OnScript

Jeanette Hagen Pifer - Faith as Participation

Episode: In this third episode of a mini-series on "faith" (pistis), Jeanette Hagen Pifer brings a different method to bear on pistis, looking at what we might glean from wider conceptual categories related to "faith," like persuasion and boasting. And she was a missionary in the former Soviet Union before becoming a professor! Join her and OnScript co-host Matthew W. Bates, as they discuss Jeanette's new book, Faith as Participation.

Guest: Jeanette Hagen Pifer is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Biola University She has served in a variety of ministry capacities including evangelistic and humanitarian work with orphans in the former Soviet Union, helping to facilitate for theological and ministry training around the world, and serving in a church plant in Whittier, Calif. She completed her Ph.D., studying under Professor John Barclay at Durham University. Her research focused on the Pauline concept of faith. Hagen has presented academic papers at a number of conferences in the U.S. and in Europe. She also contributed to the Lightfoot Legacy, a three volume set of previously unpublished commentaries by this foremost English NT scholar of the 19th century. Prior to coming to Biola, Hagen taught at Cranmer Hall in Durham England, a theological college focused on training individuals called to full-time Christian service.

The Book: Jeanette Hagen Pifer, Faith as Participation: An Exegetical Study of Some Key Pauline Texts (WUNT 486; Mohr Siebeck, 2019). Jeanette Hagen Pifer contends that several of the apparent conundrums in recent Pauline scholarship turn out to derive from an inadequate understanding of what Paul means by faith. By first exploring the question of what Paul means by faith outside of the classic justification passages in Romans and Galatians, she reveals faith as an active and productive mode of human existence. Yet this existence is not a form of human self-achievement. On the contrary, faith is precisely the denial of self-effort and a dependence upon the prior gracious work of Christ. In this way, faith is self-negating and self-involving participation in the Christ-event. (Publisher’s description, abridged).

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Nijay Gupta - Paul and the Language of Faith

Episode: After years of relative silence, conversations about "faith" (pistis) in the New Testament and early Christianity are suddenly blossoming. Pistis is essential. But because it's multifaceted and can be used in so many contexts, Nijay Gupta compares it to a Swiss Army knife. OnScript co-host Matthew Bates welcomes guest Nijay Gupta to speak about Nijay's exciting new book, Paul and the Language of Faith.

Guests: Nijay K. Gupta (PhD, Durham) teaches New Testament at Portland Seminary (Portland, OR). He has written academic articles and books, most recently Paul and the Language of Faith (Eerdmans, 2020). He is also co-editor of The State of New Testament Studies (Baker Academic, 2019) and co-editor of the planned second edition of the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (IVP Academic, ~2022). Watch out for his soon-to-appear A Beginner's Guide to the New Testament (Baker Academic, 2020). Gupta blogs at www.cruxsolablog.com. When he is not working, he likes to cook Asian food, watch superhero movies, drink good coffee, go to a Portland Timbers soccer game, and hang out with his wife Amy and his three kids.

The Book: Nijay Gupta, Paul and the Language of Faith (Eerdmans, 2020). A dynamic reading of Paul’s faith language, outlining its subtle nuances as belief, trust, and faithfulness. Faith language permeates the letters of Paul. Yet, its exact meaning is not always clear. Many today, reflecting centuries of interpretation, consider belief in Jesus to be a passive act. In this important book, Nijay Gupta challenges common assumptions in the interpretation of Paul and calls for a reexamination of Paul’s faith language. Gupta argues that Paul’s faith language resonates with a Jewish understanding of covenant involving goodwill, trust, and expectation. Paul’s understanding of faith involves the transformation of one’s perception of God and the world through Christ, relational dependence on Christ, as well as active loyalty to Christ. Pastors and scholars alike will benefit from this close examination of Paul’s understanding and use of faith language. For Gupta, Paul’s understanding involves a divine-human relationship centered on Christ that believes, trusts, and obeys. (Publisher’s description, unabridged).

The OnScript Quip (our review): This book should excite scholars and pastors. Gupta reveals the full spectrum of "faith" language in early Christianity. It is an exciting exposition of how faith language interfaces with loyalty, covenant, cognition—and much more. Our understanding of early Christian theology has been enriched. — Matthew W. Bates, author of Gospel Allegiance, OnScript

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James Diamond - Jewish Theology Unbound

Episode: Dru Johnson speaks with James Diamond about why Jewish theology matters, and how he understands themes like love, death, freedom, names of God, angels, the philosophical quest, and Zionism in light of the Hebrew Bible and the Jewish Rabbinic, philosophical, and mystical traditions. This episode focuses on his book Jewish Theology Unbound (OUP). 

Guest: Professor James A. Diamond is the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Chair of Jewish Studies at the University of Waterloo. He holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies and Medieval Jewish Thought from the University of Toronto, and an LL.M. from New York University’s Law School. He is also a Herzl Institute/Templeton Foundation Fellow. Dr. Diamond is the author of Maimonides and the Hermeneutics of Concealment (SUNY, 2002) which was awarded the Canadian Jewish Book Award and Converts, Heretics and Lepers: Maimonides and the Outsider (University of Notre Dame, 2008), awarded Notable Selection-Jordan Schnitzer Book Award in the Category of Philosophy and Jewish Thought for best book in 4 years (2008). His  book Maimonides and the Shaping of the Jewish Canon (Cambridge, 2014) was a recipient of the Canadian Jewish Literary Award and his most recent book is JewishTheology Unbound  (OUP). 

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Daniel Pioske - How Did Biblical Writers Access The Past?

Episode: In this episode Matt Lynch sits down with Dan Pioske to talk about the way we know about ancient Israel. Most scholars have been so text-based in their assumptions about memory transmission in the ancient world. They assume that texts & docs were the main way knowledge was preserved. Pioske suggests that there's another major way knowledge transmits--through the land. This episode explores the way that the land retains memory and provided biblical writers with a window on the past. We also discuss growing up in Minnesota, archaeology, the Philistines, David's Jerusalem, and much more!

Guest: Dan Pioske grew up on a family farm in southern Minnesota and attended Gustavus Adolphus college. After graduating, he moved east to Princeton Theological Seminary where he received his M.Div. 2007 and his Ph.D. in Biblical Studies in 2012. He taught for two years at Union Theological Seminary, New York, as a Post-Doctoral Fellow and Instructor in Biblical Languages, and he is currently an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Georgia Southern University. He's the author of David’s Jerusalem: Between Memory and History (2015) and Memory in a Time of Prose: Studies in Epistemology, Hebrew Scribalism, and the Biblical Past (2018). He lives in Savannah, Ga, with his wife Suzette and daughters Eve and Esther.

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David Downs & Benjamin Lappenga - The Faithfulness of the Risen Christ

Episode: Jesus was faithful to us in dying on the cross. But how does this inform faith? And does Jesus' faithfulness stop at the cross, or does it extend into his on-going life as the resurrected and exalted one? What might all of this say about the disputed pistis Christou phrase? And did you know that in addition to coauthoring a book, David Downs and Benjamin Lappenga have run a marathon? Or that Lappenga fronted a Seattle rock band? OnScript co-hosts Matthew Bates and Erin Heim welcome guests David Downs and Benjamin Lappenga to speak about their new book, The Faithfulness of the Risen Christ.

Guests: Dr. David J. Downs is Clarendon-Laing Associate Professor in New Testament Studies at Oxford University’s Keble College. Previously he was a professor of Biblical Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary. He holds degrees from Clemson, Fuller, and Princeton, having served as a teaching fellow at Princeton and a visiting professor at Holy Cross. In addition to the book we are discussing today, The Faithfulness of the Risen Christ (Baylor University Press, 2019), David has also published Alms (Baylor University Press, 2016) and The Offering of the Gentiles (Mohr Siebeck, 2008; repr. Eerdmans, 2016), as well as numerous journal articles.

Dr. Benjamin Lappenga holds a PhD. From Fuller Seminary in theology (New Testament). He was previously Associate Professor of Theology and Department Chair at Dordt College near Sioux City, Iowa. He is also the author of Paul’s Language of Ζῆλος: Monosemy and the Rhetoric of Identity and Practice (Leiden: Brill, 2016).

The Book: David J. Downs and Benjamin J. Lappenga, The Faithfulness of the Risen Christ: Pistis and the Exalted Lord in the Pauline Letters (Baylor University Press, 2019). The  pistis Christou construction in Paul’s letters has ignited heated debates among Pauline scholars and theologians. On the one side, some claim that the phrase denotes human faith placed  in Christ. Others, however, contend that  pistis Christou in Paul alludes to the faithfulness  of Christ himself, with Christ’s pistis chiefly demonstrated in his willingness to suffer and die upon the cross. Yet both sides of this debate overlook Paul’s emphasis on the faithfulness and continuing work of the  risen and  exalted Christ. Downs and Lappenga effectively reframe any future consideration of the  pistis Christou construction for both New Testament scholars and theologians by showing that the story of Jesus in the letters of Paul extends to the faithfulness of the exalted Christ Jesus, who will remain faithful to those justified through union with Christ. (Publisher’s description, abridged).

The OnScript Quip (our review): Downs and Lappenga open the shutters and remove the blinds. Once we see the that "the faith of Christ" includes the faithfulness of the risen and exalted Christ, Paul's letters will never look the same. The Faithfulness of the Risen Christ is an enlightening and energetic contribution that is sure to reshape academic and pastoral conversations about how "faith" and "faithfulness" interface in salvation. — Matthew W. Bates, Quincy University, OnScript

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Cynthia Shafer-Elliott - Digging Up Israel's Past

Episode: We're going back to the dirt in this episode with Cynthia Shafer-Elliott. We talk about bee hives, the Daniel diet, Ezekiel bread, gender & archaeology, and why Cynthia is willing to get up at 4am for weeks at a time each summer.

Guest: Cynthia Shafer-Elliott is Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Biblical Studies in the The Faculty of Theology and School of Christian Leadership at William Jessup University. Did her Ph.D. at the University of Sheffield in the UK. Dr. Shafer Elliott. is an experienced field archaeologist in Israel and is currently part of the archaeological excavation team at Tell Halif, Israel. She’s the author of The Five Minute Archaeologist in the Southern Levant which is a user-friendly exploration of basic concepts within archaeology and the techniques and methods used by archaeologists in the field. She’s also written Food in Ancient Judah: Domestic Cooking in the Time of the Hebrew Bible (Equinox).

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If you like this: Check out our episode with Jonathan Greer about his co-edited book Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament (Baker).

Dru Johnson interviews Matt Lynch

Episode: In this week's episode co-host Dru Johnson interviews co-host Matt Lynch, and there's a surprise mystery guest!

Guest: Matt Lynch is Academic Dean and Lecturer in Old Testament at Westminster Theological Centre, UK, where he's served for the last 7 years.  He's also the co-founder of OnScript with Matt Bates. He completed his Ph.D. at Emory University in 2012, and worked for two years as a post-doctoral researcher in Germany. He's the author of Monotheism and Institutions in the Book of Chronicles (Mohr Siebeck, 2014) and his Portraying Violence in the Hebrew Bible: A Literary and Cultural Study (Cambridge, 2020) will release this summer.  Matt will be moving to Vancouver, BC, to teach at Regent College beginning in August, 2020. He's married to Abi and has two kids. 

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

Willie Jennings - Race and Christian Theology

Episode: In this episode, Willie James Jennings joins host Amy Hughes to talk about his The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race ten years after its publication. This compelling work is indispensable for current theological and cultural conversations about race, colonization, Scripture, supersessionism, and the relationship between humans and land.

Guest: The Reverend Dr. Willie James Jennings is currently Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies at Yale University Divinity School.

Dr. Jennings was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dr. Jennings received his B.A. in Religion and Theological Studies from Calvin College (1984), his M.Div. (Master of Divinity degree) from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena California, and his Ph.D. degree from Duke University. Dr. Jennings who is a systematic theologian teaches in the areas of theology, black church and Africana studies, as well as post-colonial and race theory. Dr. Jennings is the author of The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race published by Yale University Press. It is one of the most important books in theology written in the last 25 years and is now a standard text read in colleges, seminaries, and universities. Dr. Jennings is also the recipient of the 2015 Grawemeyer Award in Religion for his groundbreaking work on race and Christianity. Dr. Jennings recently authored commentary on the Book of Acts has won the Reference Book of the Year Award, from The Academy of Parish Clergy. His book on theological education entitled, After Whiteness: Cultivating Erotic Souls, will be published in the fall of 2020. And now Dr. Jennings is hard at work on a book on the doctrine of creation, tentatively entitled, “Reframing the World.” 

In addition to being a frequent lecturer at colleges, universities, and seminaries, Dr. Jennings is also a regular workshop leader at pastor conferences. He is also a consultant for the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, and for the Association of Theological Schools. He served along with his wife, the Reverend Joanne L. Browne Jennings as associate ministers at the Mount Level Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina, and for many years, they served together as interim pastors for several Presbyterian and Baptist churches in North Carolina. They are the parents of two wonderful daughters, Njeri and Safiya Jennings.

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

If you like this: Check out our episode with Nyasha Junior about her book An Introduction to Womanist Biblical Interpretation.

 

SBL Special Report!

In this inbetwepisode, Dru interviews scholars and publishers at the book tables and receptions at the annual meeting of the Society for Biblical Literature (which also includes the American Academy of Religion, Institute for Biblical Research, American Schools of Oriental Research, and more!). Order of appearance:

1. Robin "the rain in Spain" Parry (Wipf & Stock)
2. Marc Cortez (Wheaton)
3. Rodrigo de Sousa (Faculté Jean Calvin)
4. Nijay Gupta (George Fox University)
5. John Anthony Dunne (Bethel Seminary)
6. Jesse Myers/Miles Custis (Lexham Press)
7. Ela Lazarewicz-Wyrzykowska (Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology)
8. Heath Thomas (Oklahoma Baptist University)
9. Mary Katharine Hom (Independent Scholar/OnScript regular)
10. Anne-Marie Ellithorpe (Vancouver School of Theology)

Michael Bird - The New Testament in Its World (with N.T. Wright)

Episode: Michael Bird speaks with Matt Bates and Erin Heim about his new joint venture with N.T. Wright, The New Testament in Its World. We discussed Mike's take on well-worn issues in New Testament Studies, what it's like to write a book with N.T. Wright, scary Australian animals, and more.

Guest: Michael Bird is Academic Dean and lecturer in theology at Ridley College in Melbourne, Australia. Mike has published in both New Testament Studies and in Systematic Theology, and his many publications include Jesus the Eternal Son: Answering Adoptionist Christology (you can also listen to Mike's first OnScript interview on Jesus the Eternal Son), Romans (Story of God Bible Commentary Series), Evangelical Theology, and The Saving Righteousness of God. Mike runs a popular theological studies blog called “Euangelion” and can be followed on twitter @mbird12.

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