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Including the Stranger with David Firth

David Firth joined David Capes on the Stone Chapel Podcasts to talk about his book: Including the Stranger: Foreigners in the Former Prophets (InterVarsity Press [U.S.] and Apollos [U.K.]). 

He and his wife were visiting the Lanier Theological Library from his teaching post in the United Kingdom.

Who is a stranger?

Today people are migrating all over the planet because of wars, economic crises, persecutions, and natural disasters. As a result, many people find themselves at one point or another as strangers and foreigners in a new land.

That presents us with both perils and opportunities. These are themes that are dealt with in surprising ways in the Old Testament.

Who is David Firth? 

David Firth is an Australian, and an Old Testament scholar living in the United Kingdom. For many years he and his wife were missionaries to Zimbabwe and South Africa.

In his current post he is Tutor in Old Testament at Trinity College Bristol in the United Kingdom and a Research Associate in Old Testament at the University of the Free State in South Africa.

Including the Stranger

The conversation begins with the category of the Former Prophets, a category Protestants often call books of “History.”

He then talks about the big ideas of his book. David has an interesting way of defining the “stranger” from the standpoint of Scripture. Be sure to listen for that.

According to Dr. Firth, one of the big questions these prophets are discussing is: Who are the people of God?  As you will discover, many of the insights in this book were gleaned from his encounters with people in Africa. 

Resources from David Firth

If you can’t find this book at your favorite theological library, ask them to order it!!!

For his book Including the Stranger, click here.

To see his commentary on Esther, click here.

And for his commentary on 1 & 2 Samuel, click here.  

More resources

Want more Stone Chapel Podcasts on some great topics. Just click here.

What’s more, you can get information on upcoming lectures at Lanier Theological Library. Just click here.

To hear the podcast (19 min.) click here.

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A Jesus Christ Apocalypse with Scot McKnight

A translator of the Bible into English must possess a sensitivity to the possible meanings of Greek words and grammar used by (or possibly not used by) the original author, and an equally sensitive awareness of how the English word choices of other translators have aided or hindered understanding. Prof. McKnight puts forward fruitfully provocative English renditions of Revelation 1:1. Dr. Scot McKnight is Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lisle, IL. He has authored numerous books and articles, among which are Revelation for the Rest of Us: A Prophetic Call to Follow Jesus as a Dissident Disciple and (forthcoming) The Second Testament: A New Translation. Prof. McKnight blogs regularly at Scot’s Newsletter.

To hear the podcast (8 minutes) click here.

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“To Cast the First Stone” with Tommy Wasserman

To cast the first stone is an expression in English and in Swedish.  It comes from a beloved passage in John’s Gospel (7:53—8:11). 

Tommy Wasserman talked recently with David Capes on The Stone Chapel Podcasts about a book he co-authored with Jennifer Knust.  It is entitled To Cast the First Stone: The Transmission of a Gospel Story (Princeton University Press, 2018).

Who Is Tommy Wasserman? 

Tommy Wasserman grew up in Sweden and became a follower of Jesus during his teen years. He has distinguished himself as one of the world’s top textual critics of the New Testament. 

His judgment and attention to detail sets him apart in the discipline.  His enthusiasm for textural criticism is infectious.

He is a professor of New Testament at the Örebro School of Theology in Sweden and a professor of biblical studies at the Ansgar Theological School in Norway. 

To Cast the First Stone Stories

One of the well known stories from the Gospel of John has to do with a dramatic confrontation between Jewish leaders and Jesus over a woman “caught” in the act of adultery. 

Even casual Bible readers observe a change in the type or the addition of brackets around the story.  If they read in the margins, they discover that the earliest and best manuscripts do not contain that story. 

So, it is unlikely that it was in the first version of the manuscript.  Only later did this episode enter into the tradition. 

Jennifer and Tommy take great care to trace how this account came into the early manuscripts and has become a mainstay of our own Bible tradition

What Scholars are saying about the book

Here is what Chris Keith has to say about it:

“Knust and Wasserman use the story of the adulteress to illustrate the fascinating transmission history of gospel literature and the various personalities and forces that contributed to the process. To Cast the First Stone will undoubtedly become the standard book on this story.”

―Chris Keith, author ofThePericope Adulterae, the Gospel of John, and the Literacy of Jesus

To watch the panel discussion featuring Tommy Wasserman and Dan Wallace click here.

To watch David Capes’ interview with Tommy Wasserman and Dan Wallace at Biblical Literacy (Champion Forest Baptist Church) click here.  

More resources

To hear the podcast (20 min.) click here.

Want more Stone Chapel Podcasts on some great topics. Just click here.

What’s more, you can get information on upcoming lectures at Lanier Theological Library. Just click here.

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Biblingo with Nick Messmer

Biblingo comprises a suite of online resources for learning the biblical languages, including a variety of digital aids and the option of live cohort training. The unifying mission of Biblingo is to advance God’s Word in the world by making the biblical languages more accessible and easier to learn through technology. Here to talk about this is Nick Messmer, co-founder and Head of Growth of Biblingo and an alumnus of Wheaton Graduate School’s M.A. in Biblical Exegesis.

Did you know Wheaton College has a Classical Languages program? Learn more >

To hear the podcast (8 min) click here.

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A Visit to Tyndale House with Peter Williams

To hear the podcast (18 minutes) click here.

Cathy, my wife, and I visited Tyndale House recently when we were in the UK. 

It was our first time there, and we were welcomed warmly by many including Peter Williams. Peter is the Principal and CEO of Tyndale House Center for Biblical Research in Cambridge.

Tyndale House

Peter describes Tyndale House as “a residential research library and worshiping community.” 

It started in 1944, before D-Day, as a center for Bible research.  While Europe was engulfed in war, many with vision saw the need for such a center. And they imagined it in the shadow of one of the world’s great universities.

Peter has been with us before on The Stone Chapel Podcast to talk about Tyndale House.  To hear that podcast (18 minutes) click here.

A New Initiative

On this visit to Tyndale House Peter and I discussed an important plan the staff has to become a greater and greater resource to majority world scholars. 

The fact of the matter is that resources (like colleges, universities, libraries, accommodations, and lecturers) are not spread evenly around the world.

Most churches in the world are not staffed by trained pastors. And as the church in the west grows greyer, the church in the global south is younger and more energetic.

What Tyndale House is doing

So Tyndale House is making more space and greater resources available to church leaders from Madagascar, Egypt, Congo, Brazil and many other countries around the world.

Some of these church leaders and scholars come from war zones and countries where Christians are in a persecuted minority.

For them Tyndale House is an oasis in the desert, but inevitably all return home with friendships, connections, and learning that lasts a lifetime.

To learn more

To learn more about Tyndale House go to their website: Tyndalehouse.com.  They have podcasts, newsletters, and other resources available. 

Peter was one of our earliest lecturers at the Lanier Theological Library.  To watch his first lecture with us click here.

More resources

Would you like a transcript of this podcast? Click here.

And you can get more Stone Chapel Podcasts on some great topics. Just click here.

What’s more? You can get information on upcoming lectures at Lanier Theological Library. Just click here.