Episode #322 - Beyond Deconstruction with Professor James McGrath

In this episode, we indulge in a little April Fool's fun by discussing the best worst movies we've ever seen, and why we absolutely love to watch them ironically and in some cases even unironically. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Dr. Brandon Hurlbert, and Rev. Dr. Chris Porter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we're joined by Professor, James F. McGrath, who is Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, and the author of the book that we're discussing in this episode, Beyond Deconstruction: Building a More Expansive Faith (published by Eerdmans). In our conversation, Prof. McGrath says about his own journey of deconstruction and how he wanted to write this book to leave behind "bread crumbs" to help people navigate faith on the other side towards a faith that is more expansive. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Dr. Grace Sangalang Ng. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we're joined by Prof. Kelly M. Kapic (PhD, King's College, University of London), who is Professor of Theological Studies at Covenant College, and the author of several books, including the book that we're discussing in this episode, Christian Life (as part of the New Studies in Dogmatics series published by Zondervan Academic). Over the course of our conversation, we discuss Kelly Kapic's aims to ground his theology of the Christian life in the Triune God, insisting that a theology of Christian life is necessarily theological. We also address how the particulars of Christian life pertain to universals, which helps to situate the topic in relation to various cultural and contextual settings. To round out the conversation, Prof. Kapic also highlights one of his main emphases that Christian life as a response to God begins with the Messiah's response to God first. From there flows the ecclesial gathering of Christ followers whose Christian life is bound up in our relations to one another, but also to God and to creation. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Stephanie Kate Judd. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we're joined by Dr. Preston Sprinkle, who hosts the Theology in the Raw podcast and is the author of From Genesis to Junia: An Honest Search for What the Bible Really Says About Women in Leadership (published by David Cook). In our conversation we talk about what caused Dr. Sprinkle to change his mind on this topic, and we discuss several key issues and passages related to the topic of women in ministry in the Bible. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Adishian, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, and Dr. Grace Sangalang Ng. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we're joined by Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Dr. Jeannine Brown, New Testament professors at Bethel Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to talk about their new book, The Greatest Story Ever Retold: Jesus Narratives From Gospels to Film (with Baker Academic). As we discuss, Drs. Dunne and Brown share how Jesus films provide an external vantage point for thinking about the hermeneutical process of envisioning narratives while we read, making us like the directors of Jesus films inside our heads each time we read. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. Brandon Hurlbert and Rev. Dr. Chris Porter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we're joined by Prof. Andrew Crislip, who is Blake Chair in the History of Christianity at Virginia Commonwealth University, and the author of Emotion in Early Christianity (published by Eerdmans). In our conversation, Prof. Crislip talks with us about what emotions really are, what early Christians thought about five key emotions, and how that thinking evolved within the first five centuries of the church. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Adishian and Dr. John Anthony Dunne. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we're joined by Dr. Ryan Collman, who is Associate Supervisor at Westcott House, Cambridge, and tutor in New Testament at the University of London, as well as the author of The Apostle to the Foreskin: Circumcision in the Letters of Paul (De Gruyter), which won the Lautenschlaeger Award in 2023. In our conversation, we talk about circumcision in the letters of Paul with reference to ancient practices and perspectives, as well as modern pseudoscientific views about the contemporary practice in America. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Rev. Dr. Madison Pierce. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we're joined by Dr. Ruben Bühner, who is a postdoctoral researcher for New Testament Studies at the University of Zurich and the University of Bonn, and the author of Negotiating Jewishness: Paul’s Ethnicity Between Continuity and Discontinuity (Baylor University Press). Over the course of our conversation, we talk about key passages in the interpretation of Paul that relate to matters of continuity and discontinuity with respect to Paul's Jewish identity and observance of the Torah. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we're joined by Dr. Ian Mills, who is Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics and Religious Studies at Hamilton College and the author of The Hypothesis of the Gospels: Narrative Traditions in Hellenistic Reading Culture (Fortress Press). Over the course of our conversation, we talk about how ancient readers understood the variation in Gospel production as writing on a common hypothesis (or the "gist") about Jesus. Dr. Mills explains to us what the ancient conception of a hypothesis is, and we talk about the various implications that this has for thinking about the relationship of the canonical four Gospels to each other as well as to other non-canonical Gospels. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Dr. Logan Williams. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we're joined by Pastor Stephanie Williams O'Brien to talk about the realities of what's happening in Minnesota with the immigration enforcement agency known as I.C.E., and how Christians should respond to the situation. Pastor Steph is Lead Pastor of Mill City Church in Northeast Minneapolis, the co-host with Jo Saxton of the Lead Stories podcast, and author of two books, Stay Curious (Fortress) and Make A Move (Broadleaf). Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Adishian, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Dr. Brandon Hurlbert, and Dr. Grace Sangalang Ng. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.