OnScript

Ervine Sheblazm - Paul's Theology of Universalism

Episode: Paul's missionary travels stopped in Rome, but is that where they should end? Dr. Ervine Sheblatzm is back on the show to give a firm "Nein!" Listen to a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion of the many ways that Paul's theology of universalism applies to all, and how Paul's work can be carried forward into the future. Dr. Sheblatzm claims that "Paul's theology may have surprises for us yet," but grasping them may require "donning the space suit of faith."

Guest:  Prof. Ervine Sheblazm is the author of numerous books, including Paul, Multiverse Theory and the Journey of the Inner Soul; Faultlines in the Horizon: Paul’s Dawning Age Marches On; Feathers on the Nose: Paul’s Radical Pastoral Theology for the Non-Anthropic World; and he’s here today to talk about his latest, Paul's Theology of Universalism: The Final Words: Paul's Voyage Must Go On. Prof. Sheblatzm has Ph.D.’s in theology and physics, and holds a distinguished chair in theology and physics at the Center For Excellence that he runs in the Lake District, in the UK. The CFE is a theological lab and farmstead whose mission is to “propagate philosophical consideration of the known world, and the unknown world, and observe experimentally the aforesaid.”

What readers are saying: Read what Sheblatzm's readers think (from the back cover)!

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OnScript was voted one of the top 20 theology podcasts! https://blog.feedspot.com/theology_podcasts/

 

Julien Smith - Paul and the Good Life

Episode: What happens when Dallas Willard, Wendell Berry, and James K. A. Smith walk into a bar to discuss Paul and the Good Life? Join Julien C. H. Smith and co-host Matt Bates as they explore the social and political world of Scripture, with a special eye for how Paul's vision of ideal kingship shaped his ideas about the gospel and salvation.

The Book: Julien C. H. Smith, Paul and the Good Life: Transformation and Citizenship in the Commonwealth of God (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2020). Salvation and human flourishing—a life marked by fulfillment and well-being—have often been divorced in the thinking and practice of the church. For the apostle Paul, however, the two were inseparable in the vision for the good life. Drawing on the revolutionary teachings and kingdom proclamation of Jesus, Paul and the early church issued a challenge to the ancient world’s dominant narratives of flourishing. Paul’s conviction of Jesus’ universal Lordship emboldened him to imagine not just another world, but this world as it might be when transformed. Ultimately, Paul and the Good Life invites us to imagine how citizens of this heavenly commonwealth might live in the in-between time, in which Jesus’s reign has been inaugurated but not consummated. (Publisher’s description, abridged).

US Orders (valid for as long as the deal happens to last): use code 17PGL at baylorpress.com receive 20% off + free shipping.

Guest: Julien C. H. Smith’s scholarly interests center on Biblical texts and traditions. He received his BA from the University of California at Berkeley in French and Slavic Languages and Literature, an MA in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a PhD in Religion from Baylor University. He has written on a variety of New Testament and apocryphal subjects, including Ephesians, Acts, and the Epistle of Barnabas. His first book, Christ the Ideal King: Cultural Context, Rhetorical Strategy, and the Power of Divine Monarchy in Ephesians, was published in 2011. Recent publications include “You are my witnesses: Walker Percy, Jacques Maritain, and the Jews,” in Religion and Literature, and “The Epistle of Barnabas and the Two Ways of Teaching Authority,” in Vigiliae Christianae. Smith teaches “Christian Tradition, ”seminars on Jesus, Paul, Theology & Ecology, and in the First-Year Program.

OnScript's Review (back cover endorsement): Headwaters are elusive. So, essential streams are navigated separately: the gospel, spiritual practices, politics, church life, philosophy. But in this exciting and important study, Julien Smith goes farther back and deeper in. He shows that the gospel invites us not merely to trust a savior, but to give allegiance to the ideal king for the sake of human flourishing. The separate streams are joined to the headwaters and mapped afresh. -- Matthew W. Bates, author of Salvation by Allegiance Alone; associate professor of theology, Quincy University

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OnScript was voted one of the top 20 theology podcasts! https://blog.feedspot.com/theology_podcasts/

Clinton Bailey - Bedouin Culture in the Bible

Episode: Dru Johnson talks with Clinton Bailey about how he ended up living with Bedouins in the Negev, their law, gender practices, and poetry. His most recent book, Bedouin Culture in the Bible (Yale University Press, 2019), examines and explains practices, poetry, and laws from the Hebrew Bible's own bedouin roots (according to the stories of Genesis).

Guest: Dr. Clinton Bailey is a leading authority on Bedouin culture, and has done fieldwork in Sinai and the Negev for the past 50 years. His B.A. is from the Hebrew University; his M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. He was born and raised in Buffalo, NY, and made Aliya to Israel in 1958. In 1994, he was awarded the Emil Grunzweig Human Rights Award for his efforts to obtain civil rights for Bedouin in Israel. His books include such titles as:

• Bedouin Poetry(Oxford University Press, 1991)
• A Culture of Desert Survival: Bedouin Proverbs (Yale University Press, 2004)
• Bedouin Law (Yale University Press, 2010)
• Bedouin Culture in the Bible (Yale University Press, 2018)

Give: Help support OnScript as we grow and develop. Click HERE.

OnScript was voted one of the top 20 theology podcasts! https://blog.feedspot.com/theology_podcasts/

Bethany Sollereder - God, Evolution, and Animal Suffering

Episode: Was there death and violence before the Fall? Was there cancer before? Did lions go after gazelles before the Fall? Bethany Sollereder says yes, yes, and yes. So what, if anything, changed in creation through the Fall? This episode probes the question of animal suffering throughout the evolutionary process, as well as the theological implications of death in the pre-Fall world.

Guest: Bethany Sollereder is a Research Fellow at the Laudato Si’ Research Institute at Campion Hall. She specializes in theology concerning evolution and the problem of suffering and is currently working on the theological aspects of our changing climate. Bethany received her PhD in Theology from the University of Exeter and an MCS in interdisciplinary studies from Regent College, Vancouver. She is the author of God, Evolution, and Animal Suffering: Theodicy Without a Fall (Routledge, 2018). She also works with BioLogos, God and the Big Bang, Learning About Science And Religion (LASAR), and has written for popular publications such as The Christian Century.

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Andrew Rillera - Quotations, Atonement, and Wrath in Paul

Episode: Returning to the theme of interviewing young and upcoming scholars, the cutting edge of the cutting edge, in this episode Chris Tilling talks with Andrew Rillera, a PhD candidate in NT at Duke University. Chris talks with Andrew about his background as a Jehovah’s Witness and what got him into biblical studies, how to identify when Paul is quoting from someone else in his letters and some problems related to that in Romans (the topic of Andrew’s dissertation). They discuss Andrew’s forthcoming book contracted with Cascade on sacrifice and sacrificial imagery in the NT. They even throw in a little bit about how Paul speaks about divine judgment. This all made for a rich and fascinating discussion.

Guest: Andrew Rillera is currently a PhD candidate in New Testament at Duke University and serves as an adjunct professor at Eternity Bible College for their Distance Ed program. He is also a consultant and Research Editor for PAX Collective (madeforpax.org/about-us): A non-profit, which seeks to promote the peace of Jesus in the 21st century through accessible Christian content specifically targeting Generation Z and Millennials. He is currently finishing up his dissertation on Romans and working on a book forthcoming with Cascade Books, Lamb of the Free: Recovering the Varied Sacrificial Understandings of Jesus’s Death. He wrote Fight: A Christian Case for Nonviolence (Cook, 2013) with Preston Sprinkle (now re-titled as Nonviolence: The Revolutionary Way of Jesus). His academic interests include the apostle Paul’s relation to Early Judaism, race and ethnicity in the Bible, theological ethics (war, violence, restorative justice, environment, economy), theological hermeneutics, sacrifice and sacrificial imagery, and Philo. Previously, he served as a Children's Ministry and College Director while completing his MA in Theology and Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary. When Andrew isn’t hanging out with his family, reading, or grading, he is probably watching or playing hockey.

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