The Biblical Mind

The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America (Aaron Griffith)

In the latter half of 20th century, the evangelical community's developing attitudes toward crime and punishment overlapped with the increasingly punitive approach of the American criminal justice system. Faith leaders such as Billy Graham and James Dobson cast crime as an issue of the criminal's heart, deemphasizing its enmeshment with broader social structures and ills.
On this episode, Aaron Griffith discusses his book God’s Law and Order: The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America and how thinking about criminality can help people deepen their understanding of sin and redemption.
Show notes:
0:25 20th-century Christianity and justice
6:31 Crime: A matter of the heart?
15:45 Cities 
21:37 How neighborhoods function
26:45 Biblical principles to guide policing
33:00 Equal treatment for all: a biblical perspective
39:00 Is there room for an inclusive, restorative justice model?
Books/articles mentioned: 
The Collapse of American Criminal Justice
"5 Things to Consider When Reading Biblical Law"
The Little Book of Restorative Justice
Show notes by Dominique LaCroix
Credits for the music used in TBM podcast: hebraicthought.org/credits.

Extreme Violence, Nahum, and Reconciliation in the Congo (Jacob Onyumbe Wenyi)

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been afflicted by war and violence. The people are not always ready for reconciliation, because they are busy seeking justice. Dr. Jacob Onyumbe Wenyi, a professor and a Roman Catholic priest of the diocese of Tshumbe (D.R. Congo), discusses his book on Nahum, "Piles of Slain, Heaps of Corpses."
The violence in the book of Nahum connects directly to the experiences of people in the Congo. Dr. Onyumbe Wenyi explains how Nahum's portrayal of a vengeful God and abhorrent war scenes can speak to severely traumatized communities.
Show notes:
0:27 Wars in the Congo
3:41 How the war affected the culture
6:29 How people live in a context marked by tragedy
10:35 Not ready for reconciliation
11:36 Dr. Onyumbe Wenyi's perspective on forgiveness
15:40 The Book of Nahum
18:36 Piles of Slain, Heaps of Corpses
Show notes by Dominique LaCroix
Credits for the music TBM podcast: hebraicthought.org/credits.

What Biblical Racial Reconciliation Actually Looks Like (Anthony Bradley)

Reconciliation in practice involves local communities acknowledging the wrongs of their particular pasts and figuring out how to move forward— what the responsibilities are and how to live together in peace.
In the area of racial reconciliation, we focus a lot on justice and the responsibilities of the offenders. But biblical reconciliation also requires the injured party to show mercy and eventually let go of the wrongs, which is profoundly humbling to those receiving the mercy.
Dr. Anthony Bradley joins us this week to discuss what has informed current racial tensions and how churches and communities can move forward.
Show notes:
0:26 Examining the racial tensions within a community
1:50 Racial reconciliation and ignoring history
4:19 What informs current racial tensions
7:05 The 80s 
10:39 Reconciliation in Scripture and the local past
17:32 Truth required for reconciliation
20:43 Disconnection from history
28:20 Racial solidarity
Show notes by Dominique LaCroix
Credits for the music TBM podcast: hebraicthought.org/credits.

The Torah Is Not a Law Book (Jerry Unterman)

The nation of Israel was born into a world that was already culturally old and established. When the Torah appeared, the ancient Near East contained several law collections. CHT fellow Dr. Jerry Unterman explains that unlike other law codes of the ANE, the Torah is not a law book. Rather, its unique framework reveals it to be a treaty—a covenant between God and His people, embedded in a narrative.
Show Notes:
0:26 What is the world of law in the Torah?
6:02 Hammurabi and "If x, then y"
9:58 The ANE laws were never promulgated to the people
12:43 The God who makes a treaty with the people
15:47 Laws for the people to "tend"
16:50 Shared responsibility
17:36 The way the law works
21:43 Michael LeFebvre's contested article
25:53 God is the source of justice
27:28 What's the difference between laws?
Show notes by Dominique LaCroix
Credits for the music TBM podcast: hebraicthought.org/credits.

No One Asks for Forgiveness in the Bible? (Joshua Berman)

People don't ask for or grant forgiveness in the Bible—at least, not in the way modern people are familiar with. Scripture is less focused on whether someone feels sorry or magnanimous than on practical reconciliation and restoration. Repeatedly in biblical narratives, characters demonstrate this reconciliation with a kiss.
Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman discusses how forgiveness as we understand it is a modern notion and how the relevant biblical notion differs.
Show Notes:
0:26 The Hebrew Bible doesn't portray apology-and-forgiveness
4:38 Defining relationships
5:52 Forgiveness in Hebrew
7:48 The modern notion of forgiveness
10:35 Kissing 
15:34 Torah and incarceration 
19:40 We need to "get along"
21:05 The biblical authors on forgiveness 
23:55 Reconciliation should be embraced
28:13 What does God think of us?
29:25 Postscript: The Prodigal Son 
Show notes by Dominique LaCroix
Credits for the music TBM podcast: hebraicthought.org/credits.

African Americans Understood Paul‘s Words While Slave Owners Twisted Them (Lisa Bowens)

Discussing her book African American Readings of Paul: Reception, Resistance, and Transformation, Dr. Lisa Bowens identifies how people twisted the Scriptures written by the Apostle Paul to promote slavery and justify it as a Christian practice. But at the same time, Dr. Bowens explains, Black Americans were interpreting Paul's writings for themselves, and throughout history, they still appealed to Pauline texts extensively to protest and resist their oppression, and ultimately to build a strong foundation for the American church.
Show notes:
0:26 Hidden voices in Black Christian thought
4:25 What does sScripture actually say?
6:15 Nancy Ambrose and how Paul was preached to the enslaved
10:18 1774 Slave Petition
16:37 The slavery project and the broadening of the canon
19:40 John Jea and the miracle of literacy
25:40 Why we need to hear different voices
29:50 Salvation is spiritual and physical
34:37 For economic gain
Show notes by Dominique LaCroix
Credits for the music TBM podcast: hebraicthought.org/credits.

What Are Sermons for, and How Can They Be Improved? (Jonathan Pennington)

When it comes to preaching, less is more. If you really understand a complex issue, you should be able to write it down on a postcard. In light of this, how does one avoid dumbing down their preaching while still clearly communicating a complex message?
Dru and CHT fellow Dr. Jonathan Pennington discuss his book Small Preaching: 25 Little Things You Can Do Now to Make You a Better Preacher, how to convey rich meaning in a sermon while keeping it simple, and the significance of preaching within a worship service. 
Show notes:
0:26 Sermon prep
1:27 How can a preacher avoid common pitfalls?
3:22 Two schools: lofty and simple
7:55 Confidence
9:00 The ideal preacher's life/snack writing
12:48 Should you write your sermon?
17:16 The significance of preaching in the worship service
23:49 Teaching vs. preaching
31:06 "Celebrification" of preaching
33:23 Is preaching performance art?
Show notes by Dominique LaCroix
Credits for the music TBM podcast: hebraicthought.org/credits.

Three Grinches in a Pod: Complicating Christmas

It's that time of year again. 
It's the time when those who hate eggnog, pretty lights, cheery music, presents, and joy itself crawl out of their dark, barren hovels, bent on ruining Christmas.
Well, we aren't those people. Let us have our winter festival, says Dru. Let us have our (modest) presents, says Celina. Let us have our feasting, says Amy.
But we all ask, what does the winter festival of American Christmas really have to do with the first and second comings of Jesus Christ? Are traditional Advent practices a straightforward way to redeem the holiday? Do we even want to put the "Christ" back in "Christmas"?
Join Dru, Celina, and Amy as they discuss how we might faithfully improvise rituals of waiting and celebration to help us remember our place within the story of God's promise to the nations through Israel.
0:30 Rushing and conflating—why we're grumpy
6:08 Calling Dru out*
6:49 The fat man in the room: Christmas is not a biblical holy day
9:37 Redeeming Christmas through better rituals? 
11:23 An Hebraic spin on Advent
17:22 Distraction from the establishment of God's peace through Israel
19:51 The biblical argument against telling children there's a Santa Claus
21:41 Theologically rich Advent practices
*Despite her protestations, Celina has since admitted that Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" totally slaps. 
Show notes by Celina Durgin
Credits for the music TBM podcast: hebraicthought.org/credits.

Toward an Integrated Liturgy of Work and Worship (Matthew Kaemingk)

There is a deep division between work and worship in the West. However, the worship of the ancient Israelites integrated the sanctuary into the streets. What are ways that our work today (even sending emails) can be celebrated and offered to God as a form of worship?
With reference to his book Work and Worship, Matthew Kaemingk explains how the tasks we do every single day can be integrated into our worship and daily liturgy.
Show notes:
0:26 Wandering minds during worship
2:02 Integrated life
2:58 Spiritual divide
4:34 Work and worship
6:13 How do we celebrate our work?
12:00 Corey Wilson
12:40 Imago Dei—workers
17:40 Grander work
20:02 Physical participation in the work of God
22:57  Rituals and liturgies
27:37 Gathering rituals, and honesty with God
30:21 When wealth intercedes for work
Show notes by Dominique LaCroix
Credits for the music TBM podcast: hebraicthought.org/credits.

Crying for Justice: Why We Should Pray the ‘Angry‘ Psalms (Trevor Laurence)

Pleas for justice in the book of Psalms—the imprecatory psalms—can make some Christians uncomfortable. They're often passed over in the psalter during worship. How do petitions for justice map onto the mission of Jesus? How are imprecatory prayers compatible with commands to love our neighbors?
Though the Psalms contain many cries for vengeance, they also continually call readers back to a standard of holiness. Trevor Laurence discusses imprecatory prayers, the power of words to express profound pain to God, and how we can instinctively discern God and the world as we struggle through life.
Show notes:
0:26 How should Christians reconcile imprecatory prayers?
4:00 Logic in the request for vengeance and vindication
6:40 Callback to the covenant justice of God
8:36 Rhetorical violence
9:10 Deadly false accusations and the power of words
12:30 What we're missing in our worship
15:36 Profound pedagogies of prayer
17:11 Imagination and embodied experience
20:35 Ritual epistemology 
21:34 If Trevor could design a church service
25:32  Policy and advocacy in the church
28:22 Liturgy: patterns that govern your life
Show notes by Dominique LaCroix
Credits for the music TBM podcast: hebraicthought.org/credits.