The "Best of" First Reading Easter Series

We hope you’ve enjoyed this Easter season “Best of" First Reading series. We’re rounding it out this week with one of our favorite conversations, this time with Dr. Ethan Schwartz, who teaches Hebrew Bible at Villanova University. Rachel and Tim enjoyed their deep dive with Dr. Schwartz so much that they invited him back for another episode—to date he is our only repeat guest! So here is a reprise of that first conversation, a discussion about the "Akedah," the "Binding of Isaac," in Genesis 22. We’ll be back next week with a new episode on the Old Testament Lectionary reading.

To chat about one of the most famous stories in all three of the Abrahamic faiths (the binding of Isaac), Rachel and Tim are joined by Dr. Ethan Schwartz. Ethan earned his PhD at Harvard University, where he studied how the Bible presents and formulates prophetic speech. He also studies how the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible) came together and how the Hebrew Bible was interpreted in the first century, especially in early Christian communities and sectarian Jewish communities. Ethan is committed to bringing biblical studies into productive conversation with contemporary religious life—a great fit with our goals here at "First Reading"! To that end, he has shared his academic work in a number of synagogues, institutes, and churches. If you’re interested in more of his work, check out these great essays at theTorah.com: "Torah: Deuteronomy's Version of Wisdom for Israel" and "The Red Heifer in Synagogue: Purifying Israel from Sin," or his essay at MyJewishLearning.com: "Eshet Manoah: Mother of the Mighty Samson."