The Biblical Mind

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

Our Complicated History with Evil (Discover Your Roots Season 2 Premiere)

Hitler is evil. Helping an old lady cross the street is good. Simple, right? But there’s an underlying question here: Why? What are good and evil?
In this crossover with our partner organization Passages Israel, Dru Johnson (CHT Director) and Mattanah DeWitt kick off Season 2 of Discover Your Roots, which aims to unpack weighty questions about the nature of good and evil. In this episode, Dru gives an overview of the season, walking us through a few common conceptions (and misconceptions!) about good and evil through the lens of psychology, philosophy, culture, and—ultimately—Scripture. The whole season is available here!
Discover Your Roots is produced by Passages Israel. Passages sponsors and coordinates journeys to the Holy Land to strengthen the faith of Christian students, connect them to Israel, and prepare them for a life of Christ-centered leadership.
Show notes:
0:00 Announcing the upcoming CHT event in NYC
1:23 Introducing Season 2
2:20 How modern culture thinks about evil
7:40 Definitions of evil
9:57 The theological history of evil
13:42 The Hebrew word ra
15:20 Why our words lose their weight
17:07 An overview of the Bible's view
21:59 God using evil for good
23:29 Analyzing the golden calf story
27:29 Turning toward good
29:41 The redemption of the world
32:23 Preview of the rest of the season
Show notes by Micah Long

Moving from Egypt to the U.S. as a Coptic Christian (Mariam Wahba)

Dru interviews Mariam Wahba, a Coptic Christian born in Egypt who immigrated to the U.S. as a child. They discuss the multiple facets of her identity and experience, including how being a Coptic Christian shaped everything from her interactions with Muslim Egyptians to how she now celebrates holidays in the U.S. She also describes some of the distinctives of Coptic Christianity, in contrast with Western Christianity, and explores the tension between cultural assimilation and retaining one's native identity as an immigrant.
Mariam Wahba is the Associate Directory of Advocacy at the Philos Project. A graduate from Fordham University, she works in the areas of Middle Eastern foreign policy, religious freedom, and Israeli-Arab relations. She co-hosts the podcast Americanish.
Show notes:
0:00 Moving to the United States
3:11 Egyptian and Coptic identity
7:50 Growing up in Islamic Egypt
11:00 Ethnic and religious identity
12:20 Moving to the west
16:30 Cultural assimilation and retaining identity
18:56 Coptic Christianity
23:47 Confession, intercession, and priesthood
25:51 The Coptic church calendar
30:04 Persecuted Christianity versus cultural Christianity
34:19 The most important part of being Egyptian
Show notes by Micah Long

The Pitfalls of Children’s Bibles (Rachel Wilkowski)

"Why wasn't I trained to read this way as a child?" —Rachel Wilkowski
Over the last several decades, the Christian world has eagerly produced a host of children's Bibles—retellings of biblical stories in "kid-friendly" language, complete with cute, colorful illustrations. Many of these children's Bibles, however, come laden with assumptions about the nature of childhood, which parts of Scripture are considered appropriate, and what "lesson" the stories teach. Rachel Wilkowski, a researcher in the area of children's Bibles, joins Dru Johnson to discuss history and pitfalls of these books. They discuss the impacts of "pre-interpreting" the biblical texts for children, including the propensity toward moralism and sanitizing some of the difficult parts of Scripture. They also consider how religious beliefs and the publishing industry combine to shape what is presented in these retellings of Scripture.
Rachel Wilkowski is a PhD student at Trinity College Dublin and Family Ministries Director at St. Peter's Fireside in Vancouver. She has particular research interest in how Genesis 1-3 (and other parts of the Hebrew Bible) are interpreted and retold in children's Bibles from different Jewish and Christian traditions. She has 14 non-biological nieces and nephews and one biological nephew.
Show notes:
0:00 Rachel's interest in children's Bibles
4:18 The history of children's Bibles
8:38 Religious beliefs and retelling Scripture
12:05 What is considered appropriate for kids?
15:33 Examples of poor retellings
19:57 Sales, illustrations, and entertainment
24:14 A children's Bible that gets it?
26:42 Helping kids read Scripture
29:41 Avoiding pre-interpreting Scripture and moralism
Show notes by Micah Long

Israelites vs. Hebrews vs. Jews . . . ? (Jason Staples)

What do we mean when we say that "Jesus was a Jew?" Scripture uses a lot of labels to refer to God's chosen people, including "Israelite," "Judahite," "Hebrew," and, of course, "Jew." In this episode, Jason Staples helps us sort through the etymologies, histories, ethnicities, and nationalities behind these labels, examining the earliest usage of "Jew" in the Hebrew Bible, its role in the Second Temple Period, and its interpretations in the modern era. He also considers key Bible passages that use these labels and helps debunk a common assumption about "Jew" as a pejorative term.
Jason Staples teaches at North Carolina State University in the areas of biblical literature, early Judaism and Christianity, and modern issues in ethics and religion. He is the author of The Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism: A New Theory of People, Exile, and Israelite Identity. In addition to his scholarly work, Jason has worked in sports media and voiceover narration.
Show notes:
0:00 The history of the word "Jew"
3:54 "Jew" versus "Israelite" in Scripture and beyond
9:12 Jewish nationality and ethnicity after the exile
14:33 What happened to the other tribes?
15:50 Jesus was a Jew
20:23 "King of the Jews" and King of the universe
21:58 "The Israel of God"
26:09 Paul as an Israelite and a Hebrew
Show notes by Micah Long
Credits for the music used in TBM podcast can be found at: hebraicthought.org/credits.

Growing Up Christian in the Gaza Strip (Khalil Sayegh)

In this week's episode, Khalil Sayegh shares his experience as a Palestinian Christian. The territory of Palestine contains two regions: the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Though they share a people and a history, the two areas are separated by the country of Israel and are ruled by two different governments (the West Bank by the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Gaza Strip by Hamas). Khalil discusses the modern political and religious dynamics at play in the Gaza Strip, including the relationships between Israel and Hamas and between Islam and Christianity. He also surveys Christianity in Palestine, from its use of Scripture to its approach to evangelism.
Khalil Sayegh is a Fellow at the Philos Project. He grew up in the Gaza Strip and currently lives in the West Bank. His public work focuses on challenging the negative perceptions of Jewish people in Palestinian society and promoting peace among the various religious groups in the region. He has studied at Bethlehem Bible College and American University.
Show notes:
0:00 Growing up in Gaza
1:54 War, mobility, and Christianity in Gaza
5:35 Sunni Islam and political parties
7:24 Gaza's Christian churches
9:15 Interactions between Christianity and Islam
11:03 Political power in Gaza
14:36 Christmas, Hamas, and public Christianity
16:27 Conditions for visiting the West Bank
19:30 Views of Christian Scripture in Palestine
26:11 Evangelism and responses to conversion
28:22 Cultural distinctives of the Palestinian church
Show notes by Micah Long