Faith in the Folds

Today I sit down with Dr. Rob O’Lynn, Dean of the School Of Distance and General Education, Director of Graduate Bible Programs, and Associate Professor of Preaching and Ministry at Kentucky Christian University; he is also Affiliate Associate Professor of Preaching at Fuller Seminary and is the Senior Minister at Beech Street Christian Church in Ashland, KY. Rob has published articles in Christia...

Today I sat down with Reverend Dr. Dennis Edwards, Associate Professor of New Testament at North Park University in Chicago. Dr. Edwards and I talked about 1st Peter, strangely one of the more neglected books of the New Testament, but as it turns out this short letter is one of the most relevant for the #Church today: Peter deals with #persecution, households, and how Christians should respond to...

Today I sit down with Dr. Ruth Anne Reese, Professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary where she also serves as the Chair of the New Testament Department. Dr. Reese is a perennial favorite among graduate and post-graduate students at Asbury, excelling at teaching both the technical knowledge inherent to studying the #NewTestament as well as being sensitive to the pastoral issues that...

Today I sit down with Dr. Ben Witherington, III, Jean R. Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. Ben has written over 60 books, numerous articles, he has led several tours to the lands mentioned in the Bible, and has appeared on dozens of television programs on PBS, CNN, and the BBC to discuss topics like Easter, the historical Jesus, and even Dan Brown...

Today I sit down with Dr. Shawn Craigmiles, Assistant Professor of Bible and Church Ministry at Warner University in Lake Wales, Florida. Shawn and I overlapped a few years at Asbury Seminary where we both completed our PhDs in New Testament. Shawn pastored at various churches in Illinois and Kentucky before beginning a teaching career in 2018. Shawn is an excellent teacher, a great communicator,...

Today I sat down with Dr. Nijay Gupta, professor of #NewTestament at Northern Seminary. Dr. Gupta is known for his work on Christian formation and the life and writings of the apostle #Paul. He has written commentaries on #Philippians, Colossians, 1—2 Thessalonians, and other works on the concepts of worship and sin in Paul’s thought, as well as on the Sermon on the Mount and general New Testament...

Today I sat down with Dr. Lynn Cohick, Provost and Dean of Academic Affairs at Northern Seminary in Illinois. Dr. Cohick has taught in different venues across the globe for decades, she is an expert on #women in the world of the early church, and she has recently written a wonderful commentary on one of my favorite books of the Bible, Paul’s letter to the #Ephesians. I had a delightful time meetin...

Today I'm joined by Dr. Fred Long, professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary. Fred is an expert in 2 Corinthians, having written extensively on the grammar and rhetoric of the letter. I was delighted to catch up with Fred and to talk with him about 2 Corinthians since this is one of Paul's letters I know relatively little about.

Today I sit down with Dr. Richard Oster, professor of New Testament at Harding School of Theology. Dr. Oster is one of my all time favorite professors, and offered some of the most challenging courses I've ever taken. He is an internationally acclaimed expert on the archaeology of the city of Ephesus, and has also published various articles on 1 Corinthians as well as a commentary. I really apprec...

For today’s episode, I strike out into the unknown with neither a guest nor a script! Instead, with naught but a rough outline of some ideas, I reflect on how the podcast and I have grown over 2021. I’m generally an introspective person, so reflecting on the lessons I’ve learned or re-learned during Covid made sense to me. I hope you will be encouraged by the two main takeaways from today’s episod...

Today I sat down with friend, author, and PhD Candidate Ross Harriman. Ross is my go-to source for all things J. R. R. #Tolkien, but he is also very well read on a myriad of topics related to biblical studies and church history. Years ago Ross shared a series he’d written on the dating and time of Jesus’s birth that caught my attention. Since #Christmas is right around the corner, I wanted to catc...

Today I sat down with best-selling #author, ghostwriter, and editor Tama Fortner of Nashville, TN. Tama has been in love with writing since she was eight years old, and has several hit children’s books—not to mention over forty titles altogether—on her resumé. I caught up with Tama to talk with her about her latest book, Simply Christmas: A Busy Mom’s Guide to Reclaiming the Peace of the Holidays:...

Today I sit down with Dr. Rafael Rodríguez, professor New Testament at Johnson University in Knoxville, TN. Rafael and I had a delightful conversation about Paul's massive tome to the churches in Rome. I'm especially thankful for our discussion because #Romans is such a sophisticated argument that I sometimes feel it's easy to get lost in the weeds and in the extraordinary amount of secondary lite...

Today I sit down with Dr. Craig Keener, the F. M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. I first encountered Craig’s work in 2012 when I was about halfway through my Masters of Divinity. Our librarian was excitedly showing off the massive first volume of Keener’s commentary on the book of Acts—his first volume of four! Little did I know I would later write m...

Today I sit down with Dr. Paul Anderson, Professor of Biblical and Quaker Studies at George Fox University. As a leading expert on the #Gospel of #John, Dr. Anderson has written extensively on the fourth Gospel, and was a founding member of the John, Jesus, and History Seminar within the Society of Biblical Literature. Some of his more recent work deals particularly with the composition of John’s...

Today I sit down with Dr. Darrell Bock, Executive Director of Cultural Engagement and Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. Dr. Bock is an expert in New Testament studies, having written over 40 books, many of which touch on the historical #Jesus, the #Gospel of #Luke, and Acts. Given his expertise in Luke—not to mention his nearly forty years of teachi...

Today I sat down with Dr. Allen Black, Professor Emeritus of New Testament at the Harding School of Theology in Memphis, TN. Dr. Black is a returning guest on the podcast, and I encourage you to check episode 16 of Faith in the Folds to hear him reflect on his 38-year career in teaching. I first heard Dr. Black teach on the #Gospel of #Mark in the Spring of 2010 during my first campus visit to HST...

Today I sit down with Dr. Jonathan Pennington, Associate Professor of New Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, who also serves as the Pastor of Spiritual Formation at Sojourn East in Louisville. Dr. Pennington has taught courses on the gospels every semester for almost twenty years, and has written extensively on the Gospels, particularly on Matt...

For today’s episode, I wanted to share with you a special presentation I gave to Harding University’s Archaeology Club on Monday, September 27, 2021. Dr. Dale Manor, who has been on the podcast before (episodes 21 and 22), asked me to speak to the archaeology club. This presentation is called “History in His Story: Biography and Archaeology of the Life of Jesus,” and in this presentation I take a...

Today I sat down again with Dr. Michael Licona, Associate Professor of Theology at Houston Baptist University. This episode is the third in a new series where we’ll take a book-by-book approach for most of the New Testament, but before we actually get to the individual books of the New Testament, though, I wanted to take some time to dig into the #Gospels as ancient biographies. To do just that, M...

Today I sat down with a scholar, a friend, and Associate Professor of Theology at Houston Baptist University, Mike Licona. Mike has written several books, including Paul Meets Muhammad, and coauthored with Gary Habermas the award-winning book The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus . Mike’s largest work is also on the resurrection, entitled The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approac...

Today I sat down with Dr. Kevin Youngblood (PhD, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), Professor of Old Testament at Harding University and author of the highly praised commentary on Jonah in the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the OT series (links below). Kevin has a gift for making the #OldTestament seem less strange and more accessible. This episode of the podcast is the first in a new ser...

Today I sat down with two friends to discuss an interesting article they co-authored earlier this year. Garrett Best is a friend of the podcast and joins us again today. I really appreciated talking with him in June of 2021 about the book of Revelation, a book which simultaneously fascinates and disturbs many. He helped us demystify Revelation a little bit as we talked about the seven letters, the...

Today I sat down with John Mark Hicks, professor of theology at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN. I first encountered John Mark almost twenty years ago through his books, specifically his Come to the Table: Revisioning the Lord’s Supper published in 2002 by New Leaf Press. I was in high school at the time and had no idea I would later be required to read more of his works for graduate classes...

When we study history, do we learn about others or ourselves? Maybe a little of both? Today’s interview is with John Young, a budding historian of the religious history of the South in general and the Churches of Christ in particular. We had a delightful conversation about the value of church history for spiritual formation as well as three main benefits of studying history. John Young is assistan...