Christians who feel uneasy with tricky texts in Scripture have something to learn from Jewish Bible readers. Jews actually seek out challenges in the Bible, because they believe these are God’s invitation to develop and use wisdom.
In this episode, Dru Johnson interviews Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm, a “historian of religion who is interested in the role of religion, religious values, and tradition in shaping the global moral discourse.” His Orthodox Jewish upbringing taught him to embrace the view of the Hebrew Bible as layered, complex, and challenging—for, the very idea of God suggests that He has complex and layered ideas to communicate with His creation. Dr. Lamm encourages Christians to be similarly comfortable with questioning biblical stories on a deeper level.
Don’t forget to check out Dr. Lamm’s podcast Good Faith Effort, where he “speaks with thinkers, writers, artists, and faith leaders to explore how the Bible continues to inform our lives today, from politics to psychology to pop culture, bringing Americans of different traditions and persuasions closer together as so much else threatens to pull us apart.”
Show notes:
Show notes by Serena Tuomi
Credits for the music used in TBM podcast can be found at: hebraicthought.org/credits.
Is God Perfect? Does That Matter? [Revisited] (Peter Leithart)
Lament, Moral Injury, and the Dark Parts of Scripture (Dr. Jill Firth)
Until All the Psalms Are Sung Again (Poor Bishop Hooper)
Listen to an Article: Recovering the Political Teachings of the Hebrew Bible
The Church's Alarming Neglect of the Old Testament (Brent Strawn)
On Whether There Is Sacred Music (Delvyn Case)
How to Enjoy Reading the Bible (Matthew Mullins)
Behind the Scenes: CHT Staff Tells All! (Dru, Amy, Celina)
The Biblical Authors vs. Greek Philosophy (Joseph Dodson)
Understanding Slavery in the Old Testament—and Today (Myrto Theocharous)
You Mean Jesus Isn't Literally a Vine? (Beth Stovell)
American Christians' Peculiar View of Inerrancy—and Other Oddities (Mike Bird)
Listen to an Article: Neither Work nor Leisure Provides 'Our Daily Bread'
Ancient Israelite Government in Modern Republics (Kyle Swan)
Don't Drop the Body of Christ (Janelle Peters)
Why We Should Still Keep the Sabbath (Mark Scarlata)
Reading Exodus: When Does a Multitude Become a People? (Leon Kass)
Listen to This before Writing That Book (Michael Thomson)
But Really, What's Up with Abraham Almost Sacrificing Isaac? (Aaron Koller)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
강유원의 책담화冊談話
The Art of Manliness
Philosophize This!
Dear Hank & John
Alan Watts Being in the Way