The Ryley Heppner Podcast

In this episode I talk to Biblical Scholar Dr. Brent Sandy about his new book "Hear Ye The Word: What We Miss If We Only Read the Bible." Dr. Sandy describes ancient oral cultures, explains how the Scriptures would have been originally digested and passed around, and highlights some of what is being lost in our understanding of and interaction with Scripture today if we only ever read it and never hear it read. Dr. Sandy (PhD, Duke University) taught New Testament and Greek at Wheaton College and chaired the Department of Religious Studies at Grace College. He is coauthor (with John Walton) of The Lost World of Scripture: Ancient Literary Culture and Biblical Authority and author of Plowshares, Pruning Hooks: Rethinking the Language of Biblical Prophecy and Apocalyptic, and most recently Hear Ye The Word: What We Miss If We Only Read the Bible.

In this episode I ask pastor and author John Hindley about his experiences planting churches in the city versus planting in rural towns, and how the strategies for the two are both similar and different. We also chat about his new book "Weakness Our Strength," and how God so beautifully uses weakness and weak people to accomplish His will. John Hindley is the pastor of BroadGrace church in Norfolk, UK, he is a part of the Acts29 Rural Church Planting Collective in Eurpoe, and he is the author of books like Suffering and Singing: Knowing God’s Love in Pain, Despair, Serving without Sinking and most recently, Weakness Our Strength: Learning from Christ Crucified. John studied for ministry at Oak Hill College. He is married to Flick and they have three children.

Stoked to be joined by Ben again to chat about everything from journaling to Bible Reading, to the difficulties of career and ministry transitions, to the absolute and undeniable importance of ending well in ministry, and really in all of life. Hope you enjoy!

In my conversation with American and church historian Mark Noll, we discuss the place and role of the Bible in the America's early settlement and development, the influence in the colonies of the great evangelist George Whitefield, and how biblical literacy in America (and Canada) has changed through the centuries. Dr. Noll is a leading church historian. He recently retired as the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, having previously served as Professor of History and Theological Studies at Wheaton College. His teaching included courses on American religious and intellectual history, the Reformation, world Christianity, and Canadian history.  He has written and edited numerous books, most recently including C. S. Lewis in America: Readings and Reception, 1935–1947 (2023). He has also served on the editorial boards for Books & Culture and Christian History, and as co-editor of Library of Religious Biography for Wm. B. Eerdmans. In 2006 he received the National Endowment for the Humanities medal at the White House.

In today's conversation I ask Biblical Scholar, Dr. Tremper Longman III (among other things) to help me/us better understand OT books like Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs. What are the purpose of these wisdom books? How are they relevant to our lives today? And in what ways do they anticipate Jesus? As always, I hope you enjoy, I hope you are encouraged and challenged, and I hope you find yourself better equipped to read, understand and apply God's Word! Dr. Longman graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University, earned a Master of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary, and completed a doctorate in ancient Near Eastern studies at Yale University. He served as the Robert H. Gundry professor of biblical studies at Westmont from 1998 until he retired in 2017. He continues to serve the college as a distinguished scholar of biblical studies. He has written or co-authored numerous scholarly articles and more than 20 books, including interdisciplinary works, books with psychologist Dan Allender, works on history and historiography, and textbooks for both seminary students a lay people. He is one of the main translators of the New Living Translation and has served as a consultant on other popular translations of the Bible including the Message, the New Century Version, and the Holman Standard Bible.

I had the pleasure today of speaking with NT professor, Dr. David Bryan. I asked Dr. Bryan about his work in the area of Jesus' parables, as well as about the ways in which the gospel writers wrote and the apparent contradictions between their timelines. Hope you enjoy and are encouraged by our conversation! Dr. Bryan is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is passionate about helping men and women receive the preparation they need for a lifetime of faithful ministry. His research interests focus on the Gospel of Luke, the parables of Jesus, authority and politics in the ancient world, political theology, and the kingdom of God. Prior to his doctoral studies, Dr. Bryan served on a church planting team in Madrid, Spain, with Mission to the World. He is ordained in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and currently serves as Associate Pastor at Lakeview Presbyterian Church in Vernon Hills, IL.

What is God's providence? What does it have to do with suffering? And how does it affect my life?

In some ways a simple question and in others a complicated one: What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? In this very brief video I give a bit of background to the word itself and then highlight a few passages that give it some nuance.

In my conversation with New Testament Professor, Dr. Ben Witherington III, I ask Dr. Witherington about his journey into scholarship, about the decline of biblical literacy in the west and about some of Jesus' teachings on money and the places where Christians struggle to live those teachings out. It was a pleasure to talk Dr. Witherington and I hope now that you are both as challenged and encouraged in your listening to this conversation as I was in having it. Dr. Ben Witherington III is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. He has written over sixty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Patheos website.

Christians are to be led by the Spirit, but how do we discern the Spirit's leading? On top of that, when the Spirit leads us into painful and difficult things, how are we to endure where we have been led?