The Biblical Mind

Dru Johnson and Celina Durgin talk about threads of teaching in Scripture regarding the use of force and systemic racism, as well as practical steps that the Torah and Jesus taught to bring justice into unjust communities.  Show notes: 1:28 How Torah protections for the vulnerable bear on our notion of justice 4:00 How the powerful/vulnerable dynamic plays out in state agency and police use of for...

For a first-ever joint episode with OnScript , Dru talked to Dr. Jaco Gericke of North-West University, South Africa about his journey to philosophical theology, and some of his current research, particularly his recent book, A Philosophical Theology of the Old Testament: A historical, experimental, comparative and analytic perspective . Among other things, they discuss:  —Why Dr. Gericke doesn't...

Dru Johnson and Dr. Jerry Unterman discuss his college years during the war in Israel, studying with Jacob Milgrom for his Ph. D., and his most recent work on the unique ethical contribution of the Bible in the ancient world. Plus, Dr. Unterman recalls his odd sighting while at UC Berkeley in the '70s.

The newest fellow of the CHT, Dr. Jonathan T. Pennington of Southern Seminary, joins Dr. Dru Johnson to discuss how Jesus' views interacted with the intellectual world of his day. This world was populated by both Jewish and Hellenistic ideas, as well as hybrids of the two traditions. In this context, Jesus' teachings, such as those in the Sermon on the Mount, generated sophisticated answers to anc...

Dr. Ben White, Assistant Professor of New Testament at The King's College, discusses with CHT Director Dr. Dru Johnson his article in Christianity Today called "Fighting Anxiety With the Old Testament" — written a year ago but exceptionally applicable in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic. They talk about the honesty across the Bible about the weakness and struggles of the human condition, an...

Dr. Michael Rhodes of Union University speaks about the radical economic principles begun in the Torah and worked out in the prophets and teaching Jesus and Paul. Topics include: The problem with objectifying "the poor". How our wealth corrupts our view of economics. The power of Jubilee. How the biblical authors use "inclusion" and economic leveling in response to sin. How Paul's letter to the Co...

On February 15, Rev. Dr. Peter Leithart joined the Center for Hebraic Thought and a group of about 20 professors, church-goers, and students for an all-day workshop on the Perfection of God. In the second session, Dr. Leithart discusses the idea of "deflating metaphysics" a bit in order to see how the biblical authors describe God. 

On February 15, Rev. Dr. Peter Leithart joined the Center for Hebraic Thought and a group of about 20 professors, church-goers, and students for an all-day workshop on the Perfection of God. This first session is on the primacy of Scripture in considering God's attributes.

This podcast is taken from the evening lecture of our February 14-15 workshop with the Rev. Dr. Peter Leithart from the Theopolis Institute. If you're interested in the content of the workshop that he refers to multiple times throughout the lecture, stay tuned for the recording of that, coming soon.

Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman (Bar-Ilan University, Israel) gave a talk at The King's College on January 31st on our modern notion of equality that was uniquely sculpted in the Hebrew Bible. Politics professors—Dr. Innes, and Dr. Griffin— and Center for Hebraic Thought fellow Dr. Shira Weiss offer responses and questions.

Rabbi Dr. Jeremiah Unterman delivers a public lecture for the CHT examining moral progress in the Hebrew Bible and more generally in the ancient Near East. 

Drs. Mary Hom and Dru Johnson discuss the impact of the baby Yoda story in the Christmas season, how the Star Wars stories and Yoda's poetic speech prime expectations, and how much these resemble aspects of the biblical narratives and style—especially Christmas!  

We think of Christmas as a New Testament Story, but does it start earlier? Hint: the story of a child changing the flow of cosmic events goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. The nativity isn't an isolated story, but it pulls together all of God's political ambitions for the world, to run it with righteousness, justice, and peace.

  Dru Johnson talks with Drs. Eric Smith and Scott Booth of Pillar Seminary about the notion of calling in Scripture and some of the problematic thinking about Christian vocation practiced in the church. They address the following questions:   What do Christians commonly misunderstand about calling? Is individual calling the same as a vocation/career? What are Christians called to do as a whole? H...

In this episode, Dru talks with Dr. Unterman about biblical teaching on ethics. They discuss ancient notions of justice, law-keeping, fickle gods, and the treatment of foreigners across the Near East. Unterman highlights the specific and unusual features of Hebraic thought that have also informed our modern Western ethics more than we might realize.  Jeremiah Unterman is a resident scholar at the...

Dru talks with Eric about how Hebrews reasoned through concepts in light of the ancient Near East. Eric is the founder and president of  The Pillar Seminary.  He started the seminary with 15 years of active ministry experience and a Ph. D. from Trinity College in Bristol, England. Along with education, he brings experience from serving on leadership teams with multiple churches in the midwest. He...

Robert talks about moving from antagonism towards Christians to being deeply impacted by the message of Scripture and the Church. This episode's topics range from his work with the CHT to Christian persecution in the Middle East.  Robert Nicholson is Founder and Executive Director of  The Philos Project . He holds a B.A. in Hebrew Studies from Binghamton University, and both a J.D. and M.A. in Mid...

In this episode, Dr. Dru Johnson talks with Dr. Shira Weiss about her research on biblical ethics, the sticky ethical stories of Scripture, and why the biblical authors might not have given us easy answers about morality.  Shira Weiss holds a Ph. D. in Jewish Philosophy and has taught at Yeshiva University.  She has earned fellowships from the NEH, The Templeton Foundation, and Ben Gurion Universi...

Dr. Dru Johnson talks to Dr. Berman about what the intellectual world of the Bible looks like to him.  Joshua Berman is a professor of Hebrew Bible at  Bar-Ilan University , Israel.  A graduate of Princeton University, Dr. Berman also studied for eight years at Yeshivat Har-Etzion in Israel and has rabbinical ordination from the Israeli Chief Rabbinate.  He is the author, among other works of  Cre...

In this short NPR episode, Yoram Hazony opens the “bottle” of the Hebrew Bible and reads the message inside, arguing that the Hebrew Bible is philosophy in narrative form. The message is this: there is hope for human political affairs, and the Scriptures are an epic that advocate wariness of great imperial powers and individualism in the face of authority. 

In this episode, CHT director Dr. Dru Johnson interviews Yoram Hazony about the recent history of viewing the Bible as a work of philosophy. They discuss the state of academics and the unique influence of Hebraic philosophy on our way of understanding the world.  Yoram Hazony is President of the  Herzl Institute  in Jerusalem, and currently serves as Chairman of the  Edmund Burke Foundation , a ne...

Did ancient Israelites think like we do today? Did they have abstract thoughts? If we don't, then can we understand anything the biblical authors said? Dr. Dru Johnson discusses reasons to trust that we do think similarly to the biblical authors.  For a more technical survey of this discussion, see Dru's essay "Did Ancient Hebrews Have Different Minds than the Greeks?"  

Abby Smith and Dr. Dru Johnson discuss what "Hebraic thought" has to do with the New Testament and whether we need the Old Testament in order to understand the New. Note: Dr. Johnson mistakenly referenced Leviticus 18:19, which should have been Lev 19:18.