The Biblical Mind

Technology Isn’t a Neutral Tool (Jason Thacker)

From social media, to the printing press, to artificial intelligence, to the pencil, technologies have often been regarded as things that can't be good or bad apart from how people choose to use them. Jason Thacker doesn't think any technology is merely a neutral tool, because as people use technology to shape the world, it also shapes them and their culture.
Jason Thacker serves as an assistant professor of philosophy and ethics at Boyce College in Louisville, KY. He also is a research fellow in Christian ethics and director of the research institute at The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is the author of several books including Following Jesus in the Digital Age and The Age of AI: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity. 
He is a graduate of The University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies. He also holds a Master of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he is currently a PhD candidate in ethics, public theology, and philosophy. 
Show notes: 
00:26 What is technology?
04:25 Jacques Ellul on "technique" and how technology forms us
08:19 Two views of technology: instrumentalist and deterministic
16:05 Optimism, pessimism, and realism about technology
22:27 Some tools don't have good uses
28:23 A biblical theology of technology?
31:54 Technology and the vulnerable
Show notes by Celina Durgin

ICYMI: How ’Christianese’ Is Like Corporate Jargon (Valerie Hobbs)

This episode was originally published in May of 2021. We thought it was worth a reissue for our newer listeners. A new episode is coming next week.
Why do we say "come to Jesus"? This Christianese phrase doesn't just show up in church—it shows up in offices, homes, and schools around America, where we speak of "come-to-Jesus moments." What about words like "community" or "intentional"? Do we even know what those words mean? Unless we attend to our words and try to express our thoughts more carefully, our religious language can end up thin, impotent, and laden with clichés.
In this episode, Dru Johnson talks to Dr. Valerie Hobbs, a Senior Lecturer and linguist at the University of Sheffield. Dr. Hobbs specializes in the construction, use, and progression of religious language in contemporary discourse. They discuss the definitions and origins of religious language and Christianese, and how they can be distinguished from simple "in-group" or technical language. Then, they consider how our most powerful (or just persistent) ideas about death, God, and spirituality find their way out of the church and into corporate discourse, or vice-versa. They conclude with remarks on how to think about prayer, apologizing, and even the idea of racial reconciliation, to help us choose better words and think more deeply.
Show notes:
0:00 Defining “religious language” and "Christianese"
2:18 How religious language is constructed
4:26 The difference with in-group language
6:37 Religious language in the secular world
9:27 Corporate discourse and our values
13:25 Where we get our Christianese clichés 
19:09 Learning how to express our experiences
23:43 Becoming sensitive to the way we speak
26:47 Apologizing
29:30 The problem with terms like "racial reconciliation"
Learn more about Valerie Hobbs and her work.
Her most recent book, An Introduction to Religious Language
Show notes by Micah Long.
Credits for the music used in TBM podcast can be found at: hebraicthought.org/credits.

ICYMI: Jesus Shows That God and Humans Are a Good Match (Lucy Peppiatt)

This episode was originally published on May 5, 2021. We thought it was worth a reissue for our newer listeners.
"It was most fitting for God to come save the people he made in the first place," says Dr. Lucy Peppiatt, Principal at Westminster Theological Centre.
The early church loved to discuss the "fittingness of the Son to become human," because it implies that God has a passion for man. He purposed from the beginning of time that He would come to save us, as one of us, and that means that there is something about humans that is fitting to be united with God. And that is the gospel.
In this episode, Dr. Dru Johnson and Dr. Peppiatt talk all about Jesus of Nazareth: Who was he? Who did people think he was? Why did he teach and present himself indirectly rather than just revealing himself to man? Dru and Dr. Peppiatt address challenging questions about the hiddenness of God in Christ, the incarnation, the union of the divine and the human in the Son, and more. 
Show notes:
1:55 Why didn’t Jesus reveal himself to man while he was on Earth?
5:24 Athanasius of Alexandria on Jesus
7:13 Wrestling in the church: Jesus intellectually reasoned with us
15:40 Is there value to the struggle?
19:50 Is there something human about God?
24:37 Impoverished theology
Show notes by Serena Tuomi.
Credits for the music used in TBM podcast can be found at: hebraicthought.org/credits.

What the Image of God Is and Is Not (Carmen Imes)

You might have heard that being made in the image of God refers to human rationality, relationality, moral agency, or some combination of these qualities. Dr. Carmen Imes disagrees. 
She and Dru discuss what they think the author of Genesis was actually referring to with the phrase "image of God," in light of Carmen's latest book Being God's Image: Why Creation Still Matters (forthcoming in June, 2023). Along the way, they discuss artificial intelligence, the resurrection and renewal of creation, and why Eve should have been more assertive.
Carmen (PhD in Biblical Theology, Wheaton College) is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Biola University. She is also the author of Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters. Carmen is an active member of the Evangelical Theological Society, the Institute for Biblical Research, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies. Carmen keeps a blog called Chastened Institutions and releases weekly Torah Tuesday videos on her YouTube channel.
00:25 Rediscovering the biblical doctrine of the Imago Dei
08:47 "Male and female he created them"
12:17 The importance of the body
17:38 Eve wasn't too bossy—she wasn't assertive enough
20:18 Artificial intelligence and ChatGPT
28:08 Abdication of creation care and the renewal of the earth
38:02 Implications for how we should treat people
 
Show notes by Celina Durgin
This episode's music was generated by artificial intelligence.

Understanding the Slaughter of the Canaanites in the Book of Joshua (Paul Hinlicky)

Herem warfare is the commandment to exterminate all survivors. The law of herem warfare appears in the Book of Joshua and contravenes the usual motivations for going to war in the ancient Near East. Armies in that context typically killed only males and took women, children, and possessions before turning the conquered nation into a subjugated satellite nation. The law of herem warfare, on the other hand, forbade enslavement and required that all be killed.
Dru and Paul R. Hinlicky discuss this topic and more within the Book of Joshua. Dr. Hinlicky wrote Joshua for the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible series.
Dr. Hinlicky (PhD, Union Theological Seminary, 1983) is an internationally known theologian who has published more than seventy articles and many books. He teaches theology at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia. He is an authority on the theology of Martin Luther and how Luther's theology played out in history since the time of the Reformation. 
Show notes:
00:26 Why don't we hear many sermons on the Book of Joshua?
02:55 The context of "be strong and courageous"
10:39 Herem warfare—does God command genocide?
15:17 The plan of herem warfare fails
25:32 The theological emphasis of the Book of Joshua
Show notes by Celina Durgin

Is It Time to Quit ’Quiet Time’? Discussing Our View (Dru Johnson & Celina Durgin)

Instead of interviewing a guest, TBM host Dru Johnson and editor Celina Durgin discussed an article they co-wrote for Christianity Today: "Is It Time to Quit 'Quiet Time'?"
Many people read their Bibles on their own, and some do so daily. When combined with communal study, some form of this practice is important for anyone wanting to become fluent in Scripture. However, private Bible-reading can go wrong. It can be fragmented, individualistic, uninformed, and essentially passive. It can be impotent or even deleterious for readers whose misunderstandings go uncorrected and who don't apply true biblical principles to life.
At its most distinctive, the "quiet time" ritual of private prayer, listening, and devotional Bible-reading is an artifact of Western culture from the last 150 years. Dru and Celina explored the history of this practice in an article in Christianity Today, published online and slated to appear in the April print edition.
They concluded that the form quiet time often takes is not conducive to Bible literacy and can actually compound misunderstanding over time. It can even be an empty ritual that Christians perform to feel pious while failing to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God.
If you're a regular listener, you can probably guess that Dru and Celina favor community-based solutions to this problem.
Dru hosts The Biblical Mind podcast, directs the Center for Hebraic Thought, and is an Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at The King’s College in New York City.
Celina is the Editor of The Biblical Mind magazine and podcast. She was previously an editorial fellow at a political magazine in New York, and then, after graduate school, worked in the editorial department of a marketing company in downtown Boston. Some of her written work can be found in Christianity Today.
Show notes by Celina Durgin

Women in the Early Church (Nijay Gupta)

This episode was originally published by OnScript podcast. Thanks to the OnScript team for letting us share this episode with our listeners. Here are the OnScript show notes for this episode:
Episode: The book we’re talking about today is Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church with IVP Academic. In this episode, we explore the data about women in Scripture and antiquity including ideas such as women’s leadership is an exception that relies upon the norm of male leadership, persistent myths about women in the Roman empire, and the hotly contested passages in Paul. 
Guest: Dr. Nijay Gupta is Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary. He has written over 21 books, including commentaries on Colossians, Thessalonians, and Philippians. He’s written 15 New Testament Words of Life: A New Testament Theology for Real Life (Zondervan), A Beginner’s Guide to New Testament Studies: Understanding Key Debates (Baker Academic), and Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church (IVP Academic), discussed in this episode. He has also written several books helping scholars research, write, and get a sense of the field of NT studies. These include The Writer: A Guide to Researching, Writing, and Publishing in Biblical Studies (Cascade) and Prepare, Succeed, Advance: A Guidebook for Getting a PhD in Biblical Studies and Beyond (2nd ed.; Cascade).

Trying to Master the Bible? Try Savoring It Instead (Andrew Abernethy)

Literature students who can analyze a passage from East of Eden with ease often flounder when trying to analyze a Bible passage. Why? 
Dr. Andrew Abernethy explains how people can overcome barriers to understanding Scripture by using skills they already have, and by seeking not just to understand, but also to savor.
Dru asks Dr. Abernethy, Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College in Illinois, about his new book Savoring Scripture: A Six-Step Guide to Studying the Bible.
Prior to joining the faculty at Wheaton, Dr. Abernethy was a Lecturer in Old Testament at Ridley College (Melbourne), where he benefited greatly from teaching and living with fellow Christians in a cross-cultural and post-Christian context. He has written numerous articles and is also the author of several other books: Eating in Isaiah (Brill, 2014); The Book of Isaiah and God’s Kingdom (IVP, 2016); God’s Messiah in the Old Testament (Baker, 2020); Discovering Isaiah (Eerdmans/SPCK, 2021).
Show notes:
00:26 Savoring Scripture
07:48 Do we need special knowledge to understand the Bible?
14:54 The humility to overcome the fear of getting Scripture wrong
21:15 Taking time to savor God 
28:45 Applying existing skills to biblical interpretation
Show notes by Celina Durgin

Jazz, Justice, and the Gospel (William Edgar)

The rich and sad story of jazz has shaped both its sorrowful sounds and its joyful hope. William Edgar, the author of A Supreme Love: The Music of Jazz and the Hope of the Gospel, discusses the subtle and not-so-subtle ways the Bible has informed the movement and music of jazz throughout its history.
William (BA, Harvard University, MDiv, Westminster Theological Seminary, DTh, Université de Genève) is professor of apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. He directs the gospel-jazz band Renewal, which features the legendary singer Ruth Naomi Floyd. He is also currently professeur associé at the Faculté Jean Calvin, Aix-en-Provence (France). He has published more than 20 books and numerous articles in French and in English. His most recent book is A Supreme Love: The Music of Jazz and the Hope of the Gospel (IVP Academic, 2022). He and his wife, Barbara, have two children and three grandchildren.
Show notes:
00:25 What is jazz? Is it sinful?
05:08 Joyful with an edge of suffering
10:49 Punk rock, protest music, and intimidating jazz musicians
15:08 Entertaining jazz, delighting audiences, and fighting racism
21:20 Jazz in the trenches—gritty and ineffable
27:12 Parallel between Hebrew poetry and some jazz forms
Show notes by Celina Durgin
 

Trusting Reality: ’Longing to Know’ Turns 20 (Esther Meek)

"Knowing is an activity that all of us are involved in, all of the time," writes Dr. Esther Meek in her book Longing to Know, which turns 20 this year. "Usually knowing happens without our taking great thought to the process. But sometimes we stop and think about what we're doing. When we stop and think, what we were doing without much thought becomes murky indeed."
Think of learning to ride a bike. After a period of assisted practice, something clicks. A person who initially couldn't balance on a bike can suddenly ride off on their own. The external process of learning to ride a bike—guidance from a parent or a friend, training wheels, brief intervals of unassisted pedaling—are all easily identifiable. But the personal transformation—from not knowing how to ride a bike to knowing how—is more mysterious.
Building on the thought of Michael Polanyi, Dr. Meek challenges conceptions of knowing that have reigned since the Enlightenment, which don't reflect the way the biblical authors appear to portray how we acquire knowledge. It turns out that, for instance, doing what YHWH commands "so that you may know" looks a lot like learning to ride a bike.
Esther Lightcap Meek (BA Cedarville College; MA Western Kentucky University; PhD Temple University) is Professor of Philosophy emeritus at Geneva College, in Western Pennsylvania. She is also Senior Scholar with The Seattle School for Theology and Psychology, a Fujimura Institute Scholar, an Associate Fellow with the Kirby Laing Center for Public Theology, and a member of the Polanyi Society.
Show notes:
00:26 The bike-riding paradigm of knowing
04:30 Modernism, postmodernism, and Longing to Know
10:40 The nature of science, and "risky confidence"
15:03 How Dr. Meek got into philosophy—"very odd questions"
18:44 Making contact with reality
27:54 Reality is person-like
29:49 Christians allied with modernism
31:20 The need for a stronger doctrine of creation—a metaphysics
Show notes by Celina Durgin