Thinking Biblically… and Beyond

In this episode we will tackle the topic of slavery in the Old Testament and explore some texts that address the topic. We will contextualize slavery in the ancient world and see how ancient Israelites arguably held a more compassionate understanding of slavery and the slave/master relationship (at least among fellow Israelites) compared to other societies of their day and why that may have been the case.

I recently came back from a trip to Israel and wanted to make a short episode to share some of the big takeaways that I had!

In this episode, we’ll explore the circumstances around the formation of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). What does this matter to the modern world and biblical literalism? And what does it tell us about the people who first wrote/heard/compiled these texts?

A short episode on how Biblical stories are portrayed for younger generations. This was brought about by my recent experience of watching a Lego movie narrating the story of the Exodus and Passion using stop-motion animation.

In this episode, we’ll examine the historical evidence for the existence of Jesus of Nazareth and why virtually all scholars of all religious convictions agree that Jesus was a real historical person.

In this episode we tackle the very complicated topic of Jesus’ divinity and whether or not he thought he was God

Should we read the New Testament like any other ancient text? This question does not have a simple yes or no answer. In this episode, we’ll explore this question and why a more nuanced approach is necessary, regardless of whether you are approaching the text from a historical/secular or a religious/devotional point of view.

Why was circumcision such a big deal for Paul and other early Christians? What implications, if any, does it have for modern Christians in today’s day and age? Why did circumcision not remain a central practice of Christians? Did Paul himself denounce the practice? We will explore these questions and more in this episode.

In this episode, we focus on education, literacy and textual production in the Greco-Roman world of the New Testament and how that context can help us dispel outdated conceptions and better understand the Bible as a whole.

In this episode we will tackle the specific texts that talk about slavery in the NT and how early Christianity shifted from a more egalitarian perspective to the much more troubling passages we find in the later texts of the New Testament.