The Two Cities

In this episode we're joined by Dr. Daniel Hill, assistant professor of Christian Theology at George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and the author of Bearing Witness: What the Church Can Learn from Early Abolitionists (published by Baker Academic). In our conversation Dr. Hill helps us to think about the importance of creativity in how to help people at the margins. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Adishian and Dr. Madison Pierce.

In this episode we’re joined by Professor Dale C. Allison Jr., who is the Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary and the author of Interpreting Jesus (published by Eerdmans). Over the course of our conversation we talked about why Prof. Allison chose to write this book as a collection of essays, how he used the volume as a venue to chart some new ways forward in his thinking and even to make some revisions to his previous work. We also talk about the prospect of changing your mind in print like this, and what advice he has for upcoming New Testament scholars. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. Josh Carroll and Dr. John Anthony Dunne.

In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Christy Cobb and Dr. Katherine Shaner to talk about their new edited volume, Ancient Slavery and Its New Testament Contexts (published by Eerdmans). Dr. Christy Cobb is Associate Professor of Christianity in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Denver, and Dr. Katherine Shaner is Associate Professor of New Testament at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. Over the course of the episode we discuss the different essays in the volume, what the inception of the collection was, Dr. Cobb and Dr. Shaner’s respective contributions to the book, and some of the intriguing developments on the scholarship of ancient slavery for understanding New Testament texts. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Adishian, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, and Rev. Daniel Parham.

In this episode we’re joined by Aimee Byrd, who is the author of eight books, including the new one that we discuss in this episode, Saving Face: Finding My Self, God, and One Another Outside a Defaced Church (published by Zondervan). Over the course of our conversation we talk about the rich value of faces, the metaphorical nuances to “saving face,” and the ultimate goal of beholding the face of God in the Beatific Vision, among other things. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Dr. Grace Sangalang Ng, Rev. Daniel Parham, and Rev. Dr. Chris Porter.

In this episode we’re joined by Rev. Dr. Malcolm Foley, Pastor at Mosaic Waco, Special Advisor to the President for Equity and Campus Engagement at Baylor University, and the author of The Anti-Greed Gospel: Why the Love of Money Is the Root of Racism and How the Church Can Create a New Way Forward (published by Baker). Over the course of our conversation we talk about how Jesus is calling Christians not simply to be generous, which can lead to paternalism, but more specifically anti-greedy, actively rooting out sites in our lives where greed can grow and take over. We discuss several biblical passages about wealth and riches on the one hand and the value of sharing on the other. Team Members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Adishian, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, and Rev. Daniel Parham.

In this episode we’re joined by Professor Joan Taylor, who is Professor of Christian Origins and Second Temple Judaism at King’s College, London, and the author of Boy Jesus: Growing Up Judean in Turbulent Times (Zondervan Academic). Over the course of our conversation we talk about what our sources are for accessing Jesus’s childhood, what we think we can know about it, how his family life and the political situation of Judea at the time would have shaped him into the person he became, and why later Christians were so interested in continuing to tell stories about Jesus’s youth. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Rev. Daniel Parham, Dr. Madison Pierce, and Dr. Sydney Tooth.

In this episode we’re joined by Dr. James Barker, who is Associate Professor in the Department of History at Western Kentucky University and the author of Writing and Rewriting the Gospels: John and the Synoptics (published by Eerdmans). In this episode we discuss Dr. Barker’s theory of Gospel development, which entails the idea that each of our canonical Gospels were aware of the previously written ones, meaning not only that Luke used Matthew, but moreover that John knew of each of the Synoptic Gospels. We discuss some of the evidence for this, the developmental implications of this insight for Christology, among other things, and much more. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Rev. Dr. Chris Porter, and Dr. Kris Song.

Over the course of our conversation, Prof. MacCulloch explains the impetus behind his book as unsettling many “settled facts” about the Christian history of sexuality. We talk about differing views on sex before the Fall, sex in the eschaton, modern approaches to sexuality like purity culture, when weddings began to be held in churches, and some of the terrifying legends about homosexuality perpetuated by Christians. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Adishian and Dr. John Anthony Dunne.

In this episode we’re joined by Dr. David Bennett is a post-doctoral research fellow in theology and ethics at the University of Oxford and he’s the author of A War of Loves: The Unexpected Story of a Gay Activist Discovering Jesus (published by Zondervan). In our conversation we review and discuss the portrayal of Jesus’s sexuality and desire for a relationship and a family in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988, directed by Martin Scorsese). Together we overview Dr. Bennett’s work, as well as the film, and bring the two into conversation together. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne.