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A Singular Seed, An Ancient Interpretation

with Christian Brady

To hear the podcast click here.

In Galatians 3, Paul makes the grammatically singular form of the noun “seed” (σπέρμα) load bearing for his argument. But the singular form of that word doesn’t necessarily denote one individual. Paul is employing contemporary Jewish exegetical practices, and the understanding of that and Paul’s wider aims can be helpful here. Dr. Christian Brady is T. W. Lewis Dean of the Lewis Honors College and Professor of Ancient Hebrew and Jewish Literature at the University of Kentucky. He completed an M.A. degree in Biblical and Theological Studies at Wheaton College (1994), before earning his Ph.D. from the University of Oxford (2000). His publications include The Proselyte and the Prophet: Character Development in Targum Ruth and Beautiful and Terrible Things: A Christian Struggle with Suffering, Grief, and Hope.

Check out related programs at Wheaton College:

B.A. in Classical Languages (Greek, Latin, Hebrew): https://bit.ly/3Wc2vms

M.A. in Biblical Exegesis: https://bit.ly/3W9AFr1

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From Saul to Paul with Steve Walton

To hear the podcast click here.

For the first several chapters in the book of Acts, the author, Luke, consistently speaks of one Saul, but at 13:9 Luke begins referring to him as Paul, which is also the name that this apostle uses in all his letters. Where do these two names come from? What does each mean? Why this switch in which name is used? Dr. Steve Walton is Senior Research Fellow in New Testament at Trinity College in Bristol, U.K., and former Secretary of the British New Testament Society. His many publications include (with David Wenham), Exploring the New Testament, vol. 1: The Gospels and Acts. He is currently working on a major critical commentary on Acts for the Word Biblical Commentary Series; volume 1 will appear in October 2024. He has contributed past episodes to this podcast series, and you can read an article of his on the topic of this episode here. 

Check out related programs at Wheaton College:

B.A. in Classical Languages: https://bit.ly/3xx6tfm 

M.A. in Biblical Exegesis: https://bit.ly/3TLAvn2 

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Eight Million Exiles with Christopher M. Hays

We have heard a lot about refugees in the last 20 years.  War and violence drive people away from their cherished homes.  Displacement creates all manner of suffering for good and decent people. 

Christopher Hays stopped by the Lanier Theological Library recently to talk about a project he led in Colombia, South America, to address some of that suffering.

To hear the podcast click here.

Who Is Christopher Hays?

Christopher M. Hays is the president of Scholar Leaders.  Prior to that he served as a missionary and visionary in Medellin, Colombia. 

Hays earned a PhD in New Testament from the University of Oxford. For eight years he taught New Testament at the Biblical Seminary of Colombia. He was the chief investigator on the Faith and Displacement project.

Eight Million Exiles

Colombia has been in the grip of a vicioius, civil war for nearly 75 years.  In the last twenty-four years, there have been one million murders. 

Eight million people have been violently ejected from the homes  The net effect of all this deprivation, displacement, and  discouragement has deeply injured millions of people. 

Teams of scholars, friends, and church leaders banded together to do something about these casualties of war. 

Hays writes about this in his new book, Eight Million Exiles: Missional Action Research and the Crisis of Forced Migration. (Eerdmans, 2024).

The technical term for these “exiles” is Internally Displaced Persons (IDP).  The Colombian government has done little to help them. 

The UN does not typically help IDPs.  So the best group to come alongside, house, feed, counsel, and help are the thousands of Christian churches already in many of these communities.

Resources

For Dr. Hays’ book Renouncing Everything: Money and Discipleship in Luke (Paulist Press, 2016) click here.

For his book When the Son of Man Didn’t Come: A Constructive Proposal on the Delay of the Parousia (Fortress, 2017)  click here.

You can get a transcript of this podcast by, clicking here.

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

You can get information on upcoming lectures at Lanier Theological Library by clicking here

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Is Reading the Bible Enough?

Brent Sandy joins David Capes on the Stone Chapel Podcasts talking about his new book.  They met at Wheaton College a few years ago.  Brent taught at Wheaton College for a number of years, until he moved to Indiana.

To hear the podcast click here.

Who Is Brent Sandy?

Brent Sandy was born in Pennsylvania.  He is interested in how best to read the Bible and how to help the church read Scripture for all its worth. 

He earned his PhD in Classics at Duke University.  And he’s spent the better part of his life in/ with/ for church.  He loves the Church and laments that we read the Scriptures so poorly, whether in our churches or in our homes.  

Is Reading the Bible Enough?  

By asking the question this way, we run the risk of being misunderstood.  As Christians, we’re told to read the Bible.  And we should, but what does it mean to read the Bible, actually read it. 

That is what Brent Sandy is doing in his new book, Hear Ye the Word of the Lord: What We Miss if We Only Read the Bible (InterVarsity). 

First, if we don’t read the Bible in context, we may “misread” it.  Second, for us reading is a solitary process.  We do it by ourselves. 

But the Scriptures are meant to be read aloud, in a community of believers.  Third, often even our public reading of Scripture is done badly, with no thought or preparation. 

Fourth, we tend to read the Scripture in bits and pieces, a verse here, a chapter there.  Paul wrote the Galatian letter to be read at one time, in one sitting. 

This podcast explores some of these challenges.

More Resources

We have another interesting podcast about reading scripture. For Randy Richard’s podcast, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, click here.

Click here for a link to Brent Sandy’s book.

You can get a transcript of this podcast by, clicking here.

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

You can get information on upcoming lectures at Lanier Theological Library by clicking here

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“Nobody’s Mother” with Sandra Glahn

Sandra Glahn has written a book that has a lot of people talking.  She was at the Lanier Theological Library in Houston recently and talked with David Capes on The Stone Chapel Podcasts.

To hear the podcast click here.

Who Is Sandra Glahn? 

Sandra Glahn is a professor of Media Arts and Worship at Dallas Theological Seminary.   She is a creative force behind a project, The Visual Museum of Women in Christianity (www.visualmuseum.gallery). 

It’s a project that is recovering some of the visual history of the Christian faith since its early centuries.  Ironically, some of visual history does not make it into the history books. 

Sandra is the wife of one husband for 45 years, a mother, a grandmother. She holds a PhD from University of Texas, Dallas, in the humanities.

“Nobody’s Mother”

In 2023 Sandra Glahn published a book she has been working on for quite some time.  It is entitled Nobody’s Mother: Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament (IVP Academic). 

Although she thought it might be a “woman’s book,” she found that it had attracted a lot of attention from men as well who were unsure how to read certain New Testament references.

Since the time of Jerome, Artemis had been understood to be a fertility goddess, a nurturer, a mother.  But Sandra’s research went deep into the inscriptions, texts, imagery, etc, to discoverer that she was “nobody’s mother.”

She was a hunter, filled with magic power, and often likely to kill a mother in childbirth if you ticked her off. 

Dr. Glahn draws a number of conclusions about biblical texts, like Acts 19 and 1 Timothy 2, from what she has uncovered.

Resources

Nobody’s Mother: Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament(IVP Academic, 2023). 

For the Visual Museum of Women in Christianity click here or type https://www.visualmuseum.gallery  into your browser.

Here’s Sandra’s book, Vindicating the Vixens: Revisiting Sexualized, Vilified, and Marginalized Women of the Bible (Kregel Academic, 2017).