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The Divine Warrior Myth and Andy Angel

Andy Angel came to the Lanier Theological Library in Houston and discussed with David Capes some ideas he had about “The Divine Warrior” in Scripture. 

Who is Andy Angel? 

Andy is the Director of Formation for Ministry in the Diocese of Oxford in the UK. 

He arranges and plans for the theological education of the clergy and the lay people in the Anglican Church. 

Andy is an Englishman and an Anglican clergy.  For a time he served as a pastor-teacher in Lima, Peru. He is a husband and father.  And he’s is also an author. 

“The Divine Warrior” What does that mean?

There are passages in the Bible that describe God as a warrior for his people.  When they are defeated, when they are down for the count, God arrives to fight for them. 

And God’s coming is described in amazing pictures and images, such as God coming on the clouds, the falling of the stars from heaven, the mountains melting beneath his feet, the valleys quaking at his presence. 

This is more than metaphor;  it is figurative language, because the truth of it cannot be captured in words. As an example, he talks at length about Psalm 18. 

Jesus as the Divine Warrior

Also in this podcast he turns his attention to an upcoming book about the Divine Warrior occurrences in the book Mark. 

He is exploring how and to what extent Jesus’s conflicts with the demonic forces, diseases, and human power structures picture Jesus as the Divine Warrior. 

If this is what Mark had in mind as he wrote his Gospel, he is operating with a very high Christology.

Andy’s Books

Here are more of Andy’s books:

Intimate Jesus: The Sexuality of God Incarnate

The Jesus You Really Didn’t Know

Playing with Dragons: Living with Suffering and God

For a transcript of this podcast, 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 (about 20 min.) click here.

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Son of David/Son of God with Matthew Novenson

The Greek sentence that opens Paul’s letter to the Romans includes carefully worded claims about Paul’s gospel. Crucially, Paul identifies some of what he means when he refers to Jesus as Christ/Messiah: He is a descendent of David and the Son of God. He is the latter not only as a result of the resurrection but in a special way through that event.

Dr. Matthew V. Novenson is Professor of Biblical Criticism and Biblical Antiquities at the University of Edinburgh. Among recent publications are (author) Christ Among the Messiahs; Paul, Then and Now; and (co-editor) The Oxford Handbook of Pauline Studies.

To hear the podcast click here.

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Signs and Wonders with Ben Marx

In this episode, Ben Marx shares how close attention to the phrase “signs and wonders” brings into focus how Luke narrates God’s work of salvation in Jesus, to which the apostles and others bear witness. This plays out against the backdrop of Moses’ miracles and plots the growing reach of the good news from Israel to the nations. Ben Marx is Professor of New Testament at the Instituto Bíblico Sinodal de Arequipa, Peru, and is a Ph.D. candidate at Trinity College Bristol/University of Aberdeen. His thoughts on this episode’s topic will be published in the Journal of Pentecostal Theology.

Check out related programs at Wheaton:

To hear the podcast (8 min) 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.