All Episodes
It’s All About the Wheat
When the disciples turn to Jesus to explain the parable of the wheat and the tares, they make the terrible mistake of reducing the Lord’s teaching to “the parable of t...
Life Blood
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 strict...
Hidden in Plain Sight
We human beings foolishly trust in our own eyes. We look at other people and assume that we understand what we see and then we make judgments. But is it really possibl...
Everything That Swarms
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 othe...
There Are No Good Guys
When we hear a story of judgement in the Bible, our natural tendency is to try to identify the good guys vs. the bad guys so that we can make ourselves one of the good...
Upon Ararat
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 t...
Roots Not Fruits
Whether dealing with cultural or historical themes, or emphasizing biblical languages, we talk a lot about historical context on the podcast. So let me be blunt, the p...
Out of Control
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 wa...
Ignorance and Blindness
In Matthew’s account of the parable of the sower, Jesus demonstrates the meaning of three critical Matthean teachings: 1) “Seek and ye shall find,” 2) “The eye is the...
Let Every Breath
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 familia...
Seek and Ye Shall Find
Over the centuries, so much of Scripture has been taken out of context that it’s sometimes difficult to hear the obvious in the text. In the Gospel of Matthew, the cha...
Two by Two
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 expose...
The Seed Does What the Seed Does
Today’s program marks the 300th episode of the Bible as Literature. Years ago, Fr. Marc and Richard’s wife, Hollie, were going back and forth on a title for the educat...
Birds, Kings, and Shepherds
This week, Fr. Paul wraps up his discussion of Genesis 6, giving Richard and Fr. Marc an opportunity to ask questions. As always, Richard opened Q&A with an insightful...
A New Tribe
In a culture that places family first, the Lord’s ambivalence toward his mother and his brothers in the Gospel of Matthew is confusing, if not utterly scandalous. Why ...
It’s an “Ark” Not an “Ark”
This week Fr. Paul highlights the connection between Genesis 6 and the story of Moses in Exodus. As always, this connection is impossible to discern in English—but thi...
Mitzvah!
The ability to read biblical signs—which comes from hearing, reciting, and doing the commandments of Scripture—protects us from being fooled by false prophets. Is some...
Why Do You Call Me Lord?
In today's episode we discuss why faith is better translated as trust. We also highlight how faith is not an intellectual concept, but a deep trust that is rooted in t...
The Nephilim
Drawing, as always, on the original Hebrew and his knowledge of Arabic, Fr. Paul explains the folly of the Nephilim who assume their own mightiness, but are, in Fr. Pa...
Read the Signs
When human beings seek a sign from the Lord, the problem is two-fold. First, we think of a sign as proof, making our trust in God’s wisdom conditional. Second, because...
Third Time’s Not a Charm
After its use of the word ‘adam’ in chapter 5, the text of Genesis returns to the words ‘ha adam’ in chapter 6, referring to humanity in its entirety. This shift, Fr....
You Know a Tree by It’s Fruit
We human beings do not take responsibility for what we teach. We speak careless words motivated by self-interest and look the other way when our words—directly or indi...
Be Patient and Submit
Noting that biblical names appear and reappear purposefully in Genesis, this week, Fr. Paul emphasizes the importance of having patience with the scriptural God who op...
The Ultimate Sin
Scripture is written to supplant human words and thwart human agency, so that its wisdom might govern the affairs of men in the place of human self-interest. When we s...
There is No New Humanity
Following his discussion of the Toledot of Adam in Genesis 5, Fr. Paul explains how God manages to continue his plan and salvage humanity despite the people’s disobedi...
Binding the Strong Man
When the Pharisees accuse Jesus of being in league with Beelzebul, Jesus slams them by exposing a fatal contradiction in their logic: if the only way I am able to’ cas...
Son of Man
This week, Richard and Fr. Marc had the chance to follow-up Fr. Paul’s discussion of Genesis 5 with questions, leading to an important discussion of the anti-kingly tr...
Teach and Move
Internet comment culture invites useless and emotionally charged conflict that accomplishes nothing, except to inflame everyone’s self-serving sentiments. That’s why, ...