The Bible For Normal People

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People Podcast, Pete and Jared talk with Richard Rohr about the (biblical) universal Christ and how this concept of Christ can expand our understanding of ourselves, the world, and God. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People Podcast, Pete and Jared take a close look at the call of David and the battle with Goliath (1 Samuel 16-17) to show how these biblical stories already portray David as a morally complex character from the beginning. These stories also tell us something of the intricate and layered nature of biblical storytelling. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad...

This week’s episode with Rachel Held Evans is among her last podcast interviews, recorded 2 months before her untimely passing on May 4. We offer this episode, unedited, in Rachel’s honor and as a testimony to her humor, insight, power, gentleness, and courage.  RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: "Inspired" by Rachel Held Evans "Searching For Sunday" by Rachel Held Evans "A Year of Biblical Woma...

Robert Alter has spent most of his life committed to studying the Bible and the last two decades creating an entirely new translation of the Old Testament. Pete and Jared talk about some of the insights he has gained from seeing the Bible as a literary masterpiece. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pete continues his series in Exodus chapters 3 and 4. God reveals his plan to use Moses to deliver the Israelites from Egypt and Moses does everything he can think of to get out of it. He finally gets on board with the program, but not without a last minute bizarre twist and close call. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Austen Hartke shares his journey of being a transgender Christian and discusses how the Bible might speak to the inclusion of all people into the people of God. Show Notes→ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why does Paul say there are no longer slaves but then turns around and tells slaves to obey their masters? What gives? Do wives need to submit to their husbands just because Paul says so? Geez, Paul can be so frustrating. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is Matthew all about? Why does it look the way it does? In this episode Judy Stack takes us to school and helps us to see the Gospel in a new light. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Having grown up being told her body was bad, Linda Kay Klein was on a mission to hear from women about their own experiences with Purity Culture. In this episode we talk about what the Bible has to say about sexual purity and maybe more importantly, what it doesn’t. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When people find out that the Bible is ancient, ambiguous, and diverse, they often ask, "Is the Bible true then?" Pete and Jared dive into the topic and talk about how truth–in the Bible–is subjective. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What does it mean to remain faithful to the Bible but also have a moral imagination that might extend beyond the Bible? How can that be done? We talk with Jonathan Walton about how he connects those dots and why he feels it’s the way to remain faithful to the Bible. "A Lens Of Love" by Jonathan Walton. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on The Bible for Normal People, we have Austin Channing Brown as our guest. She shares about her experience growing up in various churches and what we can learn from black churches - especially when it comes to preaching the Bible. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There’s a lot more going on in the book of Exodus than what you’ve seen on the big screen or heard in church. More than a story of deliverance, Exodus is a subtle literary creation that contains many surprises when we read it closely. Join Pete here for Part 1 of this series where he looks at some big picture issues (like “did it happen?”) before walking us through the themes of chapters 1 and 2. ...

Anxiety in the life of faith is a conversation that needs to happen more often. Elizabeth Enns Petters talks with us about her journey and how her old views on the Bible contributed to her anxiety and how her new views on God and faith have given her a new perspective on life. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Pete & Jared talk to Xavier Pickett about the Bible and slavery, the Bible and race, and the importance of theologian James Cone. RESOURCES Reformed Blacks of America "The Civil War as a Theological Crisis" by Mark Knoll "Stony The Road We Trod" by Dr. Cain Hope Felder "How The Bible Actually Works" by Pete Enns. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices....

We talk often about how the Bible isn’t opposed to culture but is deeply embedded in it. Rhonda Burnette-Bletsch shows us how true that is in film by walking us through a few popular movies and how they relate to the Bible. You can find Rhonda's list of movies at the end of this blog post. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All human beings are encultured creatures and limited by their humanity—as were the Biblical writers, and evidence for that jumps out at us at every page. The raw and limiting humanity of Scripture is to be embraced and celebrated rather than explained away. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hip Hop artist Propaganda joins Pete and Jared for the season 3 opener and shares some deep—and we mean deep—thoughts about the music industry, artistic integrity, and what being Christian in all that means and doesn’t mean. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Here's a sneak peek of what's coming in Season 3 of The Bible For Normal People podcast. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Jared and Pete look back at all of their guests in Season 2 to talk about language, history, and how personal experiences can't help but affect how we read the Bible. All in the effort to ask that perennial set of questions: What is the Bible and What do We Do With It? Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Jared & Pete talk to Brad Jersak about how Orthodoxy views the Bible, and some other things, and how those differ from Evangelicalism. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Pete responds to an article from The Gospel Coalition entitled, "3 Beliefs Some Progressive Christians and Atheists Share." He takes issue with the harmful rhetoric that polarizes Evangelicalism creating an "us vs. them" mentality among brothers and sisters in Christ. He points out that Progressive Christianity shouldn't be a pejorative term but one that describes a creative and i...

In this episode, Pete and Jared speak with Daniel Kirk about the Gospel of Mark. Mark's gospel goes to great lengths to provide unparalleled detail and symbolism that get more and more meaningful the deeper you traverse into the text. You'll find yourself anxious to read through it again and again! Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Pete & Jared speak with Trey Pearson, former lead singer of the popular Christian band Everyday Sunday. Two years ago, Trey came out publicly and lost the support of his record label, church and many friends. He shares openly about the isolation and heartbreak that he endured being ostracized from his faith community. But he found hope and joy in accepting who God made him to be....

In this episode, Pete & Jared talk to Jonathan Merritt about the language of scripture, how it's changed over the years and how our interpretation and understanding must adapt to fully appreciate what the Bible has to say. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices