All Episodes
In Memory of Fr. Daniel Simon
Whether the soil in the parable of the sower, the earth itself (over which colonials love to impose the illusion of control), the movement of Jesus in Luke (imposed up...
Yom Kippur
This week, before explaining the centrality of atonement for the people, the high priest, and even the earth, Fr. Paul highlights the Bible’s emphasis that God is the ...
MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN
What does it mean to worship power? You imagine there is another question, but your art, politics, theology, television programs, pet social issues, news media, blogs,...
The Cancellation of the Priests
This week, Fr. Paul shows that from the beginning, the text of Leviticus imposes on its addressees that one must not place their trust or their hope in the priests, th...
‘abd allah
Reception history is a big fat joke. What? Were you expecting subtlety from a West Sider whose dad grew up in the Egypt of Gamal Abel Nasser? Ok. Let me start over. Re...
Last Words
On his eightieth birthday, Fr. Paul takes a step back from his regular weekly address to deliver a special farewell message to his students over the years—and all thos...
The Function Little Crow
The West Side is a haven for immigrant communities arriving in St. Paul, Minnesota. Historically, it has included people of German, Roma, Polish, Swedish, Irish, Jewis...
What is Being Offered
This week, Fr. Paul explains that the book of Leviticus begins with what is being offered in order to belittle the priests, in contrast with our attitude and that of a...
The Staff of Levi
The biblical text is epic, expansive, and integrated in specific and articulate ways. After 500 episodes (over 800, if you add in Tarazi Tuesdays), I am convinced that...
The Ecclesia is Moving
This week, Fr. Paul explains the interconnection between the Hebrew term qahal and the Greek ecclesia, from the verb kaleo—to call out—not to be confused with ʿedah, w...
To Muzzle, Dominate, and Overhelm
In 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul, with all authority, does not speak on human authority, “for it is written in the law of Moses, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox when it ...
Let the People Hear It
This week, Fr. Paul notes the distinction between sin and guilt in the original text of Leviticus, lamenting the unwillingness of English translators to let the people...
The Semitic Triliteral
To understand the power of the Semitic triliteral root, consider the grammatical, functional, empirical, and, thus, anti-Platonic literary interconnection between DaBa...
A Portion for the Priest
This week, while explaining the terms qurbano and minha, Fr. Paul calls to mind the admonition of Metropolitan Philip to his priests in the U.S., that when offered a g...
Keep Your Hands Off
The same Hebrew word, shebet, refers both to the staff of a shepherd and the tribe. It is the exact same word. The staff of God is the premise, the reference, and the ...
The Meaning of Terms
This week, Fr. Paul explains the functional meaning of the term holocaust, deferring to the original Semitic and consonantal Hebrew text, noting both the utility and s...
God Does Not Speak English
A listener wrote us this week to share a passage from Letter 57 of Jerome that captures (with respect to the terrorism of translations) what we said recently about Sem...
Music and War
This week, Fr. Paul notes the diabolical link between the bards and troubadours, those who go from town to town, building the stories of cities, playing music on instr...
Abjad Languages
In his 1990 article, “Fundamentals of Grammatology,” Peter T. Daniels proposed the Arabic term “abjad” to describe a type of Semitic script “that denotes individual c...
Do Not Pray
In today's episode, Fr. Paul reiterates difficult words that few acknowledge. Plain words, even when rendered by translators: “As for you, do not pray for this people,...
Jesus Says, "No!"
Christians love to talk about glory and victory because we are all Roman imperialists in our secret hearts—in the thoughts that we imagine God cannot hear. We lust aft...
Right in the Eyes of the Lord
In today's episode, Fr. Paul highlights the stark dissonance between what humans perceive as right and what is deemed right in the eyes of the Scriptural God. (Episode...
The Most High is Your Dwelling
In Luke 4, it is striking that the text refers to the opponent of Jesus, not as Satan, the “obstacle” or “roadblock” of the gospel, but as the deceiver, the Devil. It’...
Love Those Shiny Buttons
This week, Fr. Paul highlights the presence of the teraphim, hidden in plain sight on Aaron’s vestments, daftly woven by Scripture as a test for those of us who love s...
The Colonial Plague
Everyone’s shit stinks. To your “civilized” ears, this sounds like a high-minded critique. It’s not. It’s just an observation about mammalian life. All animal life mak...
Statutes of Your Fathers
In this week’s program, Fr. Paul begins his discussion of Leviticus, drawing on passages from Ezekiel and Numbers to illustrate how characters in the story twist the c...
Bread and Stone
The interplay between the terms bayt and heykal in biblical Hebrew is simple. So simple that it can be explained to a child. A heykal is a building made of stone that ...