The Bible as Literature

From the beginning, the Scriptural God commanded biological reproduction—be fruitful and multiply. Reproduce biologically because the generation yet unborn cannot be created by studying or preaching the Torah. But remember that God is King, and they are his children, not yours.  But the human beings did not listen. Cain multiplied himself, raising offspring to his own dynasty, dedicating Encoch an...

This week, Fr. Paul underscores the centrality of shepherd life over city life in the Book of Exodus, specifically in its presentation of the Tent of Meeting. He also notes how the story emphasizes God rather than Moses as its author. (Episode 280) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

After expending significant effort to construct a genealogy—almost from scratch, only now, as he approaches his knockout punch, "Son of Man (ben adam), Son of God,” Luke draws upon pre-existing material to finalize his inverted dynasty.  Climbing past an excerpt borrowed from Matthew detailing Abraham’s line, we now stumble across another collection of names, this time from Genesis 11:10-26. The f...

This week, Fr. Paul resumes his discussion of Exodus, noting that the story was written to test God’s people, taking their failure into consideration from the very beginning. (Episode 279) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Thus far in Luke’s genealogy, the writer has emphasized two critical points within the broader storyline of the New Testament. First, after paralleling Matthew’s dismissal of Joseph’s patrimony, Luke builds on Matthew’s handling of Hebrew terminology in Genesis, pushing the biblical tension between the positive, godly expression, “Son of Man,” and the pejorative worldly title, “Son of God.”  Pejor...

This week, Fr. Paul continues his exegesis of Ezekiel as a background for his comprehensive study of Exodus, taking time to explain that the parabolic admonition of Jesus in Matthew can only be understood against the back backdrop of the Hebrew terminology of the Mosaic Law. (Episode 278) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

When a person experiences cognitive dissonance, that is, when they find themselves in a situation where exposure to conflicting ideas and information becomes too stressful or mentally uncomfortable, their natural inclination is to seek security in the safety of consonance.  Humans naturally avoid, discredit, belittle, and delegitimize the ideas or people that cause them to experience dissonance. ...

In today’s program, Fr. Paul reads from the text of Ezekiel to illustrate how hearers of the Bible misconstrue the Book of Exodus.  (Episode 277) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

As in the story of Genesis, for each generation of Luke’s genealogy, the functional names outline the literary framework of a recurring biblical dilemma: without God’s perpetual intervention, life from age to age is impossible.  In science and engineering, numerous terms are used to describe similar mechanisms. In physics and thermodynamics, it is referred to as “external energy input” or “externa...

This week, Fr. Paul explains that rest is assigned by God on the Sabbath and in the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, not for the sake of man but for the benefit of the adamah, the animals who do most of the work, the foreigner, and the needy neighbor. (Episode 276) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

When we set out to start a business, a project, a book, or an endeavor of any kind, most of us begin by asking ourselves, who is my audience, and how can I make my work relevant to them? Outside the arena of biblical preaching, these are normal, practical - even necessary - questions. However, for a priest, this line of thinking is inevitably toxic - good for the material well-being of the church...

This week Fr. Paul explains that those who are called sons and daughters of God — the insiders, so to speak — are special. Yes, you heard me correctly.  You are special, but not as it is portrayed in our various theologies or, for that matter, any number of religious websites, where special means better than others or “object of God’s compassion.” Only the God of Exodus could make compassion a wor...

For years on this program, in homilies and personal discussions with parishioners, family, and friends — I have explained that there is no such thing as progress. That you can’t earn anything. That nothing you have belongs to you. No one owes you anything, and even what you seem to have will be taken away, so give it away now because you owe God and your neighbor a debt you can never repay. That y...

This week Fr. Paul notes that the subject of the biblical text is determined by the story’s content and not by the sensibilities of those hearing the story.  In Genesis 34, the rape of Dinah, typically emphasized in contemporary Western scholarship, is not the main point of the chapter, which instead condemns her brother’s abuse of the covenant of circumcision as an implement of mass murder.  (Epi...

According to the rule of the Lukan genealogy, the recent coronation of the English king was uncanny in its egregious assault on the biblical proclamation of the Resurrection.  On the one hand, those who have stayed with this podcast over the years have (hopefully) come to understand that Scripture is a system of cancellation encoded in literary form. It is a divine story given to undermine everyth...

This week Fr. Paul highlights examples from the biblical text that deal with humans and animals on the same level, noting that animals are also called to repentance. (Episode 273) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

If you are fortunate to live under the pressure of the Gospel, sooner or later, your life will be reduced to a showdown with the Scriptural God. You will have the opportunity to be embarrassed, admit your failure, lose face, and look foolish in front of the person who preached the word of God to you. The problem is that you, like your teacher (along with everyone else), are no different than King...

This week, Fr. Paul explains that in the Bible, God is the only King and the owner of his children, not his children the owners one of another.  (Episode 272) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Nothing is more painful than watching young parents explain their intention to raise their children differently than their parents or observing young mothers hovering over grandmothers, micro-managing their every move, scolding, correcting, worrying, overprotecting, and gossiping, all based on advice from their therapist or some silly blog post about the "right" way to parent according to the late...

This week, Fr. Paul stresses the importance of fearing God not as an awesome or impressive character but in his function as judge. (Episode 271) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

When hearing the Lukan genealogy of Jesus in English, it's easy for people to adopt anti-scriptural notions of "king" and "priest,” developing incorrect expectations for how Jesus Christ will rule in the coming kingdom. But, as always, the key to hearing the author’s story lies in the meaning of the names.  Between two Josephs, who fail miserably at continuing what only God himself can sustain thr...

This week, Fr. Paul explains how the practice of honoring all mothers or all fathers, as we do on national holidays, undermines the biblical admonition that each person, even if they happen to be parents, is under pressure by Scripture to honor, specifically, the father and mother from whom they originate. (Episode 270) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

The New Testament storyline places considerable emphasis and tension on the question of Jesus's title. The Gospel of Matthew stresses that Jesus is an ordinary Ben Adam (Son of Man), while the Gospel of Mark shows him repeatedly insisting that people not reveal his identity as the Messiah because of their ignorance of his teaching.  Throughout the gospels, the biblical writers are careful not to l...

This week, Fr. Paul explains that the prohibition, “you may not take the name of God in vain,” is a warning that you may not speak of God as though he exists only as a statue. (Episode 269) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In the first chapters of Luke, just as the Spirit moves from womb to womb, beginning with the angel Gabriel, the commandment moves from person to person, ensuring that God’s eudokia (his goodwill) is fulfilled—in the spirit of term—to his complete satisfaction.  From Zacharias and Elizabeth to Mary and Joseph, and notably, the Shepherds of Israel, the commandment and the Spirit are the main actors...