OnScript

Episode: Matt speaks with Brent Strawn about the person and legacy of Walter Brueggemann and their co-authored book on Isaiah (Unwavering Faithfulness).  Guest: Brent Strawn is D. Moody Smith Distinguished Professor of Old Testament and Law at Duke Divinity and Duke University. He’s the author of numerous books, including  Unwavering Faithfulness: Pivotal Moments in the Book of Isaiah (WJK Press),...

Episode: In this on-location episode, Chris McKinny interviews Steven Notley about identifying and exploring the ancient city of Bethsaida/Julias. This is a crossover episode with OnScript and the new In Context university from Lipscomb University where Chris McKinny teaches. Guest: Dr. R. Steven Notley is Dean of the School of Religious Studies at Pillar College.  He was Distinguished Professor o...

Episode: Excavations have begun at the New Testament site of Lystra! In this episode, Jason Borges talks with Prof. Ilker Mimiroglu, the lead Turkish archaeologist at Lystra, about the city's history and excavations. Learn more on Instagram @lystraexcavations. This episode is cross-listed from our Biblical World podcast. Guest: Prof. Ilker Mimiroglu, head of Necmettin Erbakan University's Departme...

Episode: In this episode, Kyle chats with Libby Backfish and Cynthia Shafer-Elliott about bringing archaeology and theology into conversation—the topic of their recent book,  Grounded Theology in the Hebrew Bible: Exploring the Cultural Context that formed Ancient Israel.  The conversation starts with the ancient Israelite household (and how it was essential to ancient thinking and theology), stay...

Episode: Amy, Jules, and Matt get together to talk about their current work on Gregory of Nyssa (Amy), global theology (Jules), and Isaiah (Matt). Matt sounds like he's in a can, and this was recorded months ago, but it was a fun get-together conversation among some of the OnScript hosts. Hosts:  Amy Brown Hughes, Jules Martinez-Olivieri, and Matt Lynch Amy's new book is called Gregory of Nyssa on...

Episode: Jonathan Lyonhart joins the podcast to discuss his fictional-philosophical exploration of the life of Moses. Somehow Moses manages to climb each major branch of the philosophical tree in this creative and thoughtful engagement with Exodus. Among other things, we also learn of Jonathan's practical jokes gone wrong. Guest: Jonathan D. Lyonhart (PhD, Cambridge) is an Associate Professor of R...

Episode: In this episode co-host Amy Brown Hughes nerds out with fellow historical theologian J. Warren Smith about what it would be like if a bunch of early Christian theologians hung out for dinner. Smith's new book  Early Christian Theology: A History offers us an entrance into the story of the development of early Christian theology that is engaging, winsome, and informative.  Guest: J. Warren...

Episode: Is redemption the Bible's "big story"? Is salvation THE goal of Scripture's narrative? Are "story" and "narrative" even helpful ways of conceptualizing the whole Bible? Cornell would answer (a qualified) NEIN! to each question. Listen in to hear why, and about alternative communion model he proposes. Guest: Dr. Collin Cornell is Assistant Professor of Bible and Mission at Fuller Theologic...

Episode: In this second part of a two-part episode, Kevin Vanhoozer is interviewed by Matthew Bates, along with his Northern Seminary students, as part of a "live" classroom event. Over the duration of an academic quarter, Bates and his Intro to Biblical Interpretation students read and discussed Vanhoozer's award-winning book, Mere Christian Hermeneutics . Now they have questions! Vanhoozer bring...

Episode: In this first part of a two-part episode, Kevin Vanhoozer is interviewed by Matthew Bates, along with his Northern Seminary students, as part of a "live" classroom event. Over the duration of an academic quarter, Bates and his Intro to Biblical Interpretation students read and discussed Vanhoozer's award-winning book,  Mere Christian Hermeneutics . Now they have questions! Vanhoozer bring...

Episode: We all understand that statues were considered divine in the ancient Near East. But what about a god's sword, or concepts about a god? Could they also be divine? In this episode, Jennifer Singletary helps understand the conditions in which objects and attributes were divinized (if that's the right word) alongside the gods themselves and how this might help us understand biblical divinizat...

Episode: In this episode, "follow the money" takes on a whole new (and old) significance. Co-host Amy Hughes talks with Malcolm Foley about his book  The Anti-Greed Gospel: Why The Love of Money is the Root of Racism and How the Church Can Create A New Way Forward . The conversation begins with why greed is the root of race and racism instead of hate or ignorance and ends with how the Kingdom of G...

Episode: Gird your emotional loins! Dr. Sheblazm takes us on a journey inward, to those painful places that few want to go, in order to retrieve what no one thought existed, to bring about what no one thought possible. Guest: Professor Dr. Irvine Sheblazm, Ph. D, Ph. D., is a theologian and a scientist with degrees from prominent institutions. He runs the “Center for Excellence” in the Lake Distri...

Episode: Imagine the writers of Scripture around a table discussing, sometimes arguing about, and ultimately seeking deeper wisdom about God, humanity, and the world. In his recent book, Voices of the Sages , Brian Toews helps us grasp the conversation between sages in the "Writings," the third major division of the Hebrew Bible. And then imagine a conversation about that conversation ... Guest: D...

Episode: Matt L. talks with Carmen about the third in her "Bearing" > "Being" > "Becoming" series with IVP academic. Her subtitle, "Why the Church Still Matters" explains the (ambitious) goal of the book ... to make a case for the ongoing importance of the church in an age of disillusionment. The book offers a rich theology of God's family, and the interview covers everything from flawed cha...

Episode: In this third conversation with Marty Folsom, we turn to the Doctrine of Creation in Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics for Everyone, Volume 3 . Having explored Barth’s theological method and doctrine of God in the earlier episodes, this instalment brings us to what many readers find the most surprising and pastorally rich section of the Church Dogmatics. Marty introduces us to Barth’s distinc...

Episode: Ingrid Faro talks with Matt Bates about overlooked, less-known, vilified, and misunderstood women in the Old Testament. Like ... Jehosheba (did you know about her?). She argues that the story of women in the Old Testament--and in particular their role at key junctures in that story--is good for men and women.  Guest: Dr. Ingrid Faro is Professor of Old Testament and Coordinator of the MA...

Episode: Mark Scarlata's new book  Wine, Soil, and Salvation in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament  (CUP, 2025) explores the intricate dance between earth and sustenance. Scarlata argues that wine becomes the unique vessel that contains the culmination of God's blessings on Israel and Israel's responsibilities to the earth, each other, and neighbors. The terroir of wine acts as a kind of metaphor...

Episode: Did Jesus offer a radical reworking of the law? Did he subvert the Jewish law of his day? Was he exposing legalism, nationalism, or ritualism in favor of compassion? Paul Sloan thinks not. But ... you might be thinking, what about all those critiques and arguments between Jesus and religious leaders of his time? Sloan's book Jesus and the Law of Moses offers a rich and thoughtful reflecti...

Episode: Dru suggests that biblical law is something to think with and not just about. Matt and Dru discuss this idea and its many implications that were articulated in Dru's recent book  Understanding Biblical Law: Skills for Thinking With and Through Torah (Baker, 2025). And as a throw-back to an old OnScript interview practice, Dru and Matt cold-call another guest. Guest: Dr. Dru Johnson is the...

Episode: In this episode Chris Tilling interviews Cor Bennema about his new book,  Imitation in Early Christianity: Mimesis and Religious-Ethical Formation (Eerdmans, 2023). What does it mean to say that early Christians imitated God, Christ, Paul, and even one another? Cor takes us on a tour through the world of Jewish and Greco-Roman antiquity, then shows how imitation became a central—if often...

Episode: With a biblical poem that shifts imagery (Ps 23), and another (Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays") that provides perspective, Brent Strawn takes us into an "uber-famous" biblical poem-this "nightingale of the Psalms" (Henry Ward Beecher)-that needs to be heard again. Themes of life, death, and asylum redound. Enjoy this last episode of Season 1 of our podcast In Parallel . Poem Attrib...

Episode: At a live event at Wycliffe Hall, Erin once again sat down with Matthew Novenson to discuss his latest monograph:  Paul and Judaism at the End of History  (Cambridge University Press, 2024). Matt and Erin discuss Paul's particular brand of eschatological Judaism, which is manifested in Paul's peculiar ethnic map, his view of the Torah, and his understanding of the resurrection, among othe...

Episode: For our sixth live event at Nashotah House, Wisconsin, Matt sat down with his teacher and friend, Gary Schnittjer, to discuss his fascinating new co-authored book, How To Study the Bible's Use of the Bible (Zondervan). We discuss the ways the OT was already interpreting itself (long before the NT), the "already and not yet" dynamics in the OT, whether we should interpret Scripture like th...

Episode: Biblical World host Chris McKinny has been researching the Ark of the Covenant for years now. He discusses the hunt for the ark, its ancient Egyptian predecessors, its biblical significance, and more. Enjoy this conversation about one of the most significant yet elusive artifacts from ancient Israel. Guest: Chris McKinny is Associate Professor of Biblical Archaeology at Lipscomb Universit...