This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class. What’s the difference between reading the Bible and studying it? Reading the Bible is like surfing on the waves, following the general flow of thought as you go. Studying the Bible is more like swimming underwater, perhaps with scuba gear to enable you to investigate matters Read more about 641. Restoration Theology 7: Interpreting Scripture in Its Literary Context[…]

This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class. Would you agree that every translation of the Bible has some sort of bias in it? Even the most literal translations have a good deal of bias baked into them. What can we do? Well, you could learn Hebrew and Greek so you can read the Read more about 640. Restoration Theology 6: Bible Translation and Detecting Bias[…]

This is part four of the Restoration Theology class. The Old Testament, also called the Hebrew Bible, is a collection of 39 books written before the time of Christ. Today you’re going to learn about the three major manuscript families of the OT: (1) the Masoretic Text, (2) the Septuagint, and (3) the Samaritan Pentateuch. Read more about 639. Restoration Theology 5: Old Testament Manuscripts and Textual Criticism[…]

This is part four of the Restoration Theology class. Last time we covered the importance of using the Bible to build our beliefs. But what is the Bible? Well, it wasn’t written in American English or in the West or in recent history. The Bible is a library of books written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Read more about 638. Restoration Theology 4: New Testament Manuscripts and Textual Criticism[…]

We’ll begin by reviewing what we’ve covered in this class before asking the question, “What happened after Paul sent 1 Corinthians?” Did the church receive his instruction? Did they reject it? How does 2 Corinthians fit in? We’ll take a look at the timeline to understand Paul’s three visits to Corinth and the three epistles Read more about 601. 1 Corinthians in Context 18: Concluding Thoughts[…]

We’ll begin by surveying what 1 Corinthians tells us about the end times. Then we’ll consider why Paul spent so much time in chapter fifteen making a case for the resurrection of the saints when Christ returns. By examining tomb inscriptions and literary sources you’ll learn about the four major options for the afterlife in Read more about 600. 1 Corinthians in Context 17: Eschatology and the Afterlife[…]

Today we’re going to look at chapters 12, 13, and 14 of 1 Corinthians as a unit. We’ll see that the body analogy in 12, the love poem in 13, and the repeated concern for upbuilding in 14 are all slightly different angles of approach to the same goal. When the Corinthian Christians were getting Read more about 599. 1 Corinthians in Context 16: Love and Edification in the Assembly[…]

Last time we looked at how Greco-Roman people talked about inspired speech. Today we turn to 1 Corinthians and the book of Acts to focus on speaking in tongues. We’ll consider the idea that tongues are angelic languages, how tongues relates to prayer, and how tongues differs from ecstatic speech. Lastly, we’ll dip our toes Read more about 598 1 Corinthians in Context 15: Speaking in Tongues[…]

This episode is a deep dive into the world of prophetic utterances, frenzied manifestations, divine possession, and all other sorts of inspired speech that I could find in Greco-Roman literature. Honestly, I wasn’t thinking I would find much. I was wrong. This episode is probably the longest of the entire 1 Corinthians in Context class. Read more about 597 1 Corinthians in Context 14: Inspiration and Divine Speech[…]

So much was going on at the communion meal in Corinth. Some people were overdoing it, even getting drunk, while others went hungry. In order to better understand Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians 11, we’ll take some time to consider how the Romans did meals. Then we’ll draw on archeological discoveries from Corinth to reconstruct Read more about 596 1 Corinthians in Context 13: Communion[…]