OnScript

Brittany Wilson - Divine Embodiment

Episode: Does God have a body? Did the New Testament writers think that God has a body? Brittany Wilson says, Yes! Her study of Luke-Acts challenges assumptions that God is inherently invisible and incorporeal, and draws multiple lines of connection between images of an embodied God from the Old Testament and similar images in the New Testament. This wide-ranging and engaging conversation draws from Wilson's groundbreaking new book The Embodied God (OUP, 2021).

Guest: Dr. Brittany Wilson is Associate Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School. She’s the author of Unmanly Men: Refigurations of Masculinity in Luke-Acts (OUP) which won the Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise in 2015, and she’s written The Embodied God: Seeing the Divine in Luke-Acts and the Early Church (OUP 2021), discussed in this episode. She’s also working on a larger project that explores divine embodiment across the NT. Wilson serves on editorial boards for the Library of New Testament Studies and the Journal for the Study of the New Testament, and she is the co-chair for the Society of Biblical Literature Gospel of Luke section. She also serves on steering committees for the Society of Biblical Literature Book of Acts section and the Senses, Cultures, and Biblical Worlds section. Wilson has been a Regional Scholar for the Society of Biblical Literature and received a sabbatical grant for researchers from the Louisville Institute in 2016-2017. She is a United Methodist and a John Wesley Fellow.

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

Alister McGrath - Doctrine of Justification

Episode: How has the church's understanding of salvation grown and shifted over time? What are common misunderstandings that Catholics and Protestants have about salvation? How has this impacted the church? And what is the future of justification as that connects to ecumenical efforts? Eminent church historian Alister McGrath (University of Oxford) has been research and writing about the history of salvation in the church for over 40 years. In light of his freshly revised monograph, Iustitia Dei, McGrath leads us on a tour of the history of the Christian doctrine. Co-hosted by Matthew W. Bates.

The Book: Alister McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification (4th ed.; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020). The Christian doctrine of justification is of immense interest to historians and theologians ,and continues to be of major importance in modern ecumenical discussions. The present work appeared in its first edition in 1986, and rapidly became the leading reference work on the subject. Its many acclaimed features include a detailed assessment of the semantic background of the concept in the Ancient Near East, a thorough examination of the doctrine of the medieval period, and an especially careful analysis of its development during the critical years of the sixteenth century. The substantially rewritten fourth edition thoroughly updates the work, responding to the latest developments in scholarly literature and user feedback. It will remain an essential resource for all concerned with the development of Christian doctrine, the history of the Reformation debates on the identity of Christianity, and modern discussions between Protestants and Roman Catholics over the nature of salvation. (Publisher’s description).

Guest: Alister McGrath is the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford; Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion; Fellow of Harris Manchester College. He is the author of many books, including Narrative Apologetics (2019); Inventing the Universe (2015); Deep Magic, Dragons and Talking Mice (2015); C. S. Lewis: A Life (2013); Luther's Theology of the Cross (1985); and The Intellectual Origins of the European Reformation (1987).

OnScript's Review: Alister McGrath's field-defining treatment of the history of the doctrine of justification, Iustitia Dei, has been extensively rewritten, enriched, and brought up to date in this 4th edition. It remains the single best resource for accurately understanding how Christian salvation has been conceptualized down through the ages. It is difficult to imagine it ever being surpassed. -- 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/

Leopoldo Sánchez - Sculptor Spirit

Episode: In this episode we talk with Dr. Leopoldo A. Sánchez M. He is the Werner R.H. and Elizabeth R. Krause Professor of Hispanic Ministries at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, where he serves as professor of systematic theology and director of the Center for Hispanic Studies. His newest book is Sculptor Spirit: Models of Sanctification from Spirit Christology (IVP, 2019). In our conversation, we delve into his proposal for how a Spirit Christology can inform different models of sanctification (The Renewal, Dramatic, Sacrificial, Hospitality, Devotional models) and assist church leaders in their spiritual formation and missional praxis.

Guest: Leopoldo A. Sánchez M. (PhD, Concordia Seminary) is the Werner R. H. and Elizabeth R. Krause Professor of Hispanic Ministries at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. Sánchez's published work includes Receiver, Bearer, and Giver of God’s Spirit; Immigrant Neighbors Among Us: Immigration Across Theological Traditions, which he co-edited with M. Daniel Carroll R.; Teología de la santificación; and Pneumatología, Sculptor Spirit: Models of Sanctification from Spirit Christology(IVP 2019), and T&T Clark Introduction to Spirit Christology (T&T Clark, 2021). (adapted from the IVP site)

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Special Announcement!

OnScript is pleased to announce that we have a new theology co-host. Please welcome Jules Martínez-Olivieri to the podcast!

Jules will start this fall as Milton B. Engebretson Chair in Evangelism and Justice at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago. Most recently he has served as Associate Professor of Theology and Director of the Masters in Theological Studies at Trinity International University in Florida. Dr. Martinez’s research interests range from Christology, trinitarian theology, political theologies, and missional theology. His first book, A Visible Witness: Christology, Liberation and Participation (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2016), is available in English and Spanish (Publicaciones Kerygma). As a professor, Dr. Martínez has a rich and diverse teaching background, having taught at seminaries in Puerto Rico, Bolivia, Guatemala, Perú, and the United States. As an ordained minister, his broad pastoral experience includes serving as a pastor in Latino/a churches in Illinois and church planter in Puerto Rico. It was these very commitments which, in the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and María in 2017, led him to co-found The Christ Collaborative, an interdenominational initiative focused on disaster relief and community development. He lives in Miami with his family.

Dominick Hernández - Pathways to Wisdom

Episode: Proverbs is one of the most misunderstood books in the Old Testament. It's often treated as a self-help guide or as a collection of promises. Dominick Hernández challenges us to understand the literary qualities of Proverbs, as well as its function within the biblical canon. The episode also talks about some of the personal experiences that shape Hernández's reading of Proverbs. The episode also focuses on the culminating significance of the "warrior woman," or "woman of valor" in Proverbs 31, and other insights from his recent book Proverbs: Pathways to Wisdom (Abingdon, 2021).

Guest: Dr. Dominick Hernandez was the Assistant Professor of Old Testament Interpretation at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Since recording the podcast, Dominick has accepted a job as associate professor of Old Testament at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. He completed his MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary and PhD in Hebrew Bible at Bar-Illan University in Israel. He’s the author of Illustrated Job in Hebrew (Glossa House) and a book that we’ll discuss today called Proverbs: Pathways to Wisdom (published by Abingdon Press).

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Beth Allison Barr - The Making of Biblical Womanhood

Episode: In the opening pages of her new book, The Making of Biblical Womanhood (Brazos, 2021), Beth Allison Barr writes, “This was my understanding of biblical womanhood: God designed women primarily to be submissive wives, virtuous mothers, and joyful homemakers. God designed men to lead in the homes as husbands and fathers, as well as in church as pastors, elders, and deacons. I believed that this gender hierarchy was divinely ordained. Elisabeth Elliot famously wrote that femininity receives. Women surrender, help, and respond while husbands provide, protect, and initiate. A biblical woman is a submissive woman. This was my world for more than forty years. Until, one day, it wasn’t.”

Guest: Beth Allison Barr, Professor of Church History and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at Baylor University. Her research focuses on women in medieval and early modern sermons. She is also interested in the way that the Reformation affected women, as well as in how attitudes toward women changed and stayed the same from the medieval to the Reformation era.

(From Baylor's Website): Beth Allison Barr received her B.A. from Baylor University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Medieval History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on women and religion in medieval and early modern England, especially in how they are viewed and portrayed in sermon literature. How the advent of Protestantism affected women’s roles in the church has carried her research beyond medieval Catholicism into the world of early modern Baptists. Beth is the author of The Pastoral Care of Women in Late Medieval England, co-editor of The Acts of the Apostles: Four Centuries of Baptist Interpretation, The Making of Biblical Womanhood (Brazos, 2021), and author of more than a dozen articles (published and forthcoming). She is currently working on her next book, Women in English Sermons, 1350-1700. She is also a regular contributor to The Anxious Bench, a religious history blog on Patheos which has paved the way for her contributions in Christianity Today and The Washington Post.

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Walter Brueggemann - Exodus and Liberation

Episode: Walter Brueggemann is on the show to talk about his life as a biblical scholar, as well as his recent book Delivered Out of Empire - Pivotal Moments in the Book of Exodus (WJK Press, 2021). 

Guest: Walter Brueggemann is surely one of the most influential Bible interpreters of our time. He is the author of over one hundred books and numerous scholarly articles. He has been a highly sought-after speaker.

Brueggemann was born in Tilden, Nebraska in 1933. He often speaks of the influence of his father, a German Evangelical pastor. Brueggemann attended Elmhurst College, graduating in 1955 with an A.B. He went on to Eden Theological Seminary, earning a B.D. (equivalent to today’s M.Div.) in 1958. He completed his formal theological education at Union Theological Seminary in 1961, earning the Th.D. under the primary guidance of James Muilenburg. While teaching at Eden, he earned a Ph.D. in education at St. Louis University.

Brueggemann has served as faculty at two institutions in his career: Eden Theological Seminary (1961-1986) and Columbia Theological Seminary (1986-2003). He is currently William Marcellus McPheeters professor emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia.

Brueggemann’s primary method with the text is rhetorical criticism. Words matter to Brueggemann, and one can tell that by listening to him speak as he hangs on to particularly theologically significant words. His magnum opus, Theology of the Old Testament (1997), is a rhetorical-critical look at the Old Testament through the lenses of “testimony, dispute, and advocacy.”

Many have come to know Brueggemann through his book entitled The Prophetic Imagination, originally published in 1978. His best-known work, however, may be with the Psalms. Numerous church leaders have used his Message of the Psalms as a new way of organizing and processing the Psalms. He has been writing about the Psalms since 1982, and he continues to this day with a commentary published in 2014.

(Biblical World) Mary Buck - Ugarit and the Bible

Episode: After being forgotten for over 3000 years, the ancient city of Ugarit was rediscovered by archaeologists in 1929. Perhaps the greatest find from the site was the stash of over 2500 texts written in the ancient language of Ugaritic, texts which illuminated the history of the ancient world and the life of the local inhabitants.  Join hosts Mary Buck and Chris McKinny as they discuss the ancient site of Ugarit which ruled over the Northern Levant from 1800 BCE to 1200 BCE.

Hosts: Mary Buck (Shepherds Theological Seminary) and Chris McKinny (Gesher Media) 

Summary: In this episode, Chris and Mary discuss the following:
- The accidental discovery of Ugarit (Ras Shamra) and the expedition
- An overview of the city of Ugarit, the finds, and its significance in the 2nd millennium BC
- Potential connections between Ugarit and the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible.

Additional Resources: 2019 - Buck, Mary - Amorite Dynasty of Ugarit; 2019 - Buck, Mary - The Canaanites; Their History and Culture from Texts and Artifacts.

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(Biblical World) Karnak - Mark Janzen

Episode: This episode discusses whether it's possible to recover scenes from the Israel/Merneptah Stele, as well as cutting edge technology at Karnak, Egypt.

Hosts: Chris McKinny (Gesher Media) and Mark Janzen (Louisiana College) 

Summary: In this episode, Chris and Mark discuss the following:
becoming an Egyptologist and the role of Egyptology in biblical studies;
Karnak Temple - the most impressive surviving building of the ancient world;
the Karnak Great Hypostyle Hall Project;
imaging and epigraphy on the exterior of the west wall of the Cour de la Cachette (Merneptah's battle scenes);
the relationship between the wall reliefs of Cour de la Cachette and the Israel/Merneptah Stele (c. 1208 BC)

Additional Resources: Great Hypostyle Hall Project; Discussion of Cour de la Cachette (Merneptah); Digital Karnak UCLA; BiblePlaces Karnak Temple; Israelite Origins article 2020 by Rendsburg; Battle of Kadesh and World’s First Peace Treaty

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(Biblical World) Archaeology in the Time of Kings: Hezekiah's Reform

Episode: This inaugural Biblical World episode takes a deep dive into the archaeological background of King Hezekiah’s religious reform (2 Kgs 18:4).

Hosts: Chris McKinny (Gesher Media) and Oliver Hersey (Jerusalem University College) 

Episode Summary: 

In this episode, Chris and Oliver discuss the following: 

The historical background of Assyrian interactions with Israel and Judah in the late 8th century BC;
The destruction of Israel by the Assyrians;
The campaign of Sennacherib to Judah in 701 BC;
The archaeological evidence at Tel Sheba (decommissioned altar);
The archaeological evidence at Arad (decommissioned shrine).
The archaeological evidence at Tel Moza (reformed “temple”)
The archaeological evidence at the Lachish gate shrine (decommissioned and defiled)

Additional Resources: 

Jerusalem University College (JUC); JUC Summer Institute; JUC Online; Context of Scripture in Accordance Bible Software; BAS Article on Lachish and BASOR article on same subject; Moulis 2019 “Hezekiah’s Cultic Reforms according to the Archaeological Evidence”

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