OnScript

Beverly Gaventa - Reflections on Pauline Scholarship and Teaching

Episode: In this episode, Erin interviews Beverly Roberts Gaventa on Pauline theology, her thoughts on pedagogy, and on why Matt Bates is wrong about Karl Barth. 

Guest:  Beverly Roberts Gaventa is Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Baylor University. She previously taught at Princeton Theological Seminary, Columbia Seminary, and Colgate Rochester Divinity School. Her specializations include theological and historical interpretation of the letters of Paul, and the letter of Romans in particular. She was the president of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2016, and she has received numerous awards and honorary degrees for her exceptional teaching and research. She is the author of numerous books, including When in Romans, Our Mother Saint Paul, andApocalyptic Paul: Cosmos and Anthropos in Romans 5-8.

 

Help Support OnScript: Click through one of the links above to purchase one of the books (or others, while you're in there), and the OnScript Podcast gets a whopping 2.5% 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. 

 

Christopher Seitz - The Elder Testament

Episode: Canon, theology, and Trinity are brought together in this episode featuring guest Chris Seitz. But here's the surprise: We are talking about Trinity in the Old Testament. Seitz has written an outstanding book, The Elder Testament, showing how the Old Testament's literal sense pressures us in a trinitarian direction. Along the way Seitz drops funny personal stories about noted biblical scholars Brevard Childs and Leander Keck. Hosted by Matt Bates and Matt Lynch.

Guest: Christopher Seitz is Senior Research Professor at Wycliffe College in the University of Toronto, a position he has held since 2007. Previously he was Professor of Old Testament at Yale University and the University of St Andrews. He is an ordained Episcopal priest. Some of his books include The Bible as Christian Scripture (SBL), The Character of Christian Scripture (Baker Academic), and theological commentaries on Joel and Colossians. The list could go on.

The Book: Christopher R. Seitz, The Elder Testament: Canon, Theology, Trinity (Baylor University Press, 2018). Canon to Theology to Trinity. This trilogy, as Seitz concludes, is not strictly a historical sequence. Rather, this trilogy is ontologically calibrated through time by the One God who is the selfsame subject matter of both the Elder and New Testaments. The canon makes the traditional theological work of the church possible without forcing a choice between a minimalist criticism or a detached, often moribund systematic theology. The canon achieves "the concord and harmony of the law and the prophets in the covenant delivered at the coming of the Lord" of which Clement of Alexandria so eloquently spoke.

Endorsement: Impossible. Sealed tight. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity cannot be successfully grounded in the Old Testament, read on its own terms. Or so scholars have claimed for hundreds of years. But the Old Testament’s witness to God’s complex reality contains volcanic pressure. Large cracks have already appeared. Christopher Seitz has blown off the lid. – Matthew W. Bates, author of The Birth of the Trinity 

(Book description and endorsement from the publisher's website, abridged)

Help Support OnScript: Click through one of the links above to purchase one of the books (or others, while you're in there), and the OnScript Podcast gets a whopping 2.5% 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.

OnScript Q&A - October 2018

Episode: Matt, Matt, Erin, & Dru discuss your questions. And YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT THEY SAY NEXT! Listen to find out.

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Joshua Berman - Inconsistency in the Torah

Episode: Dru and Joshua Berman discuss his bold claims in his book—Inconsistency in the Torah—that suggest source-criticism might erroneously ignore cognate literary forms in the ancient Near East, favoring notoriously slippery histories behind each source in the Torah instead. Working through Egyptian and Mesopotamian parallels, Berman discusses how the old paradigm of sources might be insufficient in the face of other comparable literatures. We talk through the book's core arguments, krav maga, Judaism in Israel, Fijian vacations with Seventh Day Adventists, and more!

Guest: Dr. Joshua Berman is an associate professor at Bar-Ilan University. His books include Created Equal: How the Bible Broke With Ancient Political Thought and The Temple (OUP) and Inconsistency in the Torah: Ancient Literary Convention and the Limits of Source Criticism (OUP). Dr. Berman is an ordained Orthodox rabbi with a B.A. in Religion from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Bible from Bar-Ilan University in Israel.

The Book (Inconsistency in the Torah, from the publisher): "This book proposes a new approach to the Pentateuch’s narrative and legal inconsistencies that scholars have taken as signs of fragmentation and competing agendas. ... The recent pivot to empirical models constitutes a major challenge to traditional historical-critical method, mandating a review of its premises. The book includes a critical intellectual history of the theories of textual growth in biblical studies tracing how critics were influenced first by the fascination with science in the eighteenth century and then by Romanticism and Historicism in the nineteenth. These movements unwittingly led the field to adopt a range of commitments and interests that impede the proper execution of historical critical method in the study of the Pentateuch. It concludes by advocating a return to the hermeneutics of Spinoza and adopting a methodologically modest agenda."

Help Support OnScript: Click through one of the links above to purchase one of Berman's book (or others, while you're in there), and the OnScript Podcast 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.

Doug Groothuis - Walking through Twilight

Episode:  Erin and Dru host Douglas Groothuis for an episode that breaks from our typical Onscript fare. Doug's newest book, Walking through Twilight is a memoir about his journey alongside his wife as she was diagnosed, and then finally succumbed to a form of dementia called Primary Progressive Aphasia. Doug's book is raw and painful to read at times, but it is also profound and sure to be helpful for those walking similar roads, pastoring such families, or offering help.

Guest: Douglas Groothuis is Professor of Philosophy and the head of the Apologetics and Ethics program at Denver Seminary. He received a PhD and a BS from the University of Oregon, and an MA in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is the author of numerous books, including Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Christian Faith, which was awarded the Award of Merit in the Apologetics/ Evangelism category from Christianity Today in 2012 and answers the troubling questions that people are actually asking.

The Book: Douglas Groothuis, Walking through Twilight: A Wife's Illness – A Philosopher's Lament  (IVP, 2017). (from the publisher's website) Nothing is simple for a person suffering from dementia, and for those they love. When ordinary tasks of communication, such as using a phone, become complex, then difficult, and then impossible, isolation becomes inevitable. Helping becomes excruciating.

In these pages philosopher Douglas Groothuis offers a window into his experience of caring for his wife as a rare form of dementia ravages her once-brilliant mind and eliminates her once-stellar verbal acuity. Mixing personal narrative with spiritual insight, he captures moments of lament as well as philosophical and theological reflection. Brief interludes provide poignant pictures of life inside the Groothuis household, and we meet a parade of caregivers, including a very skilled companion dog.

Losses for both Doug and Becky come daily, and his questions for God multiply as he navigates the descending darkness. Here is a frank exploration of how one continues to find God in the twilight.

Help Support OnScript: Click through one of the links above to purchase Doug's book (or others, while you're in there), and the OnScript Podcast gets a whopping 2.5% 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.

Tim Mackie and Jon Collins - The Bible Project

Episode: Tim Mackie and Jon Collins chat with Matt L. and Dru J. about how the Bible Project started, their thesis that the Bible is a unified story, P967, and a wide range of other topics you've been dying to learn about.

The Bible Project: If you aren't familiar with The Bible Project, it's best to visit their site (https://thebibleproject.com/), but briefly, and from their website, 'The Bible Project is a non-profit animation studio that produces short-form, fully animated videos to make the biblical story accessible to everyone, everywhere.' They're a youtube channel that makes super helpful 5 min (or so) videos to explain the books of the Bible and its major themes.

Tim & Jon: Find out about Tim and Jon HERE.

If you want to know the kinds of videos Jon Collins created before the Bible Project, check out this video - How to Survive a Robot Uprising

Scot McKnight - Colossians and Philemon

Episode: Scot McKnight is back, bringing a cosmic Christological vision and wisdom about how the church should handle the topics of slavery and racial reconciliation. Last time he and Dennis Venema were talking Adam and the Genome. This time Scot shares what he learned while penning two exciting new commentaries, The Letter to Philemon and The Letter to the Colossians, for the beloved NICNT series. You also get to hear him sing. Maybe. Hosted by Matthew W. Bates.

Guest: Scot McKnight is Julius R. Mantey Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary. He has written more than fifty books and blogs regularly at Jesus Creed. Scot is a much-sought-after conference speaker and a renowned expert on early Christianity. He has written both academic and popular titles, including The Jesus Creed (Christianity Today’s book of the year in 2004); The Blue Parakeet; The King Jesus Gospel, and most recently Open to the Spirit. The most important thing he has written though is the foreword for Salvation by Allegiance Alone--at least that is how most people see it. Like my mother and I.

The Books: Scot McKnight, The Letter to the Colossians  (New International Commentary on the New Testament; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018). The Letter to the Colossians offers a compelling vision of the Christian life; its claims transcend religion and bring politics, culture, spirituality, power, ethnicity, and more into play. Delving deeply into the message of Colossians, this exegetical and theological commentary by Scot McKnight will be welcomed by preachers, teachers, and students everywhere.

Scot McKnight, The Letter to Philemon ( New International Commentary on the New Testament; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2017). Paul's letter to Philemon carries a strong message of breaking down social barriers and establishing new realities of conduct and fellowship. It is also a disturbing text that has been used to justify slavery. Though brief, Philemon requires close scrutiny. In this commentary Scot McKnight offers careful textual analysis of Philemon and brings the practice of modern slavery into conversation with the ancient text. Too often, McKnight says, studies of this short letter gloss over the issue of slavery—an issue that must be recognized and dealt with if Christians are to read Philemon faithfully. Pastors and scholars will find in this volume the insight they need to preach and teach this controversial book in meaningful new ways. (Descriptions from the publisher's website)

The OnScript Quip (our review): Discover how Paul's cosmic vision for holistic reconciliation begins with Jesus the king's work in the household. Fresh, up to date, independent. Some commentaries are stale rehashes that have already expired before printing. Not McKnight's on Colossians and Philemon. Pastors and scholars are guaranteed to benefit from McKnight's scholarly expertise and heart for the the church for many years to come. -- Matthew W. Bates, Quincy University, OnScript

Stephen Chester - Reading Paul with the Reformers

Episode: Live from Nashotah House Theological Seminary in Wisconsin! OnScript host Matt Lynch interviews Stephen Chester. We talk about how Luther & Calvin have taken a whipping by some proponents of the New Perspective on Paul, and how they, and we, need to give them a second look. To that end, we discuss his book Reading Paul with the Reformers, winner of Christianity Today's 2018 Book of the Year in Biblical Studies.

Guest: Stephen Chester is Professor of NT at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago. Stephen is ordained in the PCS (Presbyterian denomination of the Church of Scotland) and is the author of Reading Paul with the Reformers: Reconciling Old and New Perspectives (Eerdmans, 2017) and Conversion at Corinth: Perspectives on Conversion in Paul's Theology and the Corinthian Church (Bloomsbury, 2005).

Help Support OnScript: Click through one of the links above to purchase Stephen Chester's book (or others, while you're in there), and the OnScript Podcast gets a whopping 2.5% 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.

 

Marc Turnage – The Bible in its Ancient World

Marc Turnage lives and breathes the world of the New Testament, through literature, archaeology, and geography. He's an expert in biblical Galilee, and comes to us live from the Galilee, where he currently helps direct an archaeological dig at Khirbet el-Araj, the possible site of biblical Bethsaida and home of Peter and Andrew. Since recording this episode, those digging at the site have confirmed that el-Araj is indeed home to a Byzantine church, and have garnered additional evidence of an urban city in the Roman era. The Roman City has definite Jewish presence as evidenced by the discovery of a knife-paired oil lamp and part of a stone vessel.

Susan Eastman - Paul and the Person

Episode:  In this episode, Susan Eastman talks with Erin and Matt about her new book on Pauline Anthropology. The book is a fascinating three-way dialogue between the Apostle Paul, Epictetus, and current trends in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Eastman's ability to integrate these three complex disciplines into a single, thought-provoking book is likewise matched by her ability to articulate its profound implications for pastoral ministry.

Guest: (from Duke Divinity's website) Susan Grove Eastman is an Associate Research Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School.  Her scholarship focuses on Paul’s letters in relationship to the formation and transformation of Christian identity. Her first book, Recovering Paul’s Mother Tongue: Language and Theology in Galatians (Eerdmans, 2006), explored Paul’s use of familial imagery to proclaim the gospel’s transforming and sustaining power in the life of Christian communities. More recent work has focused on Paul’s understanding of Israel in Galatians and Romans, and on the theme of the incarnation in Philippians. Her current research investigates questions of participation and identity formation through a close reading of key Pauline texts in their first century context and in conversation with contemporary work in the fields of cognitive psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience. With appointments in both the biblical and ministerial divisions at Duke Divinity, Dr. Eastman teaches courses on the New Testament, the Bible in the church, Pauline anthropology, and preaching Paul. Ordained in the Episcopal Church, she has served churches from New York to Alaska, in addition to her scholarly work.

The Book: Susan Grove Eastman, Paul and the Person: Reframing Paul's Anthropology (Eerdmans, 2017). (from the publisher's website) In this book Susan Grove Eastman presents a fresh and innovative exploration of Paul’s participatory theology in conversation with both ancient and contemporary conceptions of the self. Juxtaposing Paul, ancient philosophers, and modern theorists of the person, Eastman opens up a conversation that illuminates Paul’s thought in new ways and brings his voice into current debates about personhood.

Help Support OnScript: Click through one of the links above to purchase Susan Eastman's book (or others, while you're in there), and the OnScript Podcast gets a whopping 2.5% 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.