OnScript

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...

Episode: Matt L. sits down with his former professor Iain Provan to discuss  Discovering Genesis: Content, Interpretation, Reception . Their conversation ranges from fly fishing and salmon forests to the wilds of Genesis. They discuss the imperfection of Eden and the history of interpreting Genesis. Iain also finesses his way through an OT-focused 'speed round' (tbh - Iain always keeps his answers...

Episode: What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem? Much, actually. Oliver Crisp brings his considerable philosophical acumen to bear on Scripture and tradition in order to break new ground in christology. Oliver and OnScript host Matthew Bates think through classical topics in christology, including the eternal generation of the Son and the Trinity, the incarnation, image of God, and the hyposta...

Episode: For this episode, Matt Lynch sits down with long time friend Mary Hom to talk about her longstanding interest in the Assyrians and the Old Testament. Matt asks questions about her work on Jonah and Girard, Isaiah and the Assyrians, and Hezekiah’s tunnel (or not). They also discuss the intersection between Mary’s interest in the Old Testament and her ministry work in anti-trafficking. Gues...

Episode:  Christians like to speak about letting Scripture interpret Scripture, but beyond using an easy passage to make sense out of a more difficult one, what does this mean? David Starling has written a unique book, Hermeneutics as Apprenticeship , that provides a compelling answer. David and OnScript host Matthew Bates ponder how our biblical authors model the art of good scriptural interpreta...

Episode: The polymathic Mark S. Smith joins OnScript to discuss his book on God’s body, and the way Hebrew and Ugaritic literature present divine embodiment in human space. Along the way we discuss Mark’s scholarly mentors and his passion for early Israelite religion, the Hebrew Bible, Ugaritic, and yes, even footnotes. Toward the end of the episode we do a ‘lightning round’ on a bunch of Hebrew B...

Episode:  Larry Hurtado and OnScript host Matthew Bates smash gods. Well, actually Larry is the one who brings the heavy artillery, drawing from his recent Destroyer of the Gods (Baylor University Press, 2016). What does a typical day look like in the life of Larry Hurtado? How does he come up with new scholarly ideas? What made earliest Christianity distinctive?–and why does that matter today? Wh...

Epis ode: Matt L. discusses womanist biblical interpretation with Nyasha Junior of Temple University. If this is a new subject to you, or you’re on the hunt for a great introduction to the subject, go no further. Matt discusses Nyasha’s journey into academic biblical studies and the story behind her book An Introduction to Womanist Biblical Interpretation , and also discusses  sexism in the academ...

Episode:  Richard Hays joins us to talk about his recent book Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels . Richard speaks candidly about his recent battle with cancer, revealing how it has shaped his writing and theological outlook. After walking us through several of his own favorite scriptural “echoes,” Richard covers diverse topics, including figuration and early Christology. His reflections on best sc...

Episode: Matt & Matt finally co-host an episode! In this one we discuss the thriving field of New Testament Christology. Guest Chris Tilling joins us to help map the field of play, offering insights on Paul’s early divine Christology, Jesus’ divinity in the Gospels, and Richard Bauckham’s “Christology of Divine Identity” model. He also tells us what ideas (or scholars?) in NT studies need to die....

Episode: Take a journey into the heart of the Deuteronomist to discover more about the king after God’s own heart through the eyes of the book of Kings. Matt Lynch interviews Alison Joseph about her Manfred Lautenschlaeger award-winning book  Portrait of the Kings . As an intro bonus to this episode Matt gives a little 10-minute overview of the Deuteronomistic History, free of charge (but you can...

Episode:  Martin Luther found the sale of indulgences objectionable, so he nailed 95 theses to the door of his bishop’s castle, launching the Protestant Reformation. But where did the idea that giving money could somehow alleviate the human sin problem originate? OnScript host Matthew Bates welcomes David Downs to discuss the biblical and systematic implications of atoning almsgiving. Interviewing...

  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. GUEST: Jon D. Levenson is Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard Divinity Sc...

Episode: When speaking of Christian origins, what images and grammar could a first-century Jew use to say that Jesus of Nazareth was in some sense YHWH, the one God of Israel? And what might cause a Jew to say such a thing in the first place? Matthew Bates welcomes Crispin Fletcher-Louis to OnScript. Crispin’s exciting new book Jesus Monotheism offers a fresh theory of christological origins. Matt...

  AT A GLANCE: Relax in your Yurt and tune in as Brennan Breed joins us to discuss his recent book Nomadic Text: A Theory of Biblical Reception History  (Indiana University Press, 2014). This episode is virtual road trip through the world of biblical studies, reception history, and beyond. Along the way, Breed discusses his run-in with a bear, theories about the end of the world, UFOs, and why he...

  Episode Summary:  How does brain relate to mind?  To spirit  or soul?  And what does all of this have to do with conversion and Scripture?  OnScript host Matthew Bates welcomes Joel B. Green as a guest.  Joel’s new book,  Conversion in Luke-Acts , explores how our modern stories of “conversion” have been impacted by Cartesian dualism and by psychological studies that construct the individual alo...

Episode Summary In this interview, Matt L. talks about  This Strange and Sacred Scripture with author, Old Testament Scholar, and professor Matthew Schlimm. They discuss Matthew’s relationship with the Hardy Boys novels, why the Old Testament is like a friend, laws about eating locusts, places where the Old Testament gets in a fight with itself, and much more that makes the Old Testament so strang...

Guest: Dr. Enns is Abram S. Clemens Professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University in Pennsylvania. He teaches and writes on Old Testament, New Testament, Second Temple Judaism, and the intersection of biblical studies and contemporary Christian faith. He speaks actively in academic and ecclesiastical venues on topics pertaining the Bible and Christian faith. He has written or edited over a d...

Guest:  John M. G. Barclay is Lightfoot Professor of Divinity at Durham University in England, one of the most highly regarded professorships in the theological world. Barclay is the author of an exciting and highly significant new book, Paul and the Gift (2015).  Barclay’s early work on Galatians, Obeying the Truth (1988), remains a classic study.  Barclay’s publications also highlight the divers...

Guest: Meghan Henning is Assistant Professor of Christian Origins at the University of Dayton. She specializes in New Testament and Early Christianity, and holds an undergraduate degree in Religion and Economics from Denison University, a Masters degree in Biblical Studies from Yale Divinity School, and a doctorate in New Testament from Emory University. Meghan’s book on the pedagogical function o...