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Tell Her Story with Nijay Gupta

Nijay Gupta joined David Capes recently from his home in Portland via Zoom to talk about a new book he has written: Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught and Ministered in the Early Church.

Who is Nijay Gupta? 

Nijay Gupta is Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Chicago.  He’s the author of a number of books on faith and the gospel.  He has been with us before on the Stone Chapel Podcasts. 

See the show notes below to listen to them. He writes a regular blog for Patheos called “Crux Sola: Formed by Scripture to Live Like Christ.”

What’s the Big Idea of Tell Her Story?  

Dr. Gupta grew up in a conservative church where all the leaders were men.  During his education, he came across gifted women from other denominations. 

They were leaders, ministers, and teachers.  Ironically, one of his first papers in graduate school argued that women must not be leaders.  His last paper in systematic theology made the case that women must be pastors.

Dr. Gupta’s current book explores the stories and contributions of women in the earliest churches.  We know about them from the New Testament, and in particular the letters of Paul. 

Romans 16 is one of those places where Paul names Jews, Gentiles, men, women, slave, and free.  Andrew Clark says that Paul puts flesh on his admonition in Gal 3:26-29. 

Paul commends women right alongside men as fellow workers, apostles, deacons, and fellow prisoner.

More Resources

To hear Nijay’s earlier podcasts on 15 New Testament Words, click here.

And click here for his podcast on Paul and the Language of Faith.

To hear the podcast click here.

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15 New Testament Words of Life

Dr. Nijay Gupta,
Northern Seminary

15 New Testament Words of Life: A New Testament Theology for Real Life (Zondervan) is Nijay Gupta’s most recent book.  He joins David Capes to talk about it on “The Stone Chapel Podcast.” 

Dr. Gupta is a New Testament Professor at Northern Seminary in Lyle, IL.  He is the author of many books and articles.

In 2021 he appeared on “The Stone Chapel Podcast” to talk about another of his books, Paul and the Language of Faith.

The book begins with an assumption: we don’t read the Bible in a vacuum.  We read it in the midst of the ups and downs of our lives.

As a result, a different way of reading the Bible is called for, a strategy that asks the question: “So what?”  

Nijay wrote this book for those who consider themselves students of the Bible, whether seminary students, pastors, or interested laypeople. 

By choosing these particular words, Dr. Gupta hopes to break down “Christian-ese.”  Each of the 15 words are tied to a particular book or set of books.

Most New Testament theologies are written for academics.  They are big books often running 1000 pages or more.  They tend to be esoteric and filled with academic speak. 

Rather than focusing on the day to day, namely, life, many New Testament theologies stay in the abstract.  While Nijay reads these big books and appreciates them, he wanted this book to be much shorter and more to the point. 

The New Testament is filled with church letters, pastoral letters.  The authors were writing amidst the rough and tumble of life.

Since there was not enough time to talk about all these words, David and Nijay focused briefly on three: forgiveness, salvation, and hope. 

Listen carefully to the podcast to pick up on the nuances of these words. 

Here is what one scholar had to say about the book:

“Do you suspect there’s more to the Christian faith than what you’re hearing? Dr. Gupta brings the best of biblical scholarship to the pews, where standard Christian ways of talking about things have grown stale. By highlighting these fifteen key words, he opens a whole new world of understanding that will reinvigorate Christian practice. If you are hungry to move beyond clichés, this book is your invitation to a nourishing feast.” 

—CARMEN JOY IMES, Associate professor of Old Testament, Biola University, author ofBearing God’s Name

David recorded an earlier podcast with Nijay on his book, Paul and the Language of Faith., 

To listen to this podcast, click here.

Recently, David Capes was interviewed by Nijay on his book and especially ch. 1 “Righteousness in Matthew.”  To see and hear the post click here.

To learn more about Nijay Gupta, follow his blog: “Crux Sola” on Patheos.

To hear the podcast (20 minutes), click here.