OnScript

Kelly Murphy - Rewriting Masculinity

Episode: Kelly Murphy joins OnScript to talk about about Gideon in scripture and tradition, and about how various biblical and post-biblical writers portray the Tuba Warrior as a 'real man' or not. This episode features discussion about editing the Bible, the book of Judges, Gideon, Zombies, and more.

Guest: Kelly is associate professor in the department of philosophy and religion at Central Michigan University. She completed her Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible from Emory University. She’s the co-editor of Apocalypses in Context: Apocalyptic Currents Through History (Fortress) and the author of Rewriting Masculinity: Gideon, Men, and Might (OUP, 2019).

 

Ivan Satyavrata - Holy Spirit

Episode: The Pentecostals are taking over OnScript! Amy talks to Dr. Ivan Satyavrata, pastor and theologian about the necessity of the "traditioning" of Pentecostalism, the incongruence of Pentecostalism not being completely on board with women in ministry or engaging extensively with the poor, and a discussion of the transformation of the Holy Spirit.

Guest: Ivan holds a Ph.D from Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, UK, and ThM from Regent College, Vancouver. Dr. Ivan Satyavrata serves as the Senior Pastor of one of the largest churches in North India—a multilingual congregation of 8 languages and about 5,000 people in Kolkata, India—and as the executive director of multiple social justice and outreach ministries operated under the church’s auspices. The schools operated by the church provide education and basic health care for over 10,000 children, while the feeding stations of the church provide the only food source available to approximately 10,000 people per day. Additionally, Pastor Ivan oversees ministries of rescue from the sex trafficking industry, jobs training for the “untouchables” of Indian society, church planting throughout northeastern India, and teaching at the Buntain Theological College—a leading Christian undergraduate college in Northern India. His interests include Christian witness to people of other faiths and the Christian response to social issues.  He has authored two books: Holy Spirit, Lord and Life Giver (Langham), God Has Not Left Himself Without Witness (Wipf & Stock), and most recently, Pentecostals and the Poor: Reflections from the Indian Context (Asia Pacific Theological Seminary Press). Ivan’s wife Sheila [Elizabeth], and sons, Rahul and Rohan, are the pride and joy of his life.

 

Raphael Rodríguez - Jesus Darkly

 

Episode: We see but a poor reflection, dimly. How does social-memory theory change how we think about the New Testament? In Rafael Rodríguez's Jesus Darkly, the Jesus that emerges from the shadows is surprisingly bright and relevant. Yet even when he remains mysterious, the darkness helps us anticipate the ultimate face-to-face encounter. Rodriguez talks candidly about how a foot-washing ceremony--which should not be confused with foot-licking--changed his life, while offering reflections on Jesus's significance for the church today. Hosted by Matthew W. Bates.

 

Guest: Rafael Rodríguez is a professor of the New Testament at Johnson University in Knoxville, Tennessee. He grew up in Colorado Springs. Dr.
Rodríguez holds a B.A. from Cincinnati Bible College and an M.A. from Cincinnati Bible Seminary. He received a Ph.D. from The University of Sheffield, in the United Kingdom for his dissertation that was subsequently published as Structuring Early Christian Memory (Bloomsbury T&T Clark). Beyond that he has penned or edited four additional books: Oral Tradition and the New Testament (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2014); ​If You Call Yourself a Jew (co-edited with Matthew Thiessen; Cascade, 2014); The So-Called Jew in Paul's Letter to the Romans (Fortress, 2016); and the book we are discussing today, Jesus Darkly.

 

The Book: Rafael Rodriguez, Jesus Darkly: Remembering Jesus with the New Testament (Nashville: Abingdon, 2018).  New Testament students have not always been well served by study of the historical Jesus, which tends to segregate Jesus from his significance vis-à-vis Israel’s scriptures and God’s agenda as this is developed among the New Testament writers in the living context of a faith community’s memory.  The witness of scripture does in fact help us remember Jesus well. From beginning to end, the Bible tells the story of God putting God’s family back together. Its plot develops in multiple, sometimes competing, ways. It exhibits the full range of human emotions and, perhaps surprisingly, it claims that these are also God’s emotions. But on every page, we hear the call of a God whose family has chosen an early inheritance instead of an intimate relationship. That God – pictured as a parent, often a father – beckons God’s children, inviting them to return and to sit at the table, clothed by mercy and affirmed as God’s very family. (Publisher’s description).

 

The OnScript Quip (our review): In Jesus Darkly, Rafael Rodríguez paints using the rich, earthy hues of social-memory theory. Jesus remains shrouded in deep mystery. Yet there is fresh light amidst the darkness. Readers will discover that Jesus shines brighter due to the starkness of the contrast. — Matthew W. Bates, Quincy University, OnScript

 

Brent Strawn - The Bible is Not a Story

Episode: Super-fan Brent Strawn is back on the podcast to talk about why he thinks the 'Bible-as-story' paradigm needs to die, Andy Stanley's book Irresistible, and the idea that problems with violence in the Old Testament are often projections.

Guest: Brent A. Strawn is William Ragsdale Cannon Distinguished Professor of Old Testament at Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He's the author of The Old Testament is Dying and other articles and books. Strawn conducts research in ancient Near Eastern iconography, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Israelite religion, legal traditions of the Old Testament, and Old Testament theology. Within the Old Testament proper, he works in the Pentateuch and poetry, focusing especially on Deuteronomy, the Psalms, and theological exegesis. He is soon to be Professor of Old Testament at Duke Divinity School.

 

Daniel Hawk - The Violence of the Biblical God

 

Episode: Matt's been wrestling with the topic of violence in Scripture for a while, and has returned to Dan Hawk's Berit Olam commentary on the book of Joshua. It was a pleasure to talk with Dan about his new book on violence in the Bible. He takes a literary approach that deserves serious attention.

Guest: L. Daniel Hawk is Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Ashland Theological Seminary. When it comes to Old Testament scholarship and theology, Dr. Hawk is an expert. He is also an excellent communicator, able to make complex issues of theology accessible to those in his classroom. Students find Dr. Hawk to be kind, compassionate, and a compelling teacher. He's the author of the Berit Olam commentary on Joshua, the Apollos commentary on Ruth, Joshua in 3-D, The Violence of the Biblical God, and co-edited Evangelical Postcolonial Conversations, and much more. (adapted from the Ashland Theological Seminary website).

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Scott Harrower - God of All Comfort (Trinity & Horror)

Episode: Scott has a riveting biography, from growing up as a missionary kid in South America to entering the Goth and underground music scene to thinking about the effects of horrors and traumas on the body of Christ. You won’t want to miss Scott’s insights here, as he discusses his book God of All Comfort. 

Guest: Scott is an Anglican theologian, historian and moral philosopher, and an Associate Professor at Ridley College (in Melbourne, Australia). He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in theology, early Christianity, ethics and philosophy of religion. He also supervises research degrees including Ph.Ds. His previous books include one on the Trinity (Trinitarian Self and Salvation), and another (with Greg Forbes) on the depiction of women in Luke-Acts (Raised from Obscurity), Trinity Without Hierarchy: Reclaiming Nicene Orthodoxy in Evangelical Theology (Kregel Academic) and with Sean McDonough, A Time for Sorrow: Recovering the Practice of Lament in the Life of the Church, (Hendrickson). He is also the co-editor (with Mike Bird) of the Cambridge Companion to the Apostolic Fathers (2020).

Book: (from the publisher) “How does God respond to trauma in a world full of horrors? Beyond their physical and emotional toll, the horrors of this world raise difficult theological and existential questions. Where is God in the darkest moments of the human experience? Is there any hope for recovery from the trauma generated by these horrors? There are no easy answers to these questions. In God of All Comfort, Scott Harrower addresses these questions head on. Using the Gospel of Matthew as a backdrop, he argues for a Trinitarian approach to horrors, showing how God—in his triune nature—reveals himself to those who have experienced trauma. He explores the many ways God relates restoratively with humanity, showing how God’s light shines through the darkness of trauma.”

OnScript Quip: (from Dru’s blurb on the back of the book) “Scott Harrower skillfully brings the pressing issue of trauma and horror into the realms of historic, Trinitarian, and creedal life of the church today. By leading us through ‘horror-attuned readings’ of the Gospels, he helps us to avoid the pitfalls of neglecting trauma as the present lens through which many of us read Scripture, but also without reducing trauma to the only lens. I initially thought this book would be an interesting read. But Harrower made me quickly realize how necessary this discussion is to understanding Scripture, theology, and our culture soaked in misappropriations of horror. Scripture as well as the church past and present have a horror-redeeming function, and Harrower aptly helps us navigate it.”

Kyle Hughes - The Trinitarian Testimony of the Spirit

 

Episode: Is the Holy Spirit properly called God? Yes, Christians are eager to say. But how and when did this development take place? The early church sensed the Spirit's full divinity, but struggled for centuries to find a grammar. Kyle Hughes, The Trinitarian Testimony of the Spirit, advances an exciting new argument. He shows that the key is the Spirit's role as a divine person who could bear witness to other divine persons. Everyone who is interested in bible and theology--take note!--and grab a listen. Trigger warning: we also dream of eating large quantities of smoked meat. If that is more than your stomach can handle, beware. Hosted by Matt Bates.

 

Guest: Kyle R. Hughes is History Department Chair at Whitefield Academy and Adjunct Professor of Bible and History at Belhaven University Atlanta. He is the author of The Trinitarian Testimony of the Spirit (Brill, 2018) and has published articles in Novum Testamentum, Vigiliae Christianae, and Journal of Early Christian History. His primary theological interests include early Christian scriptural exegesis, spiritual formation in the Anglican tradition, and Christian educational practice. Hughes has a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, a Master of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Philosophy from Radboud University Nijmegen. He lives in Smyrna, Georgia with his wife and two children. He is an avid fan of Star Wars and strategic board games.

 

 

The Book: Kyle R. Hughes, The Trinitarian Testimony of the Spirit: Prosopological Exegesis and the Development of Pre-Nicene Pneumatology (Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 147; Leiden: Brill, 2018). In The Trinitarian Testimony of the Spirit, Kyle R. Hughes offers a new approach to the development of early Christian pneumatology by focusing on how Justin, Irenaeus, and Tertullian linked the Holy Spirit with testimony to the deity and lordship of the Father and the Son. Drawing extensively on recent studies of prosopological exegesis and divine testimony in the ancient world, Hughes demonstrates how these three pre-Nicene Christian writers utilized Scripture and the conventions of ancient rhetoric and exegesis to formulate a highly innovative approach to the Holy Spirit that would contribute to the identification of the Spirit as the third person of the Trinity. (Publisher’s description).

 

The OnScript Quip (our review): Scholars have long agreed that the answers to vital questions about the development of the doctrine of the Trinity are 'no'. But Kyle Hughes' extraordinary study will shatter this consensus. The questions are: Can we show the Spirit was regarded to be a distinct divine person before the third century? Can the Trinity be successfully rooted in the Old Testament as well as the New? The answers must now be 'yes'. The Trinitarian Testimony of the Spirit is one of those rare breakthrough books that will reshape both historical and systematic theology. Read it. — Matthew W. Bates, Quincy University, OnScript

 

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Sameer Yadav - Theology. Race, and the Mystical Tradition

Episode: In this wide-ranging episode Amy Brown Hughes talks with Sameer Yadav about the 'promiscuous' nature of theology, his book The Problem of Perception and the Experience of God: Toward a Theological Empiricism, his recent work on apophaticism in the Christian mystical tradition, and race in the philosophy of religion. 

Guest: Sameer Yadav graduated from Boise State University with a bachelor degree in philosophy, earned a Master of Divinity at Master’s Seminary, a Master of Sacred Theology at Yale Divinity School, and a doctorate in theology and ethics at Duke Divinity School, with a primary concentration in systematic and philosophical theology and minor concentrations in moral theology and Old Testament/Hebrew Bible. He is the author of The Problem of Perception and the Experience of God (Fortress Press, 2015), and has published in various journals including The Journal of Analytic Theology, Journal of Religion, Faith and Philosophy and Pro Ecclesia. He's a member in American Academy of Religion, Society of Christian Philosophers, Society of Christian Ethics, and Society of Scriptural Reasoning. (drawn from the Westmont website)

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Ervine Sheblatzm – Faultlines in the Horizon

Episode: He’s back! And this time with ideas about science, theology, and philosophy that will blow your mind! Prof. Ervine Sheblatzm has been “rethinking everything” and “sequencing out” several innovative new theories that he believes will usher in “encounters of the fourth kind” in the study of Paul’s letters and in science. Listen in as Matt talks with Ervine about his groundbreaking new book Faultines in the Horizon: Paul’s Dawning Age Marches On.   

Guest: Prof. Dr. Ervine Sheblazm is reported to hold doctorates in Physics and Theology from “recognized institutions,” and has won awards and competitions of various sorts. He runs a research facility in the Lake District in the UK with his friend Dave and his goat Paul, and caries out extensive research online. His primary areas of research include multiverse theory and the epistles of Paul, but he also conducts research in paleo-archaeology, cosmology, and metaphorism. He lists “life coaching” and “aristarchic subversions” among his various hobbies. He’s also the author of The Apostle Paul, Multiverse Theory, and the Journey of the Inner Soul (Amazon, 2018).

Robert Alter - The Art of Bible Translation

Episode: Dru Johnson and Matt Lynch talk to Robert Alter about his new Princeton University Press book The Art of Bible Translation and his newly released translation of the Hebrew Bible into English. Robert explains how the translation came about and how The Art of Bible Translation acts as a methodological introduction to his translation of the Hebrew Bible.

Guest: Dr. Robert Alter is the “Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature” at the University of California, Berkeley. Most all of our listeners will know him as one of the chief architects of the literary approach to the Hebrew Bible, with over two dozen books written and now a full translation of the Hebrew Bible into English released this year by Nortons Publishing. Alter might be our first guest to have an entire New York Times article dedicated to him and his work.

 

 

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