The Biblical Mind

The First Christian Nation? Keeping Up with the Armenians (Heather Ohaneson)

Despite the rich history of Armenia as an ancient Christian community, many Christians know very little about the Armenian ethnicity, culture, nation, and faith. In this episode, Dru interviews Dr. Heather Ohaneson, pastor of Armenian Martyrs' Congregational Church, about Armenian history from the early days of the church until now, along with her experience as an evangelical Protestant Armenian pastor. They discuss the culture, language, and global migration of the Armenian people, and the aftermath of the Armenian genocide and recent conflicts on their nation. And yes, the Kardashians get a mention.
Dr. Heather Ohaneson is the pastor of Armenian Martyrs' Congregational Church in Havertown, Pennsylvania. She received her PhD in philosophy of religion from Columbia University, and taught at George Fox University and Azusa Pacific University. Currently, she is pursuing an MDiv at Princeton Theological Seminary and ordination in the United Church of Christ to continue to serve the Armenian Evangelical community.
Show notes:
0:00 The first Christian nation in history
4:44 The current conflict in Armenia
5:55 The Armenian language and dialects
6:49 The Armenian genocide
9:20 Modern Armenians
14:04 Protestant and evangelical churches
16:11 The gifts of Armenian Christianity
20:00 Heather Ohaneson's background
23:00 The spread of Armenian evangelical churches
Show notes by Micah Long

Jewish Identity, Deconstruction, and Misusing the Bible (Marty Solomon)

How do we approach the Bible? Do we see it merely as a "perfect rulebook"? A piece of literature to be picked apart? Or do we see it as something that threatens to transform us and upend our preconceptions, helping us live in accordance with God and His activity? In this episode, Dru interviews Marty Solomon, cohost, creator, and Executive Producer of The BEMA Podcast and President of Impact Campus Ministries, about his approach to reading and teaching the Bible. They consider different approaches to Scripture, from fundamentalism to textual criticism to deconstruction, and explore the ways each might shed more light on the text. They also explore how understanding Jewish identity (both ancient and modern) can present both opportunities and pitfalls for understanding Scripture.
Marty Solomon is an author, teacher, and resource creator who aims to help people read the Bible in its historical and Jewish context. Along with his work at The BEMA Podcast and Impact Campus Ministries, he has written a book called Asking Better Questions of the Bible: A Guide for the Wounded, Wary, and Longing for More (releasing February 7, 2023). He aims to bring the best of Christian history, modern scholarship, and discipleship to the church, especially college students, to help them love God and serve his kingdom.
Show notes:
0:00 Inerrancy versus inspiration
2:13 Asking the Bible hard questions
5:09 Torah obedience and Jewish identity
10:02 Modern Jewish Messianism
12:09 Eastern versus Western thought
14:30 Deconstruction and college ministry
17:49 Passion for investigating Scripture
21:33 Accountability and academia
28:00 How should we approach the Bible?
31:45 What gives Marty hope
Show notes by Micah Long.

Reading the Bible Like an Adult (Avital Hazony Levi)

How do we read the Bible like adults? For many people who grew up in communities of faith, the Bible stories have been a part of their lives for as long as they can remember. But it's often not until later in life that the richer meanings of the stories come alive, misconceptions are corrected, and the voices of the biblical authors become clearer—even as we relinquish naive certainties and the expectation of a black and white world.
In this episode, Dru interviews Dr. Avital Hazony Levi, instructor in Jewish philosophy and Bible at Midreshet Nishmat. They discuss everything from the nitty-gritty vocabulary of the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar to the ways in which Western philosophical concepts threaten to drown out the voices of the biblical authors to the psychology of female characters in the Hebrew Bible. Along the way, they examine core biblical concepts such as loyalty, trust, responsibility, and generational sin.
Currently a postdoctoral fellow at Tel Aviv University, Avital has a rich background in both the Hebrew Bible and philosophy, and her work spans from moral epistemology to the nature of loyalty and worship. She has taught philosophy, Jewish thought, and Tanakh at Nishmat, TVA, and the Orthodox Union college summer program.
Show notes:
0:00 Reading the Bible like an adult
2:38 Abraham's loyalty
5:10 Why does Sarah give Hagar to Abraham?
11:33 Bitterness and faithlessness
17:00 Teaching the Bible in Hebrew
21:55 Free will and generational punishment
27:24 God's omniscience
30:19 Philosophical questions in the Bible
35:39 Responsibility and choice
40:49 The best thing about teaching
Show notes by Micah Long

Raising Chickens, Reading Scripture, and Running Governments, Reformed-Style (Jessica Joustra)

What does it mean for Christ to reign over every sphere of life? Many Christians relegate faith to "spiritual" activities, such as reading the Bible, going to church, and praying. However, the Christian tradition—and especially the Reformed tradition—can guide Christians in everything from personal ethics to politics to raising chickens.
In this episode, Dru talks with Jessica Joustra, Assistant Professor of Religion and Theology at Redeemer University, about the ideas of Reformed thinkers Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck (as well as the ways that they draw on John Calvin). As Protestants, these men wanted to capture a faithful, traditional, and thorough way of reading the Bible; as 19th-century men, they strove to live as Christians in the modern world, both through public theology and through active participation in politics. The Reformed tradition offers rich ways of thinking about law, vocation, systemic sin, economics, and even America's contemporary political structures, all while remaining rooted in Scripture's conceptual world.
Jessica Joustra is an Assistant Professor of Religion and Theology at Redeemer University and Associate Researcher at the Neo-Calvinist Research Institute of the Theologische Universiteit Kampen. She teaches in the areas of Reformed theology and ethics, and has contributed to several works centered around Bavinck and Kuyper. Most recently, she and her husband (Robert Joustra) released Calvinism for a Secular Age: A Twenty-First Century Reading of Abraham Kuyper’s Stone Lectures.
Show notes:
0:00 Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck
3:20 Radical shaping of vocation
7:46 God's sovereignty in ethics and politics
11:45 The Reformed tradition and biblical interpretation
14:09 Reformed and "small-c catholic"
17:26 Individual, social, and systemic ethics and sin
26:10 Modernism and politics
31:56 Principled pluralism
37:22 Christian nationalism and the Reformed tradition
43:00 Antithesis and common grace
Show notes by Micah Long

Most Popular Episode of 2022: ’Going to Heaven’ vs. Resurrection, the New Heavens, and the New Earth (J. Richard Middleton)

In case you missed it, this was our most popular episode of 2022. We hope this conversation encourages Christians with the biblical hope of the resurrection and the age to come.
What happens to you when you die? Many Christians picture eternal life as spending time in an ethereal heaven with God, either immediately after death as a disembodied spirit or after a "rapture" of Christians. Books and films, made by and for Christians, have promoted this idea of the afterlife.
Dr. J. Richard Middleton wants to challenge this particular view of the Christian afterlife. What happens immediately after we die does not much matter to the biblical authors; they concern themselves with proclaiming the hope of the eventual resurrection and preaching the Kingdom of God. In this episode, he discusses common words in our theological vernacular—spirit, soul, resurrection, hell, heaven, etc.—and challenges us to rethink them through a biblical lens. The story of the Bible is not the story of what happens between death and resurrection, but the story of the "redemption of the world."
Dr. Middleton is Professor of Biblical Worldview and Exegesis at Roberts Wesleyan College. He specializes in the Christian worldview, Christianity and postmodernism, Old Testament Theology, and eschatology. His most recent book is A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology.
Show notes:
0:00 Introductions, N.T. Wright, and the redemption of the world
3:48 Reactions to debunking the rapture
4:57 "What happens to you when you die?"
7:59 God's glory entering the world
10:45 Spiritual versus physical
13:24 The hope of the resurrection
16:42 Believing you go to heaven when you die
18:32 Purgatory, limbo, and the grave
21:03 Resuscitation versus resurrection
25:20 The resurrection, final judgment, and hell
Show notes by Micah Long
Credits for the music used in TBM podcast can be found at: hebraicthought.org/credits.

Paying Attention to the People, Places, and Things in the Bible (Kat Armstrong)

Christians know that we should read the Bible. But often, the "should" eclipses the "why"—the fact that Scripture presents a unified, powerful, mysterious story written by God for the benefit of his people.
In this episode, Dru interviews Kat Armstrong, a Bible teacher, speaker, and author who aims to cultivate joyful, imaginative reading of Scripture. The Bible contains rich networks of imagery, but we must read carefully to notice them. Kat's new Bible study series, Storyline Bible Series, takes a deep dive into some of the recurring motifs in Scripture, from mountains and valleys to sticks and stones. Additionally, Kat discusses how her son helps her pay closer attention to the Bible, why the Bible isn't an instruction manual, and how Scripture eschews dividing its characters into "good guys" and "bad guys."
Kat Armstrong is a Bible teacher from Dallas who is passionate about helping people develop holy curiosity and delve more deeply into the story of the Bible. Her work includes speaking at events and conferences and writing books and Bible studies. You can find out more about her at her website.
Show notes:
0:00 A message from Dru Johnson
2:05 Scripture as one unified story
3:34 How to read the details of Scripture
7:14 Getting "fresh eyes"
8:31 Enthusiasm for the Bible
12:05 Kat's experience at Dallas Seminary
15:18 Appreciating the artistic brilliance of Scripture
21:00 Tracking the connections in Scripture
24:12 Is biblical imagery just coincidental?
28:28 Mountains in the biblical narrative
31:48 Kat Armstrong's upcoming Storyline Bible Studies
Show notes by Micah Long

There Is No West without the Near East (Robert Nicholson)

The Near East carries a strange set of connotations in the modern West. On the one hand, it is the origin of our most significant ethical traditions. On the other, it is an area full of political tensions and years of violent conflict. In this episode, Robert Nicholson (Founder and President of Philos Project and CHT Senior Fellow) helps Christians evaluate their attitudes toward the Near East and its importance for Christian history and the faith today. From the perception of Israel, to the various groups of Muslims in the region, to the frequently-persecuted Christian communities, the Near East presents a complicated combination of religious, ethnic, and political identities. Christians have opportunities to pursue peace by advocating pluralistic respect, recognizing the positive developments in the region, and praying.
Robert Nicholson is the Founder and President of Philos Project, an organization that seeks to promote positive Christian engagement in the Near East. He holds an MA in Middle Eastern history and a JD from Syracuse history, and he also co-founded Passages Israel, serves on the board of In Defense of Christians, and teaches at The King's College. His writings have appeared in major publications including The Wall Street Journal and First Things, and he also hosts the podcast The Deep Map.
Show notes:
2:00 Difficulties engaging with the Near East
4:20 Avoiding negative associations
7:21 The Hebraic origins of the modern world
11:33 Power in the biblical tradition
15:32 "Christian engagement in the Near East"
19:12 Peace and pluralism
24:35 Ethnic and religious tensions
29:13 Jewish as an ethnic, religious, and political identity
32:48 Positive historical trends
For more about one practical way to get involved with the work of Philos Project, check out their 21 Martyrs Pilgrimage Campaign, a fundraising effort to bring the families of the 21 Christian Copts killed in 2015 on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Show notes by Micah Long

What If We Took God’s Instruction Seriously? (Ryan O’Dowd)

Is it biblical to "follow your passion"? How do you know if the law is written on your heart? In this week's episode, Dru interviews CHT Fellow Ryan O'Dowd on engaging deeply with the Bible, living in accordance with the Torah's instruction, and ministering as the church. Scripture provides a host of instructions about how to live: everything from the proper view of our passions to helping the marginalized to saving money. But too often, we don't even know what it says—or we just don't take it seriously. As we mirror the practices described in Deuteronomy, like constant public engagement with Scripture, communal feasting, and building flourishing economic communities, we will find that the Bible will open up itself to our understanding.
 
Rev. Ryan P. O'Dowd is a Senior Fellow at Chesterton House at Cornell University, the pastor at Bread of Life Anglican Church, and an Academic Fellow at CHT. His research interests include wisdom literature and the epistemology of the Torah. He has written for The Biblical Mind about virtual worship and the Lord's Supper and the book of Proverbs as instruction in virtue.
Show notes:
0:00 Confronted by Scripture
2:35 Following your passion
6:07 Jeremiah, Job, and suffering
8:28 Becoming immersed in Scripture
11:02 Engaging the Bible as a community
14:04 Constantly memorizing and discussing Scripture
17:17 Practices that bring us to knowledge of God
22:08 Deuteronomic churches
25:30 Serving and helping the lonely
30:01 Torah economics—saving and feasting
31:33 Right practice and right thinking about Scripture
Show notes by Micah Long
Credits for the music used in TBM podcast can be found at: hebraicthought.org/credits.

The Knowledge Crisis and Misinformation in Biblical Perspective (Bonnie Kristian)

Constant cries of "fake news" and misinformation point to a central issue in our culture: we have far too much information from far too many sources, and we do not know whom to trust. Whether captivated by online communities and YouTube personalities or glued to Twitter and news sites, we consume a lot of content but remain ignorant, apathetic, and anxious.
In this episode, Dru interviews Bonnie Kristian about her new book Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community. They discuss the dangers of our culture's approach to knowledge, the importance of emotion and tradition in developing our beliefs, and how our daily practices shape our knowledge-acquisition. As we critically evaluate our habits, we can learn to better cultivate our attention and equip ourselves to receive and consider information.
Bonnie Kristian is a journalist and author. Currently, she writes the column "The Lesser Kingdom" at Christianity Today. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, Politico, and The Daily Beast. Additionally, she holds a Master's degree in Christian Thought from Bethel Seminary.
Show notes:
0:00 The dangers of the knowledge crisis
4:30 Habituation from media
6:50 Emotion and reason in the evangelical world
8:57 The role of tradition
10:52 Good epistemic practices and information overload
14:28 Trustworthy guides and sources of information
20:18 Blind-spots in reporting
24:03 Bonnie's interest in epistemology
28:00 The influence of YouTube and TikTok
32:48 Can we escape our bad knowledge systems?
35:35 Practices to develop right thinking
Show notes by Micah Long

Wisdom of Primal Peoples in the Era of World Christianity (Jangkholam Haokip)

Christianity is a truly global religion, and every strand of Christianity has its own theological emphases. Western Christians tend to focus on individual salvation and the question of what happens when we die. But as we amplify other Christian voices, we find that the riches of the gospel might stretch far beyond our original conceptions.
In this episode, Dru interviews Dr. Jangkholam Haokip, an Indian theologian, author, and former professor. Growing up in Churachandpur, Manipur, in Northeast India, Jangkholam converted to Christianity as a child. Drawing on his experiences with indigenous Indian culture and religion, he had the opportunity to develop a unique perspective on Christian theology, including Scripture's portrayal of sin's effects on nature, the value of yet-unheard perspectives, and the way that the gospels can affect the lives of whole communities.
After his long career as a professor at Union Biblical Seminary in India, Jangkholam has founded the Bethesda-Khankho Foundation, which aims to transform indigenous Indian communities through education and poverty outreach. He also contributed to the recent book Voices from the Margins: Wisdom of Primal Peoples in the Era of World Christianity.
Show notes:
0:00 Announcement about our upcoming event
1:22 Converting to Christianity
5:03 Further education and understanding the gospel
8:51 Individualism in Western Christianity
15:09 Sin and the health of nature
20:10 Tribal Indian thought in the biblical texts and Western theology
25:48 The value of indigenous theology
29:47 Christianity as a help for Indian history, identity, and culture
31:05 On Jangkholam's new book Voices from the Margins: Wisdom of Primal Peoples in the Era of World Christianity
Show notes by Micah Long