David and Christopher give a Sufi mystical reading to two verses from the Epistle to Philemon (Phil.8-9). The conversation focuses on the relationship between commanding a person to perform their religious duty as compared to appealing to a person from love. St. Augustine’s Confession and the Stairway to Heaven are the featured teachings and metaphors.

In this episode Sufi al-Hajj Daud (Dr. David D. Peck), and ‘Abd al-Haqq (Christopher Hurtado) embark on a very deep read of a single verse from 1 Thessalonians (1 Thess. 5:23) through the lens of Sufi teachings about the soul’s release from ego-domination.

In this episode your co-hosts explore Paul’s declaration that, ‘living is Christ, and dying is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Sufi respect and reverence for Jesus is explored through Sufi teachings and personal anecdotes.

In this episode Christopher and David converse about Ephesians 5:30-32, where Paul employs the metaphor of marriage and marital intimacy as a way to understand The Divine and its relationship to the Church. The co-hosts explore this same metaphor as one of intimacy between The Divine and the individual soul in Sufi concepts and poetry.

Your co-hosts converse about Galtians 5:16-18, focusing on the nature of what is called the “divided soul,” the “impulsive soul,” or the “lower self.” The discussion focuses on the opposition we may experience between the desire to follow the path of the soul or spirit, and the desire to follow the desires of the flesh, as Paul puts it. Addressing the lower self through spiritual thought and practice is the first stop on the Sufi caravan of the soul back to The Divine.

In this episode David and Christopher focus on 2 Corinthians 12:2-4. These verses contain one of Paul’s mystical experiences that may prove confusing to Christians unused to mystical concepts, practices and experiences. The Sufi concept of worlds or realms beyond the mind and senses, concepts of high states of consciousness are referenced in order to provide an alternate, spiritual path toward reading and internalizing Paul and his experience.

In this episode ‘Abd al-Haqq (Christopher Hurtado) and Sufi al-Hajj Daud (Dr. David D. Peck) engage in a mystical, Sufi, reading of 2 Corinthians 3:1-9. Paul’s language regarding ink, pens, writing, tablets, and hearts is explored through such metaphors as the Sufi “Tablet and Pen.”

In this episode ‘Abd al-Haqq and Sufi al-Hajj Daud explore the spiritual treasures of 1 Corinthians chapter 14-16, with a focused emphasis on chapter 13:8-10 as it applies to chapter 14:3. Specifically, we discuss what Paul, as a mystic, might have meant by “whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.”

David and Christopher explore the potential spiritual meanings of 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 using the Sufi teaching of unlearning combined with an Aramaic reading of the same verses from the Peshita New Testament. The spiritual impact of the Sufi concepts of Essence and Manifestation is explored and applied to the terms love and knowledge.

Co-hosts Dr. David D. Peck and Christopher Hurtado explore how a Sufi might read 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, using the Sufi principle of "unlearning" as a first step toward reading scripture from a spiritual perspective, rather than a mere ethical or doctrinal perspective, as is common.