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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Jeff McSwain - Simul Sanctification

Episode: Chris Tilling chats with Jeff McSwain about his new book Simul Sanctification: Barth's Hidden Vision for Human Transformation (Wipf & Stock, 2018).

Guest: Jeff McSwain is Founder and Director of Ministry formation at Reality Ministries, a community-based non-profit that offers a variety of opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities to work, play, learn and grow together.

Help Support OnScript: Click through one of the links above to purchase McSwain's book (or others, while you’re browsing Amazon), and OnScript gets a whopping 2% or so at no loss to you. Each bit helps us keep this operation going. Or visit our Donate Page if you want to join the big leagues and become a regular donor. Don’t let us stop you from doing both. 

 

Jon Levenson - Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel

Episode: Jon Levenson's Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel (Yale, 2006) is one of the books I (Matt) most recommend to my students and colleagues. It models biblical scholarship that is exegetically adept, holds the big picture, understands the history of interpretation, and is genuinely creative and convincing. Dru and I had the privilege of sitting down with Jon Levenson--a favorite on the show--to talk through this topic of vital importance to Jews and Christians.

Guest: Jon Levenson is Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard Divinity School. He’s well known in the world of Biblical studies, but just in case you’re not familiar or have been living under a rock, he’s the author of numerous influential works, including Sinai and Zion, Creation and the Persistence of Evil, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son, The Love of God and others. Read him!

Help Support OnScript: Click through one of the links above to purchase one of Levenson’s books (or others, while you’re browsing Amazon), and OnScript gets a whopping 2% or so at no loss to you. Each bit helps us keep this operation going. Or visit our Donate Page if you want to join the big leagues and become a regular donor. Don’t let us stop you from doing both. 

 

(Theology) Michael Bruner - A Subversive Gospel

Episode: In our latest Theology Stream episode, Amy Hughes talks with practical theologian Michael Bruner about Flannery O'Connor, a "theology of the grotesque," and why literature and art in church isn't elitist. Michael has some great stories to tell and is one of probably a very few theologians who can talk about what it's like to write a screenplay.  The conversation stems from discuss his latest book A Subversive Gospel: Flannery O'Connor and the Reimagining of Beauty, Goodness, and Truth.

Guest & Book: The Reverend Dr. Michael Bruner is Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Azusa Pacific University in California. Born and raised in the Philippines as the son of missionary parents, he received his Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Washington, a Masters of Divinity from Princeton Seminary, and his Ph.D. in Theology from Fuller Seminary. Michael is the author, most recently, of A Subversive Gospel: Flannery O’Connor and the Reimagining of Beauty, Truth, and Goodness (IVP Academic Press, 2017). He is currently writing a commentary on the four gospels with his father, Dale Bruner. Michael is ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), a Lily Fellow, and a resident scholar at the Huntington Library in San Marino. He lives in Pasadena with his wife Jenna and their two children.

Help Support OnScript: Click through one of the links above to purchase a book (or others, while you’re in there), and OnScript gets a whopping 2% or so (at no loss to you). Each bit helps us keep this operation going. Or visit our Donate Page if you want to join the big leagues and become a regular donor. Don’t let us stop you from doing both.