Episode: In this episode co-host Amy Brown Hughes nerds out with fellow historical theologian J. Warren Smith about what it would be like if a bunch of early Christian theologians hung out for dinner. Smith's new book Early Christian Theology: A History offers us an entrance into the story of the development of early Christian theology that is engaging, winsome, and informative.

Guest: J. Warren Smith is Professor of Historical Theology at Duke Divinity School. He's the author of several books, including Passion and Paradise: Human and Divine Emotion in the Thought of Gregory of Nyssa (Crossroad, 2004), Christian Grace and Pagan Virtue: The Theological Foundation of Ambrose's Ethics (Oxford, 2010), Ambrose, Augustine, and the Pursuit of Greatness (Cambridge, 2020), and the book we're discussing in this episode, Early Christian Theology: A History (Eerdmans, 2026).

Beyond these works, Dr. Smith is turning to a project, tentatively entitled Plato and Christ: Platonism in Early Christian Theology, that will examine the significance of the tradition called "Christian Platonism" for Christianity in a post-modern age.

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Episode: Is redemption the Bible's "big story"? Is salvation THE goal of Scripture's narrative? Are "story" and "narrative" even helpful ways of conceptualizing the whole Bible? Cornell would answer (a qualified) NEIN! to each question. Listen in to hear why, and about alternative communion model he proposes.

Guest: Dr. Collin Cornell is Assistant Professor of Bible and Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at Candler School of Theology (at Emory University). Before returning to Emory, he taught for three years as a visiting assistant professor of biblical studies in the School of Theology at the University of the South (Sewanee). Collin is author of three books, Divine Aggression in Psalms and Inscriptions (Cambridge University Press, 2020), Divine Aggression in Psalms and Inscriptions (2021), and the book under discussion today, God Draws Near: Rethinking the Biblical Theology of Mission (Baker, 2025). He's edited two books, Divine Doppelgängers: YHWH’s Ancient Look-Alikes (Penn State University Press, 2020) and The Incomparable God: Readings in Biblical Theology (Eerdmans, 2023), and co-translator of a third, Biblical ABCs: The Basics of Christian Resistance (Lexington Books, 2021). He is currently working on a book entitled The Lords that Never Were: Early Judaism and the Gods of the Hellenistic Levant. He has also written several articles on Elephantine.

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Episode: In this second part of a two-part episode, Kevin Vanhoozer is interviewed by Matthew Bates, along with his Northern Seminary students, as part of a "live" classroom event. Over the duration of an academic quarter, Bates and his Intro to Biblical Interpretation students read and discussed Vanhoozer's award-winning book, Mere Christian Hermeneutics. Now they have questions! Vanhoozer brings both academic expertise and pastoral wisdom, clarifying what it means to interpret Scripture faithfully.

Guest: Kevin Vanhoozer is currently Research Professor of Systematic Theology at TEDS, but in the fall will take a new post: Blanchard Professor of Systematic Theology at Wheaton College. He has written numerous books, including several award-winners: Is There a Meaning in this Text? (Zondervan, 1998; Christianity Today Book Award, 1999) and The Drama of Doctrine (Westminster John Knox, 2005; Christianity Today Best Theology Book of the Year, 2006). Our conversation today focuses on Mere Christian Hermeneutics (Zondervan Academic, 2024), which won major book awards from Christianity Today and the Gospel Coalition, among others.

OnScript's Review: "Wise. Learned. Bold. Faithful. Kevin Vanhoozer's Mere Christian Hermeneutics is the definitive work on the theory of scriptural interpretation." -- Matthew W. Bates, Professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary

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Episode: In this first part of a two-part episode, Kevin Vanhoozer is interviewed by Matthew Bates, along with his Northern Seminary students, as part of a "live" classroom event. Over the duration of an academic quarter, Bates and his Intro to Biblical Interpretation students read and discussed Vanhoozer's award-winning book, Mere Christian Hermeneutics. Now they have questions! Vanhoozer brings both academic expertise and pastoral wisdom, clarifying what it means to interpret Scripture faithfully.

Guest: Kevin Vanhoozer is currently Research Professor of Systematic Theology at TEDS, but in the fall will take a new post: Blanchard Professor of Systematic Theology at Wheaton College. He has written numerous books, including several award-winners: Is There a Meaning in this Text? (Zondervan, 1998; Christianity Today Book Award, 1999) and The Drama of Doctrine (Westminster John Knox, 2005; Christianity Today Best Theology Book of the Year, 2006). Our conversation today focuses on Mere Christian Hermeneutics (Zondervan Academic, 2024), which won major book awards from Christianity Today and the Gospel Coalition, among others.

OnScript's Review: "Wise. Learned. Bold. Faithful. Kevin Vanhoozer's Mere Christian Hermeneutics is the definitive work on the theory of scriptural interpretation." -- Matthew W. Bates, Professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary

Give: Visit our Donate Page if you want to join the big leagues and become a regular donor.

Episode: We all understand that statues were considered divine in the ancient Near East. But what about a god's sword, or concepts about a god? Could they also be divine? In this episode, Jennifer Singletary helps understand the conditions in which objects and attributes were divinized (if that's the right word) alongside the gods themselves and how this might help us understand biblical divinization.

Guest: Dr. Jennifer Singletary is Assistant Research Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Jewish Studies at Penn State University. Her work explores ancient ideas regarding superhuman beings, methods used to communicate with them, relationships among religious specialists, and cognitive approaches to religion and linguistics. Her first book, Objects, Qualities, and Attributes as Deities in the Ancient Near East (Brill, 2025), examines deified objects, qualities, and attributes in the ancient Near East. She is currently working on her second book, Ancient Near Eastern Prophecy, which is under contract with the Cambridge Elements series, the Ancient Near Eastern World and the Bible. Her third book project (under contract with Brill) investigates the strategies that ancient diviners, including prophets, used to discredit their rivals or work cooperatively with their peers in Old Babylonian Mari, Neo-Assyria, and the Hebrew Bible. Her research on this topic was recently featured in an article in Archaeology magazine. She is also the area editor for the Early Alphabetic and Northwest Semitic section of Prayer in the Ancient World (Brill) and a series editor for the Religions in the Ancient Mediterranean book series (Eisenbrauns). (adapted from the Penn State website)

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Episode: In this episode, "follow the money" takes on a whole new (and old) significance. Co-host Amy Hughes talks with Malcolm Foley about his book The Anti-Greed Gospel: Why The Love of Money is the Root of Racism and How the Church Can Create A New Way Forward. The conversation begins with why greed is the root of race and racism instead of hate or ignorance and ends with how the Kingdom of God forms our imaginations and helps “drain race of its power” and work toward a world where “no person is a victim of injustice.”

Guest: Malcolm Foley (PhD, Baylor University, MDiv, Yale Divinity School) is a pastor, historian, and speaker who serves as special adviser to the president for campus engagement at Baylor University. He has written for Christianity Today, The Anxious Bench, and Mere Orthodoxy. Foley copastors Mosaic Waco, a multicultural church in Waco, Texas, where he lives with his wife, Desiree. In addition to the Anti-Greed Gospel, he is currently working on a second book which will, among other things, argue, with the guidance of the Greek and Byzantine Fathers, that the hope of deification is what jettisons our lesser hopes of material wealth, political power, and cultural influence.

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Episode: Gird your emotional loins! Dr. Sheblazm takes us on a journey inward, to those painful places that few want to go, in order to retrieve what no one thought existed, to bring about what no one thought possible.

Guest: Professor Dr. Irvine Sheblazm, Ph.D, Ph.D., is a theologian and a scientist with degrees from prominent institutions. He runs the “Center for Excellence” in the Lake District in the UK. He is the author of many many books, including:

• The Cheerful Taker: A New Economics for Pauline Christians in a Changing World (2025)
• Abraham's Bosom, Paul, and the Decline of Postmodernism (2024).
• Child Rearing with the Apostle Paul and the Book of Revelation (2022).
• The Emotionally Healthy Paul: Inner Emotional Intelligence with the Apostle Paul.

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Episode: Imagine the writers of Scripture around a table discussing, sometimes arguing about, and ultimately seeking deeper wisdom about God, humanity, and the world. In his recent book, Voices of the Sages, Brian Toews helps us grasp the conversation between sages in the "Writings," the third major division of the Hebrew Bible. And then imagine a conversation about that conversation ...

Guest: Dr. Brian Toews is retired Professor of Bible at Cairn University in Philadelphia, where he also served as Provost. He earned his BA in Linguistics from UCLA, ThM and MDiv from the Talbot School of Theology (Biola University), and PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from UCLA. He's the author of Voices of the Sages: Old Testament Wisdom in Dialogue (McGahan, 2025).

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Check out the new song from our producer Jason Stark! -