Nature vs. Human Craft in Sacred Space

The Mountain Q+R (E14) — Could the Tower of Babel be considered a man-made mountain? How does Yahweh asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on the mountain fit with his gracious character? And after Elijah’s failure on Mount Sinai, why is he still regarded as a great prophet? In this episode, Tim and Jon respond to your questions from our series on the theme of the mountain. Thank you to our audience for your thoughtful contributions to this episode!

View all of our resources for The Mountain →

Chapters

1. Intro (0:00-3:52)
2. How can we live out the biblical idea of sacred spaces in the modern world? (3:52-12:38)
3. Could the Tower of Babel be considered a man-made mountain? (12:38-19:22)
4. What do stones and bricks represent in the biblical story? (19:22-28:04)
5. How does Yahweh asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac fit with his gracious character? (28:04-39:45)
6. After Elijah’s failure on Mount Sinai, why is he still regarded as a great prophet? (39:45-48:30)
7. Can Elijah’s Mount Sinai experience help us understand contemplative prayer practices? (48:30-57:16)
8. Conclusion (57:16-1:00:05)

Official Episode Transcript

View this episode’s official transcript.

Referenced Resources

• The New Isaac: Tradition and Intertextuality in the Gospel of Matthew by Leroy Huizenga
• Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books here.
• You can view annotations for this episode—plus our entire library of videos, podcasts, articles, and classes—in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.

Show Music

• BibleProject theme song by TENTS

Show Credits

Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Tyler Bailey is our supervising engineer, and he edited and mixed today’s episode. JB Witty does our show notes, and Hannah Woo provides the annotations for our app. Our host and creative director is Jon Collins, and our lead scholar is Tim Mackie.

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