OnScript

Episode: Back for the 7th time, Prof. Dr. Ervine Sheblazm is here to speak the hard truth about tuff questions. What happens when culture fails to address its own insidious tendencies? How do we move forward when culture reaches a dead end? What lies around the corner for those of us living on the crusted-over remains of modernity and its evil child, post-modernity? Dr. Sheblazm has thought throug...

Episode: Beginning with Jesus's kingship, Tom Wright and Michael Bird speak to about the potentials and perils of contemporary politics. Discover a Christian vision for government not as an overbearing nanny or a terrifying bully but as God's servant. Cohosted by Matthew Bates. The Book: Tom Wright and Michael F. Bird, Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political  Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Te...

Episode (Trigger Warning): David Tombs lays out his case for the crucifixion of Jesus as a form of state-sponsored sexual violence and considers the theological and pastoral implications of his case in a discussion of his newest book, The Crucifixion of Jesus: Torture, Sexual Abuse, and the Scandal of the Cross (Routledge, 2023). The episode includes frank discussions of stripping of Jesus, the ex...

Episode: Nathan MacDonald argues that four versions of the Tabernacle can be traced through ancient versions of the Old Testament. This episode explores those versions, the significance of Aaron's garments, the significance of the wild Nadab and Abihu account, and much more from Nathan MacDonald's new book The Making of the Tabernacle and the Construction of Priestly Hegemony (OUP, 2023)!  Guest:...

Episode: In this three-part series - Chris and Kyle discuss the year’s top ten archaeological discoveries and stories related to the Bible. Part 1 discusses the most important finds related to the Bronze Age. We talk Hittites, the location and identification of Sinai, and much more! This is a re-release from our Biblical World podcast. Hosts:  Chris McKinny and Kyle Keimer Give: Visit our  Donate...

Episode: Recorded live in San Antonio at the Little Rhein Prost Haus with Sandra Glahn, Dru and Erin discuss the cult of Artemis in Ephesus and the way it transforms our reading of key NT passages. Crucially, Glahn's analysis of the Artemis cult helps us better understand Paul's statement in 1 Tim 2:15 that the woman/women "will be saved through childbearing." The event was co-sponsored by IVP, wh...

Episode: Lynn Cohick speaks with Jason Staples about concepts of Israel, Judaism, and Jewishness that emerged in the Second Temple period, and their implications for understanding the early Judaism. Staples challenges prevailing ideas about Jewish identity around the turn of the Common Era. (Re-release from an earlier Biblical World ep). Guest: Jason Staples is Assistant Professor in the College o...

Episode: Matt speaks with Carmen about her latest book Being God's Image , why "being" (not necessarily "bearing") matters to this subject, what we often misunderstand about the Image of God, and what the Image of God means for today. Guest: Dr. Carmen Imes is associate professor of Old Testament at Biola University. She received her Ph. D. at Wheaton College, after serving on the mission field in...

Episode: What do we know about children in ancient Israel, about who they were, the lives they led, and the people in their lives? Kristine Garroway is at the forefront of a new interest in the lives of children, and she draws on insights from comparative Ancient Near Eastern literature, archaeology, and the biblical text to help us get to know them better. Guest:  Dr. Kristine Garroway is Profess...

Episode: What happens if you read Ruth and Judges together? What might Ruth say to the violence against women in Judges? Jenny Matheny discusses these questions and more (like how not to go hiking in Waco). Guest: Dr. Jenny Matheny is Associate Professor of Christian Studies at Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University. Jenny has wide-ranging interests in gender studies, trauma studies, and...

Episode: Lisa Powell discusses the Trinity and eschatological body through the lens of disability. The episode discusses insights from her book  The Disabled God Revisited (T&T Clark).  Guest: Lisa Powell is Professor of Theology at St. Ambrose University, and is the author of  The Disabled God Revisited: Trinity, Christology, and Liberation (T&T Clark, 2023) and  Inconclusive Theologies:...

Episode: In this episode, co-host Amy Hughes speaks with Erin Raffety about her ethnographic and practical theological research into what it looks like for congregations to move away from an "inclusion" model for people with disabilities to a "justice" model with people with disabilities.  Guest: Dr. Erin Raffety is a cultural anthropologist, a Presbyterian pastor, and an ethnographic researcher w...

Episode: Erin sits down with Matthew Novenson for a lively conversation on the weirdness of Paul, theological and historical approaches, first-century Judaism, and a range of other topics covered in Matt's new book of collected essays,  Paul, Then and Now  (Eerdmans, 2022). This is Matt's second appearance on OnScript. You can also tune-in to an earlier OnScript conversation  on The Grammar of Mes...

Episode: Gruner's work explores the lives of ordinary Jewish people who lived in Nazi Germany and resisted persecution. From defacing Nazi symbols to bold defiance Gruner explores the complex and fraught nature of Jewish opposition to Nazi policies, attacks, and hatred, and draws insights from the 12 years of archival research behind his book Resisters: How Ordinary Jews Fought Persecution in Hitl...

Episode: Chris Tilling talks with Matt Lynch about Old Testament violence. They take a deep dive into ... the flood story in Genesis then traverse the Promised Land to consider the plight of the Canaanites. Matt argues that the complex problem of violence needs to meet with a nuanced reading of the Old Testament, all while holding onto the Bible's central claims about divine mercy. The discussion...

Episode: Who is this man? Questions about Jesus are fascinating and perennial. Stanley Porter and Bryan Dyer team up to explore how the New Testament deployed diverse traditions--Jesus as passover lamb, savior, prophet, last Adam, messiah, and many others--in order to answer foundational questions about Jesus. Discover how background studies can enhance Jesus and the New Testament rather than redu...

Episode: "We're in the midst of an unraveling". So argues Ted Smith about the shift in the ways that people relate and the end of theological education as it's typically conceived. Smith traces the historical roots of this social shift and the ways that education, institutions, and church ministry are changing. This is not a time for despair, however, because God longs to be known. The unraveling...

Episode: Revelation is a mysterious book, shrouded in symbol and rich in Old Testament allusions. What does it mean for our present and future? And more importantly, what does it teach us about God and God's unfolding rule? Brandon Smith shows us that, surprisingly, Revelation has much to teach us about the Trinity. And once we discover the Trinity's mission, we are better equipped to read Revelat...

Episode: Biblical World co-host Kyle Keimer discusses his research on King Hezekiah's preparations for the Assyrian attack in 701 BCE. How do archaeologists determine the nature and extent of Hezekiah's defensive network? Did the Judeans use fire signals? How did the king prepare for war (and pay for it)? Listen in for a fascinating discussion of Keimer's archaeological, biblical, and geographical...

Episode: Is it anachronistic to call Jesus a refugee? Does the story of Jesus' family fleeing persecution carry modern political relevance? Would the holy family receive protection in modern society? Listen in as Glenn Butner discusses his work on these questions with OnScript co-host Jules Martínez. Guest: Dr. Glenn Butner is Assistant Professor of Theology & Christian Ministry at Sterling Colleg...

Episode: In this episode, Erin sits down with David Moffitt and a live audience at Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford to talk about David's latest book on the atonement. This was a wide-ranging and thought-provoking conversation on atonement, sacrifice, ascension, resurrection, and why, according to Moffitt, the death of Jesus is not enough, themes featured in his recent book  Rethinking the Aton...

Episode: In this episode Chris Tilling interviews Jonathan Lyonhart about his new book, MonoThreeism: An Absurdly Arrogant Attempt to Answer All the Problems of the Last 2000 Years in One Night at a Pub . This is one unique book! By using the genre of a script with stage performance cues and three main protagonists, Lyonhart presents an elegant, witty, and clever case for the Trinity as the key to...

Episode: Brent Strawn is back for the 4th time, to discuss his new book  The Incomparable God . This book is rich, rangey, and full of biblical-theological insight. The discussion is also rangey, and designed to give you a taste of Brent's work over the years. Guest: Brent Strawn is D. Moody Smith Distinguished Professor of Old Testament and Law at Duke Divinity and Duke University. He's the autho...

Episode: This episode covers a wide swathe of the Torah's terrain, including reading the Torah as a story (even Leviticus), reading laws that come into conflict with each other, The Cat in the Hat, extended echo effect (literary patterning), what makes the Bible such great literature, the importance of Judah for reading Genesis, the danger of holiness, violent priestly interventions in Exodus and...

Episode: This wide-ranging conversation follows this wide-ranging book, covering topics such as the "is God the same as Allah" question to Filipino views of reciprocity to Thai philosophical views informing aniconism. From the publisher: "Christianity is often viewed in Asia as a Western imposition. Challenging this, Dr. Jerry Hwang examines the Old Testament's cultural engagement of its ancient N...