Category: Genesis

This week, Richard follows-up Fr. Paul’s discussion of chapter 10 with a question about the significance of Eber and the children of Eber as they relate to Shem. (Episode 98)

This week, Fr. Paul explains how Scripture defines its own terminology in the way that words are used and when they are used in the text. If you hear Genesis 10 in context of the previous chapter, the first appearance of the Hebrew word for families, mishpahhot, emphasizes the human being as one of the…

This week, Fr. Paul discusses the meaning of the names Shem, Ham, and Japheth, explaining that the verb “to dwell” in Hebrew pertains specifically to tent dwelling—another notable breadcrumb reflecting his broader thesis about shepherdism in the Bible. He concludes by taking our questions on the first appearance of the word covenant in the Bible,…

This week, Fr. Paul discusses the significance of the rainbow as a heavenly sign beyond the control of human beings. This “bow” or “arch” in the heavens, he explains, indicates the distinction between the Abrahamic and Noahic covenants in the Bible. (Episode 95)

This week, Fr. Paul explains that only God has dominion over life and death in the Bible, and subsequently, the blood of earth mammals—including human beings—is strictly his domain. (Episode 94)

This week Fr. Paul critiques the commonplace human assumption that the animals are “like us,” noting that in Scripture it is the human beings who are like all the other animals. As with the New Testament, where the oikonomos is no different than the other slaves in the household, so too in Genesis, man’s appointed…

Fr. Paul begins his discussion of Genesis 8 by emphasizing the Scriptural priority of the animals, differentiating between the creatures of the sea, the creatures of the ground and the birds of the air—the latter being of special importance.  He also touches again briefly on the mention of Ararat, which, he explains, appears in the story…

In today’s program, Fr. Paul explains how the scriptural God acts according to his own good pleasure, disrupting the expectations of the story’s addressees.  Do the waters besiege the land? Does the land encroach upon the waters?  Can anyone know how God will act or control what he will do?  Of course not. All we can do is…

This week, Fr. Paul continues his discussion of Genesis 7 highlighting the difference between soul and spirit in the original Hebrew. Even for English speakers familiar with the distinction between these terms, without a solid grounding in the actual text of Genesis, we are bound, Fr. Paul explains, to conflate their meaning.  (Episode 90)

In today’s program Fr. Paul begins his discussion of Genesis 7, reading the Hebrew text alongside the KJV and RSV versions of the English text.  In doing so, he exposes the limits of translation and the gross over simplification—even disregard—for the author’s original work.   (Episode 89)