Mark Scarlata - Wine, Soil, and Salvation in Scripture

Episode: Mark Scarlata's new book Wine, Soil, and Salvation in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament (CUP, 2025) explores the intricate dance between earth and sustenance. Scarlata argues that wine becomes the unique vessel that contains the culmination of God's blessings on Israel and Israel's responsibilities to the earth, each other, and neighbors. The terroir of wine acts as a kind of metaphor for this nexus and Scarlata shows how wine appears in surprising ways across the biblical literature with this paradigm in mind. Mark also managed to almost sway Dru into becoming a wine drinker. Erin Heim and Dru Johnson hosted this live interview at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.

Guest: Rev Dr. Mark Scarlata is Tutor and Senior Lecturer in Old Testament at St. Mellitus College, UK. He's the author of numerous books, including Outside of Eden: Cain in the Ancient Versions of Gen. 4:1-16 (T&T Clark 2012), Am I My Brother's Keeper? Christian Citizenship in a Globalized Society (Wipf & Stock/Cascade), The Abiding Presence (SCM Press, 2018), Sabbath Rest: The Beauty of God's Rhythm for a Digital World (SCM Press, 2019), Journey Through the World of Leviticus: Holiness, Sacrifice, and the Rock Badger (Wipf & Stock, 2021),  The Theology of Leviticus (CUP, 2025), and the book of focus for this episode, Wine, Soil, and Salvation in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament (CUP, 2025). He is also the Vicar-Chaplain at St. Edward, King and Martyr, Cambridge where he serves as a priest in one of the oldest churches in Cambridge that was integral in the English Reformation. He is the director of the St. Edward’s Institute for Christian Thought which seeks to nurture Christian scholars and bring theology to the heart of the church. (an edited version of his St. Mellitus page).

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