Episodes
Monday Jun 26, 2017
Greg Boyd - The Crucifixion of the Warrior God
Monday Jun 26, 2017
Monday Jun 26, 2017
Episode: Matt & Matt talk violence in the OT with Greg Boyd, who has devoted the last 10 years to researching and writing about this vexed topic. Our discussion ranges from the relationship between the cross and the conquest, Greg's theory of 'literary crucifixes' in the OT, how to relate the two Testaments, and more from Greg's monumental new book The Crucifixion of the Warrior God: Interpreting The Old Testament's Violent Portraits of God in Light of the Cross. And brace yourself ... there are two speed rounds in this episode.
Guest: (from the reknew.org website) 'Greg Boyd is an internationally recognized theologian, preacher, teacher, apologist and author. He has been featured on the front page of The New York Times, The Charlie Rose Show, CNN, National Public Radio, the BBC and numerous other television and radio venues.
Greg received his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary (summa cum laude 1988), his M.Div. from Yale Divinity School (cum laude 1982), and his B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Minnesota (1979). He was a professor of theology for 16 years at Bethel University (St. Paul, MN) where he received the Teaching Excellence Award and Campus Leadership Award.
Greg is the co-founder of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota where he serves as Senior Pastor, speaking to thousands each week.
Greg has authored or co-authored 20 books and numerous academic articles, including his best-selling and award-winning Letters From a Skeptic and his recent books Repenting of Religion and The Myth of a Christian Nation. His apologetic writings and public debates on the historical Jesus and the problem of evil have helped many skeptics embrace faith, and his writings and seminars on spiritual transformation have had a revolutionary, freeing impact on thousands of believers.' (For more about Greg, go HERE)
Book: In The Crucifixion of the Warrior God: Interpreting The Old Testament's Violent Portraits of God in Light of the Cross (Fortress Press, 2017), Greg Boyd advances a thesis that the Old Testament's violent texts should be re-interpreted to reflect the enemy embracing, forgiving, love of Christ shown most fully on the Cross. Greg positions this thesis in a long line of Christian interpretation that reaches back to the early Church theologian Origin. Greg outlines a crucicentric (cross-centered) hermeneutic in the first of his two volume, 1,400-page book, and proceeds to (re-)examine violent OT texts through the lens of the cross in volume 2.
**Greg is hosting a special three day conference at Woodland Hills Church, St. Paul, MN, on Sept 21-23, 2017 to discuss the problem of violence in Scripture and the possibilities of a cross-shaped interpretive lens. Information HERE.
Monday Jun 12, 2017
Caryn Reeder - The Enemy in the Household
Monday Jun 12, 2017
Monday Jun 12, 2017
Episode: The prospect of stoning a rebellious son or adulterer, or turning over an unorthodox brother or sister for execution is revolting. But how should a Jewish or Christian believer respond to such ideas when found in their own scripture? While resisting easy answers, Caryn Reeder offers a nuanced approach to books like Deuteronomy, where many of the harshest laws appear. Deuteronomy is the epicenter of legal admonitions to 'show no pity' to one's own family if they prove disloyal to the covenant. Matt L. discusses with Caryn her journey into the world of 'constructive family violence,' how the harshest of laws might have made sense in the ancient world, and how interpreters through history have re-framed violent laws in new ways.
Guest: Caryn Reeder is Associate Professor of New Testament at Westmont College in California. She grew up on a farm in central Illinois, and then did her B.A. at Augustana College, M.A. and M.Phil at Wheaton College, and her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. She is the author of The Enemy in the Household: Family Violence in Deuteronomy and Beyond (Baker Academic, 2012), and several other articles and essays on war and violence in the Old and New Testaments. Her current research focuses on the experience of women and children in war in the New Testament and its cultural environment.
Book: The Enemy in the Household: Family Violence in Deuteronomy and Beyond (Baker Academic, 2012) (From the Baker Academic Website) 'Three laws in Deuteronomy command violence against a family member--the enemy in the household--who leads others away from covenantal obligations to God. Several biblical and post-biblical narratives make use of such violence. In this fresh approach to troubling biblical texts, Caryn Reeder explores the "family violence" passages in Deuteronomy, tracing their ancient interpretation and assessing their contemporary significance. The Enemy in the Household examines such "constructive" violence carried out to protect the covenant community by investigating the reading practices of ancient Jewish and Christian interpreters of Scripture and their applications of these passages. It also provides modern readers with a model for the ethical interpretation of these difficult texts.'