For our Finale, your hosts through the year, Mat, Nikki, and Monica come together for a year in review. Listen for a personal take on the project from your hosts.

Thank you for journeying with us for the Bible Project 2020!

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 On this week’s episode, Mat Hotho and Nikki Taylor interview Nikki’s former teacher, Joseph Trafton.

Dr. Trafton has retired from teaching at Western Kentucky University. He has UMC roots, but now lives and attends church in Nashville, TN. He has many scholarly writings, including a commentary on the book of Revelation. 

 In the episode, they talk about Revelation in light of the prophets from the Hebrew Bible. As well as what may have prompted John to write Revelation. They lay out some approaches for a modern reader that I found very helpful.

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On this week’s episode, Mat Hotho and the Rev. Dr. Sally Campbell-Evans sit down with the Rev. Dr. Karoline Lewis to cover 1, 2, 3 John. 

The Rev. Dr. Karoline Lewis teaches at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and has written numerous books. She studied at Emory University and Luther Seminary for her graduate degrees. Dr. Lewis leads conferences, workshops, and retreats internationally on the Gospel of John, the New Testament, interpreting the Bible, preaching, leadership, and women in ministry. 

This week the podcast covers the ideas that make the community writing and reading John distinct. The episode defines and refines their ideas of sin and love.

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On this week’s episode, Mat Hotho and Steve Crawford interview Dr. Jennifer Grace Bird for our episode on 1st & 2nd Peter and Jude. Dr. Bird spent much of her time on the East Coast but is now working in the Portland, OR area. She has a Master’s in Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in New Testament and Early Christianity from Vanderbilt University. Much of her research is on marriage, gender, and sexuality. She has written Abuse Power and Fearful Obedience and Permission Granted: Take the Bible into Your Own Hands, which like this project, is about experiencing the Bible in a new way. So that we can learn to understand and apply the Bible for what it really is. You can find those books and a video series about what the bible says and doesn't say about marriage on her website, jennifergracebird.com. 

Today, they cover 1 & 2, Peter and Jude, covering the idea of household codes. As people started to recognize themselves and each other as following Jesus, they needed to sort out what that meant for behavior and how to live within their culture and their relationships as Christians. These three books try to work some of that out. Dr. Bird also talks about how these books have been used to hurt people and different ways to understand those texts. 

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From Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa, FL, this is the Bible Project 2020, a journey to reading the Bible without fear or frustration.

On this week’s episode, Mat Hotho and Magrey DeVega interview for our episode on Hebrews and James. They interview The Rev. Dr. A.K.M. Adam who is a Tutor in New Testament and Greek at the St. Stephen’s House in the University of Oxford in England. He has published numerous books on biblical interpretation and has a particular affinity for Hebrews and James, for which he has written commentaries and essays. Back in the 1990s, he was Magrey’s college professor in Religious Studies and biblical Greek at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg. You’ll note that Magrey refers to him as AKMA, an acronym of the four initials in his name, which is how he has become known by his many students, colleagues, and readers. You can read his blog at akma.disseminary.org.

They start as many of our podcasts do, with background and context building. First for Hebrews. Then, using Hebrews as a launching point, they talk about how we can see the people of the New Testament working out how Jesus and believing in Jesus relates to the Hebrew scriptures or Old Testament. That is followed up with more context given to the book of James, They cover what is the most well-known idea in James, an argument about faith and works. 

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On this week’s episode, Mat Hotho  and Celia Ferman interview the scholar Luke Timothy Johnson. Dr. Johnson is Professor Emeritus of New Testament scholar at Emory University.

 This discussion covers pastoral epistles which are a group of three in the New Testament: the First Epistle to Timothy (1 Timothy) the Second Epistle to Timothy (2 Timothy), and the Epistle to Titus. They are presented as letters from Paul the Apostle to Timothy and to Titus. Dr. Johnson lays out how he has learned to understand the authority of the letters and how they are important to the life of the church. Their talk about how to gain wisdom from things that scandalize our minds is very helpful. 

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 On this week’s episode, Mat Hotho and Monica Largess virtually met up with the Colorado native the Rev. Dr. Chris Holmes. Chris has a Ph.D. from Candler School of Theology. Now, he is the Scholar in Residence at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. Also, he partners with Brennen Breed (you may remember from Episode 32 on Daniel) in the project called “Office Hours” which is a pop-up virtual Bible study with experts in the field. They have a Facebook page or you could find them at firstpresatl.org/office-hours. 

This discussion covers four books in the New Testament: Colossians, Philippians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians. We talk about the purpose of the letters, as well as the audience, and the changes over time in Paul’s messages to the different urban centers. 


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On this week’s episode, Mat and Magrey talk about both Galatians &  Ephesians with Rev Dr. John Christianson.

The Rev. Dr. John Christianson is the lead pastor at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Williamsburg, Iowa, and adjunct professor of the Upper Midwest Course of Study program through Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. He received his Ph.D. from Brite Divinity School in New Testament Studies and is a keen interest in the first-century Greco-Roman world. He was also a seminary classmate of Magrey’s at United Theological Seminary, where they received their Masters of Divinity degrees. 

Their talk today helps shed light on the differences between these letters and the people to whom they were written. We have an opportunity to learn more about the ministry and person of Paul. They have a helpful conversation on how a modern audience can read and apply ancient biblical texts. It ends with Dr. Christianson’s favorite imagery in the Ephesians.  

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On this week’s episode, Steve Crawford and Mat Hotho sit down with Dr. Jill Marshall to discuss Paul’s letters found in 1 & 2 Corinthians.

Jill has a PhD in New Testament Studies from Emory University and works for the American Academy of Religion. She not only teaches and writes, but also excavates having participated in archaeological digs in a number of ancient sites.

The conversation gives context to the church in Corinth and Paul’s relationship with them. They discuss the nature of Paul’s authority and how the Corinthians would have approached unlawfulness in their church. The end focuses on texts modern readers may struggle with the most.

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On this week’s episode, Chris Hockman and Mat Hotho sit down with Dr. Bo Adams to discuss the letter to the Romans.

Bo is Director of Pitts Theology Library and Margaret A. Pitts Assistant Professor in the Practice of Theological Bibliography at Emory University. Bo joined us early in our journey through the Bible, all the way back in Episode 5 when we discussed the end of Exodus. Bo has a PhD in New Testament from Emory, a Masters in Library Science from the University of Alabama, and is a software developer. 

Our conversation moves us through the letter to the Romans with an exploration of our own interpretative baggage, Paul’s rhetorical style, and then close readings of Romans 8:28 and Romans 13:1–7.

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