Rahner's Rule was formulated, and the appropriate boundaries of mystery in Trinitarian discourse. Fred and Matt...