The Naked Bible Podcast

Episode 33 continues our series on Bible study at the word level. Last time we talked about word usage as it pertains to usage by a single biblical author within the scope of that author's writings.  Our launching point was the lemma behind "unmarried" in 1 Cor 7. The lemma was used only four times in the New Testament, all within that chapter of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. Today we’ll primarily focus on thinking about word usage in relation to other words -- specifically, synonyms and grammatical relationships. Our starting point is the Hebrew word bara', the lemma behind the word "created" in Gen 1:1. Find out what the word does and does not mean in this episode.

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Today we're continuing with our series on Bible study at the word level. Last time we talked about exegetical fallacies that arise from flawed word study methods. In this episode, I want to transition to some important elements that go into word study. Today we’ll primarily be focused on examining a word as it’s used by a single author throughout the material that author wrote – in this case the apostle Paul. But the word I've chosen for our focus also means that we’ll be getting into the issue of a word’s distribution across a corpus – in this case, obviously, the New Testament. Since this example is so restrictive – since my primary interest in this episode is a single author’s use – I’ll probably return to word distribution when doing word studies in a future episode.

During the course of the podcast I'll be talking about specific words in 1 Corinthians 7. I've reproduced important excerpts below, with certain words colored and marked for reasons that I indicate in the podcast. You can reference them as you listen or afterwards.

Excerpts from 1 Corinthians 7 (ESV)

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This episode continues the series on studying the Bible at the word level. The episode utilizes the audio of a short screen capture video that Dr. Heiser created to illustrate a range of exegetical fallacies that amateur researchers frequently commit when doing Greek and Hebrew word studies. For those to whom the term is unfamiliar, an "exegetical fallacy" is the academic term use to described flawed methodology in word study and the flawed conclusions that such methods yield. Enjoy this important podcast!

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In this episode, the series on taking Bible study seriously transitions to word level research by overviewing some directions we'll take as we think about studying biblical words.

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In this episode, we’re going to talk about two genres: prophecy and apocalyptic. The reason for doubling up will become apparent as we proceed, but basically we need to talk about these two genres because most modern Bible students don’t realize there are clear differences between the two. That is, most people assume that “prophecy” has something to do with predicting the end times – but it actually doesn’t – that’s the apocalyptic genre.

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This episode of the Naked Bible podcast features Dr. Heiser's interview with his friend Dr. Sam Lamerson about the use of the comedic genre in the New Testament. Dr. Lamerson is Professor of New Testament at Knox Theological Seminary in Fort Lauderdale, FL. He has a specific research interest in the comedic genre in ancient Greek literature.

The book by Frederick Buechner Dr. Lamerson references in the podcast is linked under the episode on the Bibliography and Resources page.

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In the last podcast episode we continued our series on studying the Bible in light of its various types of literature – its literary genres. We looked at parables and offered some guidelines for interpreting them. In this episode, we’re going to briefly look at another familiar type of biblical literature that is at times badly misunderstood: the proverb.

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In the last podcast episode we continued our series on studying the Bible in light of its various types of literature – its literary genres. We looked at an example related to the New Testament – how the literary features of Greco-Roman phantom tales and “post-mortem appearances” of the dead inform our reading of NT resurrection accounts. In this episode, we’re going to focus on a type of literature that appears in both testaments, but which is most familiar in the New Testament:  the parable.

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In the last podcast episode we continued our series on studying the Bible in light of its various types of literature – its literary genres. We’re going to continue that effort in this episode and shift gears into the New Testament.

I want to look today at two familiar episodes in the life of Jesus: the incident where he walks on the water and his disciples think they are seeing a ghost, and his appearances to the disciples after his resurrection. It may sound surprising, but the ancient world of which the NT was part actually had many stories about ghosts and what scholars call “post-mortem appearances” of the dead. New Testament scholars have investigated how the New Testament writers both utilized and subverted these genres in their attempts to communicate what it was they experienced and believed about Jesus.

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In the last podcast episode we continued our series on studying the Bible in a way that amounts to more than reading by taking a look at the legal genre in Old Testament books. Today we’re focusing on another genre – military annals. I think the best way of illustrating how this genre can matter for interpretation is to begin with a problem that it solves, one that biblical scholars have grappled with for centuries. More specifically, I’m speaking of the problem of the unrealistically large numbers in the exodus and wilderness journey of Israel. In this episode of the Naked Bible podcast, I’ll illustrate this problem from the biblical material, mention a commonly proposed solution, and then introduce you to what I think is a better solution—one that derives from the type of literature we’re dealing with in the exodus, wilderness, and conquest narratives.

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