The Blue Collar Scholar

Mary the Mother of Jesus is almost certainly the most recognized, significant, and important female character in Scripture. There are many misunderstandings concerning this person, too. In this episode, we will look at the Scriptural passage where Mary's story is told.

Previous episodes brought us to the point where the Constitutional Convention presented a final draft of the Constitution to the states for ratification. We will discuss the ratification process next week. In the meantime, let us go through the original Constitution (pre-Amendments) line-by-line and discuss it. Join us in this episode as we analyze the USA's most important state document.

In this sermon, I break down the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12). Some of the Beatitudes have instant, obvious application: Make Peace. Be merciful. Seek righteousness. But some of the Beatitudes - Blessed are those who mourn, or the poor in spirit - are directed at those who are hurting. Through Jesus Christ, even the downtrodden are living the good life, despite their hardships.

Solomon is the likely author of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. In those books, Solomon is unafraid to use female imagery to make his points. And he is unafraid to use female imagery in an unflattering light, such as a dangerous adulterous or the personification of folly. But he also gave us Proverbs 31, and he uses a woman as the personification of wisdom itself. And compared to...

The United States government under the Articles of Confederation was toothless and broke, unable to raise money, and with little to no international clout. Something had the change. And Shays' Rebellion in Massachusetts was the final straw. So James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and other advocates for a more robust federal government began taking steps that wo...

The Bible is full of villains, like Satan, Haman, Pilate, etc. Four of those villains are women, and therefore are the purview of this class. So in this episode we will look at the stories of Delilah, Jezebel, Athaliah, and Herodias.

The United States of America has existed for 236 years under the same government, perpetuated by the United States Constitution. But the Constitution is a strong document that establishes a rather strong central government, and the American citizens of the late 1770s and early 1780s would never have adopted such a document. First, we had to go through the weeds and suffer the slings and arrows of...

The story of Esther is one of the most well-written, gripping, cinematic stories found in the Bible. It has a good hero, a compelling villain, high stakes (an attempted genocide), and such great story telling devices as irony and poetic justice. This episode looks at the characters of Vashti & Esther and each woman's relationship with the Persian Emperor Xerxes I.

This episode closes out our discussion of the American Revolutionary War. First, we track the French contribution to American victory. France's alliance was perhaps vital to America's victory, so much so that perhaps the US does not win the war without them. And, the French Navy's incredible victory in the Chesapeake Bay was necessary to make the siege of Yorktown possible. The heart of the episod...

This episode surveys the major female characters in the Bible from the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, as well as Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Hosea.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us." (John 1:1 & 14) This episode of the podcast is a collection of Bite-Sized Theology lessons (5-minute-or-so sermonettes) that together form a sermon that takes a look at the Christian theology of "The Incarnation," which is the belief that God the Son becam...

“Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?" Jesus asked in Mark 4:13. Jesus Christ Himself gave us a hint that the Parable of the Sower is somehow foundational to understanding all of his parables, which were his most-oft-used figurative devices to make spiritual points. So, in this episode, let us dig into Mark 4 and look into the Parable of the Sower.

This episode of the pod opens with a 5-minute Bite-Sized Theology about Americanism in the Gospel. After that, I give one of the most difficult sermons I ever preached. The Church has a bad habit of knee-jerk conclusions that sexual assault allegations are fake, despite the statistics that show that such false accusations are rare. In this episode, we go back to Deuteronomy to dig into a much-need...

Living Hope Southern Baptist Church of Parsons, Kansas, does something called Bite-Sized Theology. These are 5 minute (or so) lessons/sermons that are designed to be meatier but much shorter than the average sermon. Our church did not record every single one of these lessons, so this presentation is a bit random. Nevertheless, here is a random selection of the Bite-Sized Theology lessons I preache...

Benedict Arnold. What a tool! ... Except, we've discussed him before in this class. Thus far, he's been a positive figure, an asset to the American cause, one might even call him a war hero. So, what changed? How did Benedict Arnold become one of history's worst traitors?

There are few women who have significant political power in the Bible. The few who do have such power in the Bible are either seen as villains (see Athaliah), or she has power because of her marriage (see Esther), or both (see Jezebel). But in Judges, we are introduced to Deborah. She is the only judge of Israel who is female, and is also the only judge whose reign actually looks more like a "judg...

A rag-tag collection of young men went into Valley Forge for the winter of 1777-8. An army walked out of Valley Forge. But at least 2000 men died at the Valley Forge winter encampment - a place where no battle was fought - because of disease, malnutrition, and clothing so inadequate for the winter that the relatively mild winter of 1777-8 is still remembered in the American subconscious as the wor...

Revelation tells us that worshipers of the Lord will include those from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Ethnic diversity is a wonderful thing, and should be a goal that we attain to. In the first chapter of the New Testament, Matthew includes a few women in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, which is radical enough, but a majority of those women are not ethnic Jews. In this episode, we will look at e...

After early successes, the American Continental Army faced nearly a whole year (1777) of defeat and retreat, including the fall of Philadelphia to British forces, necessitating the Second Continental Congress' move from what was then the national capital. Despite these being "the times that try men's souls," the British were unable to force an American surrender. And the Americans were able to sec...

This episode explores the women who appear in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. As it turns out, female characters only really factor into the narratives of Exodus and Numbers. This episode explores those characters, especially Miriam, the prophetess and sister of Moses. We will also take a look at a short list of laws that deal directly with women's issues.

This is the episode upon which this semester turns (in our The American Revolution class). All that we have discussed thus far has led the Founding Fathers up to the point where declaring independence from Great Britain was the only move that made sense. In this episode, we will go through each word of the Declaration, discuss the non-war-related aspects of the Second Continental Congress' busines...

In May 2023, I was a guest on my friend Aaron & his sister Rori's pop culture podcast "Trying to Like It." In this episode, we select five bands from any point in history to headline our summer music festivals. If you enjoy this episode, consider liking and subscribing to "Trying to Like It" on Apple Podcasts, Simplecast, Spotify, or your favorite podcast distributor.

The timeframe of Genesis 12-50 is often referred to as the Age of the Patriarchs. Well, let's flip the script. We're here to talk about the ladies whose stories are vital to understanding the patriarchs. Some are heroes, some are villains. Some are triumphant, while others suffered under oppressors. But all of these ladies' stories deserve to be told.

The American Revolution was a process that went on for decades. In the midst of the evolving political revolution, a war broke out. The British government was not interested in letting their colonies be self-governed, rebellious, or independent. So, when the "redcoats" rolled out of Boston to capture rebellious legislators and colonial weapons stashes in Concord, Massachusetts, the "minutemen" res...

In this episode, we look at the women who appear in the text of Genesis 1-11. These chapters cover over a thousand years of narrative history, giving minimal details and skipping many details as this section lays out a trim and streamlined foundation for the line of Abraham, whose family story is the origin story of the Jewish people.