How do we read the Bible like adults? For many people who grew up in communities of faith, the Bible stories have been a part of their lives for as long as they can remember. But it's often not until later in life that the richer meanings of the stories come alive, misconceptions are corrected, and the voices of the biblical authors become clearer—even as we relinquish naive certainties and the expectation of a black and white world.
In this episode, Dru interviews Dr. Avital Hazony Levi, instructor in Jewish philosophy and Bible at Midreshet Nishmat. They discuss everything from the nitty-gritty vocabulary of the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar to the ways in which Western philosophical concepts threaten to drown out the voices of the biblical authors to the psychology of female characters in the Hebrew Bible. Along the way, they examine core biblical concepts such as loyalty, trust, responsibility, and generational sin.
Currently a postdoctoral fellow at Tel Aviv University, Avital has a rich background in both the Hebrew Bible and philosophy, and her work spans from moral epistemology to the nature of loyalty and worship. She has taught philosophy, Jewish thought, and Tanakh at Nishmat, TVA, and the Orthodox Union college summer program.
Show notes:
Show notes by Micah Long
Rituals Teach: Why We Can’t Ignore Leviticus (Mark Scarlata)
Update: Now Accepting Questions for Upcoming Q&A Episodes!
What Can Non-Jewish Clergy Learn from Jewish Studies? (Jeff Jacoby)
The Sexual Reformation: What Does the Bible Actually Say about Gender? (Aimee Byrd)
A Look Back at Rethinking ’Quiet Time’ (Jen Wilkin)
Beyond Bible Study: From Consumers to Participants (Caroline Smiley and Kyle Worley)
What Do Rituals ’Do,’ and What Makes a Ritual Sacred? (Ben Noonan)
The True Causes and Purposes of Religious Doubt (Matthew LaPine)
Love Enemies Better through Knowing the Biblical Land (Danielle Parish)
Still Trying to Find Yourself? Try Losing It First (Alan Noble)
The Church Needs African Hermeneutics (Liz Mburu)
The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America (Aaron Griffith)
Extreme Violence, Nahum, and Reconciliation in the Congo (Jacob Onyumbe Wenyi)
What Biblical Racial Reconciliation Actually Looks Like (Anthony Bradley)
The Torah Is Not a Law Book (Jerry Unterman)
No One Asks for Forgiveness in the Bible? (Joshua Berman)
African Americans Understood Paul‘s Words While Slave Owners Twisted Them (Lisa Bowens)
What Are Sermons for, and How Can They Be Improved? (Jonathan Pennington)
Three Grinches in a Pod: Complicating Christmas
Toward an Integrated Liturgy of Work and Worship (Matthew Kaemingk)
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