Episode: In this second part of a two-part episode, Kevin Vanhoozer is interviewed by Matthew Bates, along with his Northern Seminary students, as part of a "live" classroom event. Over the duration of an academic quarter, Bates and his Intro to Biblical Interpretation students read and discussed Vanhoozer's award-winning book, Mere Christian Hermeneutics. Now they have questions! Vanhoozer brings both academic expertise and pastoral wisdom, clarifying what it means to interpret Scripture faithfully.

Guest: Kevin Vanhoozer is currently Research Professor of Systematic Theology at TEDS, but in the fall will take a new post: Blanchard Professor of Systematic Theology at Wheaton College. He has written numerous books, including several award-winners: Is There a Meaning in this Text? (Zondervan, 1998; Christianity Today Book Award, 1999) and The Drama of Doctrine (Westminster John Knox, 2005; Christianity Today Best Theology Book of the Year, 2006). Our conversation today focuses on Mere Christian Hermeneutics (Zondervan Academic, 2024), which won major book awards from Christianity Today and the Gospel Coalition, among others.

OnScript's Review: "Wise. Learned. Bold. Faithful. Kevin Vanhoozer's Mere Christian Hermeneutics is the definitive work on the theory of scriptural interpretation." -- Matthew W. Bates, Professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary

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Episode: In this first part of a two-part episode, Kevin Vanhoozer is interviewed by Matthew Bates, along with his Northern Seminary students, as part of a "live" classroom event. Over the duration of an academic quarter, Bates and his Intro to Biblical Interpretation students read and discussed Vanhoozer's award-winning book, Mere Christian Hermeneutics. Now they have questions! Vanhoozer brings both academic expertise and pastoral wisdom, clarifying what it means to interpret Scripture faithfully.

Guest: Kevin Vanhoozer is currently Research Professor of Systematic Theology at TEDS, but in the fall will take a new post: Blanchard Professor of Systematic Theology at Wheaton College. He has written numerous books, including several award-winners: Is There a Meaning in this Text? (Zondervan, 1998; Christianity Today Book Award, 1999) and The Drama of Doctrine (Westminster John Knox, 2005; Christianity Today Best Theology Book of the Year, 2006). Our conversation today focuses on Mere Christian Hermeneutics (Zondervan Academic, 2024), which won major book awards from Christianity Today and the Gospel Coalition, among others.

OnScript's Review: "Wise. Learned. Bold. Faithful. Kevin Vanhoozer's Mere Christian Hermeneutics is the definitive work on the theory of scriptural interpretation." -- Matthew W. Bates, Professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to join the big leagues and become a regular donor.

Episode: We all understand that statues were considered divine in the ancient Near East. But what about a god's sword, or concepts about a god? Could they also be divine? In this episode, Jennifer Singletary helps understand the conditions in which objects and attributes were divinized (if that's the right word) alongside the gods themselves and how this might help us understand biblical divinization.

Guest: Dr. Jennifer Singletary is Assistant Research Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Jewish Studies at Penn State University. Her work explores ancient ideas regarding superhuman beings, methods used to communicate with them, relationships among religious specialists, and cognitive approaches to religion and linguistics. Her first book, Objects, Qualities, and Attributes as Deities in the Ancient Near East (Brill, 2025), examines deified objects, qualities, and attributes in the ancient Near East. She is currently working on her second book, Ancient Near Eastern Prophecy, which is under contract with the Cambridge Elements series, the Ancient Near Eastern World and the Bible. Her third book project (under contract with Brill) investigates the strategies that ancient diviners, including prophets, used to discredit their rivals or work cooperatively with their peers in Old Babylonian Mari, Neo-Assyria, and the Hebrew Bible. Her research on this topic was recently featured in an article in Archaeology magazine. She is also the area editor for the Early Alphabetic and Northwest Semitic section of Prayer in the Ancient World (Brill) and a series editor for the Religions in the Ancient Mediterranean book series (Eisenbrauns). (adapted from the Penn State website)

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Episode: In this episode, "follow the money" takes on a whole new (and old) significance. Co-host Amy Hughes talks with Malcolm Foley about his book The Anti-Greed Gospel: Why The Love of Money is the Root of Racism and How the Church Can Create A New Way Forward. The conversation begins with why greed is the root of race and racism instead of hate or ignorance and ends with how the Kingdom of God forms our imaginations and helps “drain race of its power” and work toward a world where “no person is a victim of injustice.”

Guest: Malcolm Foley (PhD, Baylor University, MDiv, Yale Divinity School) is a pastor, historian, and speaker who serves as special adviser to the president for campus engagement at Baylor University. He has written for Christianity Today, The Anxious Bench, and Mere Orthodoxy. Foley copastors Mosaic Waco, a multicultural church in Waco, Texas, where he lives with his wife, Desiree. In addition to the Anti-Greed Gospel, he is currently working on a second book which will, among other things, argue, with the guidance of the Greek and Byzantine Fathers, that the hope of deification is what jettisons our lesser hopes of material wealth, political power, and cultural influence.

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Episode: Gird your emotional loins! Dr. Sheblazm takes us on a journey inward, to those painful places that few want to go, in order to retrieve what no one thought existed, to bring about what no one thought possible.

Guest: Professor Dr. Irvine Sheblazm, Ph.D, Ph.D., is a theologian and a scientist with degrees from prominent institutions. He runs the “Center for Excellence” in the Lake District in the UK. He is the author of many many books, including:

• The Cheerful Taker: A New Economics for Pauline Christians in a Changing World (2025)
• Abraham's Bosom, Paul, and the Decline of Postmodernism (2024).
• Child Rearing with the Apostle Paul and the Book of Revelation (2022).
• The Emotionally Healthy Paul: Inner Emotional Intelligence with the Apostle Paul.

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Episode: Imagine the writers of Scripture around a table discussing, sometimes arguing about, and ultimately seeking deeper wisdom about God, humanity, and the world. In his recent book, Voices of the Sages, Brian Toews helps us grasp the conversation between sages in the "Writings," the third major division of the Hebrew Bible. And then imagine a conversation about that conversation ...

Guest: Dr. Brian Toews is retired Professor of Bible at Cairn University in Philadelphia, where he also served as Provost. He earned his BA in Linguistics from UCLA, ThM and MDiv from the Talbot School of Theology (Biola University), and PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from UCLA. He's the author of Voices of the Sages: Old Testament Wisdom in Dialogue (McGahan, 2025).

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Check out the new song from our producer Jason Stark! -

Episode: Matt L. talks with Carmen about the third in her "Bearing" > "Being" > "Becoming" series with IVP academic. Her subtitle, "Why the Church Still Matters" explains the (ambitious) goal of the book ... to make a case for the ongoing importance of the church in an age of disillusionment. The book offers a rich theology of God's family, and the interview covers everything from flawed characters, purity language, brutality in Judges, the latest Chicken Run movie, Jesus dissing his family (Matt 12:48-50), and more!

Guest: Dr. Carmen Imes is an associate professor of Old Testament at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. She is the author of Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters (IVP Academic), Being God’s Image: Why Creation Still Matters (IVP Academic), and Becoming God’s Family: Why the Church Still Matters (IVP Academic), as well as several other academic works. Her primary areas of expertise are Exodus and the Psalms. Carmen has a YouTube channel where she releases weekly Torah Tuesday videos and other videos, and she also writes on several popular level sites including Christianity Today, Substack, The Well, and The Politics of Scripture blog.

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Episode: In this third conversation with Marty Folsom, we turn to the Doctrine of Creation in Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics for Everyone, Volume 3. Having explored Barth’s theological method and doctrine of God in the earlier episodes, this instalment brings us to what many readers find the most surprising and pastorally rich section of the Church Dogmatics. Marty introduces us to Barth’s distinctive vision of creation as an act of divine hospitality, the world as God’s house, and creation itself as the space and time in which covenant fellowship with the triune God is enacted. We explore Barth’s claim that creation is the “external basis” of the covenant, and much more besides!

This episode is part three of an ongoing series with Marty Folsom on making Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics accessible to “everyone”, without domesticating its theological depth or imaginative force. See HERE for vol. 1, and HERE for vol. 2.

Guest: Marty Folsom has been Professor of Theology and Biblical Studies for over 30 years in New Zealand and Seattle. He is most famous for his “Face to Face” trilogy on relational theology, which emphasizes “personal relationship”. Apart from authoring numerous articles, he has also been a therapist for 24 years. Today we discuss his new book, Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics for Everyone Vol 3 (Zondervan Academic). This is the third volume of five in total.

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