OnScript

Dennis Venema & Scot McKnight - Adam and the Genome

Episode: Evangelicals, grab your Noah's ark replicas. Atheists, seize your Darwinian fish symbols. It's the mother of all culture wars. Except Dennis Venema and Scot McKnight, who both hold traditional evangelical Christian convictions, suggest that the war is needless. It is okay to acknowledge the Jesus fish and to affirm that humans and fish descend from common ancestors. How did Dennis, an evolutionary biologist, and Scot, a New Testament scholar, come together to collaborate? What new evidence has emerged about the human genome in support of evolution? And the crux: How can we make sense of the Bible's description of Adam and Eve as the first humans in light of multiple strands of evidence that suggests humans evolved as a group of no less than 10,000? Hosted by Matthew W. Bates.

Guests:  Dennis Venema (PhD, University of British Columbia) is Associate Professor of Biology at Trinity Western University in British Columbia. He is a fellow of BioLogos, where he writes a popular blog, Letters to the Duchess. He has also penned numerous scholarly articles.

Scot McKnight (PhD, Nottingham) is Julius R. Mantey Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL. The author of more than fifty books, Scot runs the highly influential blog Jesus Creed and is a world-renowned expert on early Christianity. Some of his popular titles include The Jesus Creed (Paraclete, 2004; a Christianity Today book of the year); The Blue Parakeet (Zondervan, 2008), and A Fellowship of Differents (Zondervan, 2014). McKnight has also written many books for a scholarly audience, including The Epistle of James (NICNT; Eerdmans, 2010), and one of my personal favorites, The King Jesus Gospel (Zondervan, 2011).

Book: Dennis R. Venema and Scot McKnight, Adam and the Genome: Reading Scripture after Genetic Science  (Brazos, 2017). Genomic science indicates that humans descend not from an individual pair but from a large population. What does this mean for the basic claim of many Christians: that humans descend from Adam and Eve? The authors conclude that genome research about evolution and Scripture are not irreconcilable.

The OnScript Quip (our review): The evidence of nature or Scripture? A tiresome false dilemma. Interpreting the data with clarity and verve, Venema and McKnight show us how cutting-edge science and thoughtful Scripture scholarship can move us beyond faith-versus-science polemics and toward an integrated Christian worldview. -- Matthew W. Bates, Quincy University, OnScript

Susannah Heschel - The Aryan Jesus

Episode: The story of German Christian anti-Semitism of the Nazi era is still being told. Susannah Heschel's book The Aryan Jesus brings to light the archives of the 'Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Religious Life,' and tells the story of how German churches found common cause with Nazi's over their shared anti-Semitic commitments. In this episode we discuss Susannah Heschel's remarkable upbringing, her journey into studying the 'pathologies of biblical scholarship,' and her research on The Aryan Jesus.

Guest: 'Susannah Heschel is the Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College. Her scholarship focuses on Jewish-Christian relations in Germany during the 19th and 20th centuries, the history of biblical scholarship, and the history of anti-Semitism. Her numerous publications include Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus (University of Chicago Press), which won a National Jewish Book Award, and The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany (Princeton University Press). She has also taught at Southern Methodist University and Case Western Reserve University.' [from the Dartmouth website]

Heschel tells the story of her childhood and relationship with her father Abraham Joshua Heschel in a beautifully written piece called 'My Father, Myself.' Abraham Joshua Heschel is the author of The Sabbath, The Prophets, and many other highly influential books. In her piece, Susannah tells the story of her father's escape from Poland in 1940, including his involvement in the civil rights movement. Abraham Heschel famously marched with MLK from Selma to Montgomery, an experience that he describes thus: 'When I marched in Selma, I felt like my legs were praying.' She also describes her father's support of her feminism and scholarship.

Book: In The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany (Princeton University Press, 2008), Susannah Heschel traces the redefinition of Jesus as an Aryan opponent of the Jewish people during the Nazi era. German Christian theologians and biblical scholars aligned themselves with the Nazis (and many became Nazis) via their shared anti-Semitism and formed the 'Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Religious Life.' Heschel digs into the archives of this institute to tell its story, and to set it in the wider context of Christian anti-Semitism during the Third Reich. The members of this institute include some of the most influential biblical scholars of the time. Heschel then follows the post-war career 'success' of the institute's members as they found jobs in universities, seminaries, and churches in East and West Germany. The book raises troubling but important questions about Jewish-Christian relationships.

Jeremiah Unterman - Justice for All

Episode:What role has the Hebrew Bible played in shaping our modern views on ethics? Many Christians have casually believed that the radical ethics of the New Testament provide the moral foundation of the West. Remarkably, Christians are often unaware of the deep roots of Western morality in Hebrew Bible. Many are often surprised to find out that Jesus did not invent the ideal of loving our neighbor as ourselves, rather he is quoting Leviticus from the Torah. Moreover, what we often understand to be modern and civil about Western morality—caring for the poor and orphans, inclusion of the immigrant, weekend rest and labor laws, offering forgiveness, and more—actually comes directly out of the scrolls of the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament).

Dru Johnson interviews Jeremiah Unterman about his new book—Justice for All: How the Jewish Bible Revolutionized Ethics. Unterman has offered work that not only presents us with the Hebraic roots of our morality, but demonstrates that this ethical framework is found only in the Hebrew Bible and not in the literature of ancient Israel’s neighbors: the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and more.

Guest: Jeremiah Unterman was the Director of the Association of Modern Orthodox Day Schools in North America before becoming a Resident Scholar at the Herzl Institute.  He is the author of a T&T Clark monograph on Jeremiah, From Repentance to Redemption: Jeremiah’s Thought in Transition as well as numerous scholarly articles.

He has taught at Dartmouth College, Northwestern University, University of California – Irvine, and other universities. He received a B.A. in Hebraic Studies from Rutgers University, an M.A. in Bible from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Ph.D. in the Judaica Program of the Near Eastern Studies Department at U.C., Berkeley, where he studied with the renowned scholar: Jacob Milgrom.

Book: From the publisher:
"Justice for All demonstrates that the Jewish Bible, by radically changing the course of ethical thought, came to exercise enormous influence on Jewish thought and law and also laid the basis for Christian ethics and the broader development of modern Western civilization. Jeremiah Unterman shows us persuasively that the ethics of the Jewish Bible represent a significant moral advance over Ancient Near East cultures. Moreover, he elucidates how the Bible’s unique conception of ethical monotheism, innovative understanding of covenantal law, and revolutionary messages from the prophets form the foundation of many Western civilization ideals. Justice for All connects these timeless biblical texts to the persistent themes of our times: immigration policy, forgiveness and reconciliation, care for the less privileged, and attaining hope for the future despite destruction and exile in this world."

The OnScript Quip (our review): I have both read this book in early drafts and used it teaching freshmen in a Christian context at The King's College. I have been convinced of its merits by the content, but also by how it has helped young college students reassess the bible’s position in the world of ancient literature. This book not only offers fresh insights into the ethical matrix of the Hebrew Bible, but also acts as a primer folks not intimately familiar with the literature of the bible or the ancient Near East. I would dare say that many Christians might be surprised by the ethical teaching of the Torah and prophets, from which the New Testament texts derive most all of their ethics. - Dru Johnson, The OnScript Podcast

Street interviews by Sabrina Sanchez.

["Blind Love Dub" from this episode by Jeris © 2017, Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/VJ_Memes/55416 Ft: Kara Square (mindmapthat)]

Matt & Matt - Listener Q&A + More

Episode: In this episode, Matt & Matt reflect back on the last year of OnScript-ing, answer some listener Q&A, and ... make a big announcement. Yes, we have some exciting news to share with you! Matt L. also quizzes Matt B. about his latest book Salvation By Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Baker, 2017).

Guests: OnScript co-hosts Matt Bates and Matt Lynch. You can read about us here, but basically, we teach and write about the OT & NT. Matt B. depends heavily for his work on people like Matt L., but the reverse is not necessarily the case. Matt L. teaches at Westminster Theological Centre in the UK, and Matt B at Quincy University, in Illinois.

Book: Matt's Salvation By Allegiance Alone offers a 'fresh proposal for what faith means within a biblical theology of salvation, Matthew Bates presses the church toward a new precision: we are saved solely by allegiance to Jesus the king. Instead of faith alone, Christians must speak about salvation by allegiance alone. The book includes discussion questions for students, pastors, and church groups and a foreword by Scot McKnight' (from the Baker Academic website).

Brent Strawn - The Old Testament is Dying

Episode: Guest Brent Strawn unfurls his provocative thesis that The Old Testament is Dying with OnScript host Matt Lynch. Matt and Brent discuss the malaise of ignorance about, hostility toward, and success-driven re-packaging of, the Old Testament in recent and ancient history. Along the way Brent laughs a lot, sheds a few tears (I didn't verify that), and even sounds a few hopeful notes ... but not before letting his diagnosis sink in.

Guest: Brent A. Strawn is Professor of Old Testament at Candler School of Theology at Emory University, Atlanta. He is the author of What Is Stronger Than a Lion? Leonine Image and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East (Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2005), and editor-in-chief of the award-winning Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Law (Oxford University Press, 2015), along with Iconographic Exegesis of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible: An Introduction to Its Theory, Method, and Practice (Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2015) and other books, including his most recent book The Old Testament is Dying: A Diagnosis and Recommended Treatment (Baker Academic, 2017). Brent taught previously at Rutgers University and Asbury Theological Seminary, and has taught as a visiting lecturer at Princeton Theological Seminary and visiting professor at Columbia Seminary.

Book: The Old Testament is Dying: A Diagnosis and Recommended Treatment (Baker Academic, 2017). 'This timely book shows how the Old Testament is like a language - a language is used and learned or it falls into disuse and eventually dies. Brent Strawn details a number of ways the Old Testament is showing signs of decay, demise, and imminent death in the church and criticizes common misunderstandings of the Old Testament that contribute to its neglect. He also shows that it is possible for a language to be recovered. Drawing fresh insight from recent studies of how languages die and are revived, Strawn offers strategies for renewing the use of the Old Testament in Christian faith and practice. This clearly written book will appeal to professors and students of the Old Testament as well as pastors and church leaders.' (From the Baker Academic Website)

The OnScript Quip (our review): The title of this book is not click bait. It's a serious data-supported diagnosis by one of today's leading doctors of all matters Old Testament. Brent A. Strawn (Candler School of Theology, Emory University) examines the Church's inability to speak fluent, or even near-fluent, Old Testament, and he names the forces at work against language acquisition. Strawn claims that at best the Church speaks a pidginized form of the Old Testament, a kind of baby speak: 'Joshua win battle!' 'David kill Goliath!' He examines three factors that accelerate language loss: The New Atheists, The Neo-Marcionites, and the health and wealth 'Happiologists,' and discusses their attractiveness and their impact on the Church's native tongue. Strawn lets his diagnosis sink in deeply before letting just a few shafts of hopeful light enter the dimly lit hospital room where the Old Testament lies, attached to a ventilator.

Kevin Vanhoozer - Biblical Authority After Babel

 

Episode: What's the verdict? Kevin J. Vanhoozer presents the case and renders a judgment. It is easy to charge the Protestant Reformation with the crime of fracturing the unity of the church. Others have added skepticism and secularization to the list of misdeeds. In Biblical Authority After Babel, Vanhoozer explores these common criticisms of the Protestant Reformation--and finds them wanting.

OnScript host Matthew W. Bates and Kevin discuss a wide variety of topics: whether Kevin is truly an anarchist, what motivates Kevin's research, the interaction of grace and nature, "faith" in philosophy and theology, models for how Scripture and tradition relate, and the keys of the kingdom as this relates to church authority. These matters are central to the gospel and salvation!

Guest: Kevin Vanhoozer is currently Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He was formerly Blanchard Professor of Theology at Wheaton College and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. He has written numerous books, including several award winning publications: Is There a Meaning in this Text? (Zondervan, 1998; Christianity Today Book Award, 1999) and The Drama of Doctrine (Westminster John Knox, 2005; Christianity Today Best Theology Book of the Year, 2006).

Book: Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Biblical Authority After Babel: Retrieving the Solas in the Spirit of Mere Protestant Christianity (Brazos, 2016). In recent years, notable scholars have argued that the Protestant Reformation unleashed interpretive anarchy on the church. Is it time to consider the Reformation to be a 500-year experiment gone wrong? World-renowned evangelical theologian Kevin Vanhoozer thinks not. While he sees recent critiques as legitimate, he argues that retrieving the Reformation's core principles offers an answer to critics of Protestant biblical interpretation. He offers a positive assessment of the Reformation, showing how a retrieval of "mere Protestant Christianity" has the potential to reform contemporary Christian belief and practice.  This provocative response and statement from a top theologian is accessibly written for pastors and church leaders..

The OnScript Quip (our review): Schism. Skepticism. Secularization. Due to these crimes the case against the Protestant Reformation appears overwhelming. Here world-class theologian Kevin Vanhoozer acts as an expert trial lawyer. He sifts the evidence, weighs causes, and presents his case in a winning fashion. The table-turning verdict: "Not guilty!" -- Matthew W. Bates, Quincy University, OnScript

Daniel Kirk - A Man Attested by God

Episode: Matt L. and J. Daniel Kirk discuss the humanity of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels, and the idea that Jesus' humanity meant much more than the fact that he could eat, sleep, and become exhausted. Daniel argues that an unintended consequence of the studies that proffer a divine Christology is an underdeveloped human Christology. Matt and Daniel discuss 'idealized human figures' in early Judaism, several possible objections to Daniel's thesis that the Gospels don't offer a divine Christology, and much more that can be found in the 600 and some odd pages of A Man Attested by God: The Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels (Eerdmans, 2016).

Guest: Daniel is the author of Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God (Eerdmans, 2008), Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? A Narrative Approach to the Problem of Pauline Christianity (Baker, 2012), and now A Man Attested by God: The Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels (Eerdmans, 2016). He is also an avid blogger at Storied Theology, and hosts his own podcast called The Lectiocast, which follows the common lectionary to help ministers prepare for their upcoming sermons. Daniel is also the Newbigin Fellowship Pastoral Director at the Newbigin House of Studies in San Francisco.

Book: In A Man Attested by God J. R. Daniel Kirk presents a comprehensive defense of the thesis that the Synoptic Gospels present Jesus not as divine but as an idealized human figure. Counterbalancing the recent trend toward early high Christology in such scholars as Richard Bauckham, Simon Gathercole, and Richard Hays, Kirk here thoroughly unpacks the humanity of Jesus as understood by Gospel writers whose language is rooted in the religious and literary context of early Judaism. Without dismissing divine Christologies out of hand, Kirk argues that idealized human Christology is the best way to read the Synoptic Gospels, and he explores Jesus as exorcist and miracle worker within the framework of his humanity. (from the eerdmans.com website).

Dru Johnson - Knowledge by Ritual

Episode: Matt L. discusses with Dru Johnson his claim that the Bible offers an epistemology, one where humans know by ritual. They discuss key influences on Dru's work, the importance of the body for knowing, whether Dru burns incense in his office, and more. This is Johnson's third book on biblical epistemology (and it's really good!), so you won't want to miss his reflections on this topic.

Guest: Dru Johnson studied psychology as an undergraduate before going to Covenant Theological Seminary (St. Louis, MO). Prior to his Ph.D., he both studied and taught analytic philosophy at the University of Missouri—St. Louis. Dr. Johnson occasionally teaches as a visiting professor at Covenant Theological Seminary. He took research leave in Spring of 2013 to be the Templeton Senior Research Fellow in Analytic Theology at The Herzl Institute (Jerusalem, Israel). He currently serves as the co-chair for the Hebrew Bible and Philosophy program unit in the Society of Biblical Literature. He's the author of Biblical Knowing: A Scriptural Epistemology of Error (Cascade Books, 2013), Scripture's Knowing: A Companion to Biblical Epistemology (Wipf & Stock, 2015), and Knowledge by Ritual: A Biblical Prolegomenon to Sacramental Theology (Eisenbrauns, 2016).

Starting at 17 years old, Dru served two years active duty and five years in the reserves of the U.S. Air Force—extensively involved in counter-narcotics operations in the Amazon basin of Colombia from 1993–98. Working in I.T. from college through seminary, he then served for eight years as an associate pastor at GracePoint of Webster in St. Louis, Missouri and two years with Holy Trinity in St Andrews (Church of Scotland). He teaches regularly in Western Kenya in a school for rural pastors and is currently ordained in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. He and his wife have four children. (Info from The King's College website).

Book: Johnson's recent Knowledge by Ritual: A Biblical Prolegomenon to Sacramental Theology (Eisenbrauns, 2016) argues that the rites of Israel, as portrayed in the biblical texts, disposed Israelites to recognize something they could not see apart from their participation. By examining the epistemological function of rituals, and engaging with contemporary theorists like Michael Polanyi, Catherine Bell, and Jonathan Klawans, Johnson's monograph gives readers a new set of questions to explore both the sacraments of Israel and contemporary sacramental theology.

The OnScript Quip (our review): Knowledge by Ritual offers a robust and coherent biblical epistemology. With ample examples, philosophical support, and even some pictures, Johnson shows how knowledge of God in Scripture is inextricably 'ritualed.' We cannot know apart from the embodied practices in which we engage, and the trusted authorities to whom we listen. He also demonstrates that ritualed knowing is no mere marginal subject for the biblical writers, but is of central concern. I can't not see it as I now read the Bible. - Matt Lynch

Fred Sanders - The Triune God

Episode: Fred Sanders and OnScript host Matthew Bates talk Trinitarian theology. Fred's exciting book, The Triune God, is the launching point for the discussion. Discover why it is imperative that we correctly order our Trinitarian doctrine (and why Matt shouldn't be a narcissist), how Rahner's Rule was formulated, and the appropriate boundaries of mystery in Trinitarian discourse. Fred and Matt also discuss why compromising Trinitarian doctrine invariably results in a compromise of the gospel itself. Fred's book is loaded with exciting new proposals that all theologians and biblical scholars would do well to consider. Join the conversation.

Guest: Fred Sanders is a professor at Biola University in the Torrey Honors Institute. With Oliver Crisp he also co-convenes the Los Angeles Theology Conference. In addition to the book featured in this episode, The Triune God (Zondervan, 2016), he has also penned The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything (Crossway, 2010) and The Image of the Immanent Trinity: Rahner's Rule and the Theological Interpretation of Scripture (Peter Lang, 2005).

Book: Fred Sanders, The Triune God (Zondervan, 2016). The Triune God aims to secure our knowledge of the triune God by rightly ordering the theological language with which we praise him. It reaches its conclusions about how the doctrine should be handled on the basis of the way the Trinity was revealed. As such, it is a study that offers dogmatic principles for trinitarian exegesis.

The OnScript Quip (our review): Spirited, spritely, and sparkling with energetic new proposals for the doctrine of the Trinity, The Triune God will stimulate scholars and students alike. Drawing on ancient sources and the best of contemporary scholarship, this is old wine in new wineskins, with fresh ideas bursting forth.  -- Matthew W. Bates, Quincy University, OnScript

Iain Provan - Discovering Genesis

Episode: Matt L. sits down with his former professor Iain Provan to discuss Discovering Genesis: Content, Interpretation, Reception. Their conversation ranges from fly fishing and salmon forests to the wilds of Genesis. They discuss the imperfection of Eden and the history of interpreting Genesis. Iain also finesses his way through an OT-focused 'speed round' (tbh - Iain always keeps his answers concise and jam-packed).

Guest: Iain Provan is Marshall Sheppard Professor of Biblical Studies at Regent College (no, not Regent University) in Vancouver, BC. Provan has written numerous essays and articles, and several books including commentaries on Lamentations, 1 and 2 Kings, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs, and co-authored with Phil Long and Tremper Longman A Biblical History of Israel (John Knox Press, 2nd edition, 2015). He has also published Against the Grain: Selected Essays (Regent College Publishing, 2015), Seriously Dangerous Religion: What the Old Testament Really Says and Why It Matters (Baylor University Press, 2014) and Convenient Myths: The Axial Age, Dark Green Religion, and the World that Never Was (Baylor University Press, 2013). His most recent book, and the topic of our interview, is Discovering Genesis, (Eerdmans, 2016). He is currently finishing a book on Protestant biblical hermeneutics, projected for release in 2017.

The On-Script Quip (our review): Discovering Genesis offers readers a fascinating journey through a book that has shaped the imagination and lives of countless Jews and Christians through the ages. Provan sets the stage for reading Genesis by tracing the book's history of interpretation and then guiding his reader through a brief history of biblical hermeneutics. In the book's main body he then offers a brilliant literary and theological exegesis of the book. He adds to his exegesis the insights of countless Jewish and Christian interpreters, theologians, artists, historians, playwrights, and films. This book is no predictable introduction. It's jam-packed with Provan's original and creative insights alongside the time-tested and sometimes bizarre interpretations of Genesis that pervade the history of biblical interpretation. - Matt Lynch, Westminster Theological Centre, OnScript Podcast