Carrying on with our Christian Anti-Judaism series, we discuss the early reception of John the Baptist as a key figure for the “parting of the ways” between Christianity and Judaism. Joining us for this discussion is Dr. Nathan Shedd, who is the author of A Dangerous Parting: The Beheading of John the Baptist in Early Christian Memory (published by Baylor University Press). In our conversation, Dr. Shedd discusses the collective memory of John the Baptist’s violent and traumatic death, which was unfortunately weaponized in some anti-Jewish ways by early Christians as a polemical critique of Jews and Judaism. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities includes: Dr. Josh Carroll, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Dr. Grace Emmett, and Dr. Chris Porter. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As we close out Black History Month, we wanted to highlight how the topic of our present series on Anti-Judaism intersects with Anti-Blackness. Joining us for this conversation is Liz Loeb, who completed a PhD in Law and Society from NYU, worked as a Civil Rights Attorney, and is presently a Community Organizer for an interfaith organization called Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light. Speaking from her legal experience, activism, interfaith organizing, and lived experience, Liz helpfully highlights the interconnectedness of all forms of discrimination and injustice inspired by White Supremacy. Team Members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Dr. Grace Emmett, Dr. Grace Sangalang Ng, Rev. Daniel Parham, and Dr. Chris Porter. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second installment of our Christian Anti-Judaism series we discuss the Pharisees with Prof. Amy-Jill Levine, who is Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament Studies and Jewish Studies at Hartford Seminary, as well as University Professor of New Testament Studies and Jewish Studies Emerita, Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies Emerita, and Professor of New Testament Studies Emerita at Vanderbilt University. Prof. Levine is also the co-editor of the volume, The Pharisees (published by Eerdmans in 2021). Over the course of our conversation we discuss many of the misunderstandings that people have of the Pharisees, and many of the ways that the Pharisees often become a label to identify Jews more broadly (typically as a negative label). Prof. Levine helps us situate the Pharisees within first century Judaism in order to better understand Jesus, Paul, and other New Testament figures, and even gives pastors some tips on how to handle the Pharisees in their sermons. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Dr. Chris Porter, and Dr. Logan Williams.More info for Dr. Grace Emmett’s public engagement project for the Sheffield Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, called 'Reimagining Paul: Apostolic Portraits of Masculinity,' which was mentioned at the beginning of the episode, can be found here:https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/siibs/news/call-artwork-proposals-siibs-reimagining-paul-project?fbclid=IwAR0XXOriJ5mKi9a5_OCpc7vXsFCP4n4eItv9cGKJIUERnagFnoUojOf-Iz8 Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kicking off our series on Christian Anti-Judaism, we are joined by Dr. Matthew Thiessen to discuss Jesus & Ritual Purity. Dr. Thiessen is Associate Professor of New Testament at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and the author of the book we’re discussing in this conversation, Jesus and the Forces of Death: The Gospel’s Portrayal of Ritual Impurity Within First Century Judaism (published by Baker). The main thrust of our conversation is that Jesus does not dismiss Jewish matters of ritual impurity as something that is outdated, primitive, or a distraction from his larger purposes, but rather he addresses the sources of ritual impurity, which underscores that Jesus is concerned to uphold the law rather than abolish it. Specifically, Jesus confronts the forces of death that lead to ritual impurity in ancient Jewish thinking, such as corpses, genital discharge, and lepra (which Dr. Thiessen contends is not leprosy, but something more mundane like eczema, dry scalp, or dandruff), so that people can return to the temple. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Jennifer Guo, and Dr. Kris Song. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we kick off our brand-new series on Christian Anti-Judaism. Here we introduce the key topics of the conversation, and provide some context for why we regard this conversation as an ethical imperative for Christians, since our collective history is steeped in anti-Judaism. Along the way, we define some of the key terms, including anti-Judaism, which we distinguish from anti-Semitism as being more focused on essentialist religious ideas than strictly ethnic categories (even though there is a lot of overlap at times), supersessionism, which is the idea that the Church replaces Israel, and philo-Judaism, which can be a form of anti-Judaism that is characterized by cultural appropriation. We hope that this introductory episode helps to set up the conversation that will unfold with our special guests, including both Christians and Jews, over the next several weeks. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Dr. Grace Emmett, Rev. Daniel Parham, Dr. Chris Porter, and Dr. Logan Williams.Reading List For Further Engagement:Belser, Julia Watts and Melanie S. Morrison, “What No Longer Serves Us: Resisting Ableism and Anti-Judaism in New Testament Healing Narratives,” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Fall 2011): 153–70.Mason, Steve. “Jews, Judaeans, Judaizing, Judaism: Problems of Categorization in Ancient History.” Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period 38, no. 4–5 (2007): 457–512.Miller, David M. “Ethnicity, Religion and the Meaning of Ioudaios in Ancient ‘Judaism.’” Currents in Biblical Research 12, no. 2 (February 2014): 216–65. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we’re talking about Intersectionality and Conversion with Dr. Valérie Nicolet and Prof. Marianne Kartzow. Dr. Nicolet is Associate Professor of New Testament at Institut Protestant de Théologie, Faculté de Paris, and Prof. Marianne Bjelland Kartzow is Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Oslo. They are co-editors of the book we discuss in this episode, The Complexity of Conversion: Intersectional Perspectives on Religious Change in Antiquity and Beyond (published by Equinox). In this conversation Dr. Nicolet and Prof. Kartzow talk to us about the difficulties with the term “conversion” as category for describing religious experience in antiquity. One particular area of difficulty includes one of the ways in which the nuances of the lives of the “converts” are often flattened out including their gender, race, ethnicity, status, age, ability, etc. For this reason, they draw upon intersectional approaches that highlight the complexities involved in order to arrive at a rich understanding of religious change of various sorts. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Dr. Grace Emmett, and Dr. Logan Williams. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we are joined by Dr. Mike Austin to discuss Gun Rights & Conspiracies. Dr. Austin is Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Eastern Kentucky University, and the author of God and Guns in America published by Eerdmans. This episode extends our conversation on American Gun Culture from a biblical perspective into philosophical and legal arenas. In particular, as we discuss the right to bear arms in America, Dr. Austin draws our attention to the important distinction between legal and moral rights. In the end, we transition to think about guns from a conspiratorial stand point, and we consider how conspiratorial thinking informs certain pro-gun arguments. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. Amber Bowen, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Brandon Hurlbert, and Dr. Chris Porter. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we’re taking about American Gun Culture from a biblical perspective with Prof. Carly Crouch and Prof. Christopher B. Hays. Prof. Carly Crouch is Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and Ancient Judaism, and Chair of the Department of Textual, Historical and Systematic Studies of Judaism and Christianity at Radboud University, Nijmegen (Netherlands), and Prof. Christopher B. Hays is D. Wilson Moore Professor of Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary (USA). Together they are co-editors of the book that we are discussing on this episode, God and Guns: The Bible Against American Gun Culture (published by Westminster John Knox). Other the course of our conversation, Professors Crouch and Hays share with us about how their new book thinks critically, holistically, and analogically about what the Bible has to say about American obsession with guns. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Brandon Hurlbert, and Dr. Chris Porter. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we discuss Asian-American Representation in Film with Abel Vang. Abel Vang is an awarded independent film producer, director, writer, and Assistant Professor of Entertainment Producing at Biola University. Some of his major film credits include: What Lies Below, Bedeviled, and the forthcoming, They Live In The Grey. Over the course of the conversation, Abel gives us loads of firsthand insight into the complex challenges that Asian-Americans face in the film industry. He recounts many of the struggles that he has experienced personally, but notes some of the progress that he’s seen in recent years in the industry, and highlights how he puts his hope in God in order to continue persevering in his desire to see more Asian-American representation in film. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. Grace Sangalang Ng, Dr. Chris Porter, and Dr. Kris Song. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we revisit the subject of women in the academy with Dr. Beth Allison Barr and Dr. Lynneth Miller Renberg. Dr. Barr is Professor of History and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at Baylor University and the author of The Making of Biblical Womanhood (published by Brazos) and Dr. Renberg is Assistant Professor of History at Anderson University, having completed her PhD under the supervision of Dr. Barr. Over the course of the conversation, Dr. Barr and Dr. Renberg talk about the unique experiences of studying for a PhD as a woman under the supervision of a woman with the unique advantages and benefits that come from that. They also discuss the challenges in academia for women relative to rank and experience, as well as relative to marital status. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. Amber Bowen. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.