All Episodes
Fear the Judge
This week, Fr. Paul stresses the importance of fearing God not as an awesome or impressive character but in his function as judge. (Episode 271)
King, Priest, and Oppression
When hearing the Lukan genealogy of Jesus in English, it's easy for people to adopt anti-scriptural notions of "king" and "priest,” developing incorrect expectations f...
The Disrespect of God
This week, Fr. Paul explains how the practice of honoring all mothers or all fathers, as we do on national holidays, undermines the biblical admonition that each perso...
Son of Man, Son of David
The New Testament storyline places considerable emphasis and tension on the question of Jesus's title. The Gospel of Matthew stresses that Jesus is an ordinary Ben Ada...
Into Nothingness
This week, Fr. Paul explains that the prohibition, “you may not take the name of God in vain,” is a warning that you may not speak of God as though he exists only as a...
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
In the first chapters of Luke, just as the Spirit moves from womb to womb, beginning with the angel Gabriel, the commandment moves from person to person, ensuring that...
Steadfast Love
This week Fr. Paul laments the way we shortchange the biblical function “steadfast love” in which the scriptural God, a jealous God, who visits the iniquity of the fat...
The Ties That Corrupt
Sorting out one's personal priorities is the most difficult aspect of committing to anything of value. Well, let’s qualify that statement. Committing to your prioritie...
Ten Statements
In today’s episode, Fr. Paul offers a practical tip to pastors and teachers: as in the case of the specific example of the Decalogue, when someone says, “I know what t...
Judgment As Hope
When Christians emphasize the deep spiritual meaning or transformative power of human suffering, they unwittingly transgress the authority of the scriptural God. Yes, ...
Unto the Age
This week Fr. Paul calls out the standard error of rendering “unto the age” as “eternal” in English translations of the Bible. (Episode 266)
Bow or Walk Away
Theologians love to philosophize about the darkness in the world because, like politicians, they fancy the work of their own hands as a city of light set upon a hill. ...
The Sinai Covenant
This week, Fr. Paul emphasizes from Exodus what the Apostle Paul underscores in Galatians and people of all religions systematically ignore: “if you will indeed obey m...
Ruling Your Illusions
When coming across a word, a phrase, or a passage in the Bible, our natural tendency as modern disciples is to interrogate a text and then assign meaning to it. If we ...
You Have it in the Text
This week Fr. Paul deftly points out that in the story of the Bible, the personal and singular primacy of Moses is the individual and singular primacy of the five book...
Compassion is Personal
The use of Isaiah 40 in all four gospels underscores the centrality of the wilderness as God’s base of operations for preaching the gospel outside of and in opposition...
Hearing the Story
This week, Fr. Paul explains that, unlike adults, children between the ages of six and ten, upon hearing the story of the battle with Amalek in the book of Exodus, wil...
Lysanias
What’s in a name? When Richard and I began this week’s episode, we were struck by the wealth of information packed into two verses. Through the simple arrangement of p...
Imagine Moving With Tents
This week, Fr. Paul explains that Shepard culture has no settlements because there is no settling and, therefore, no buildings. (Expose 262)
Even Jesus Had to Wait
“Let the canon of our and holy God-bearing Fathers be confirmed in this particular also; that a presbyter is not ordained before he is thirty years of age, even if he ...
Manna and Quail
This week, Fr. Paul reminds us that because the biblical manna comes from heaven, it is a gift over which we have no control. (Episode 261)
Grace and Obedience
Western philosophy is obsessed with (dare I say, oppressed by) the illusion of choice. Let’s paraphrase a helpful example from Luis Elizondo to illustrate this point:I...
From Oasis to Oasis
In today’s program, Fr. Paul explains that a prophet is an individual put in their position by God to speak God’s words according to his own divine will. (Episode 260)
Ransomed from Captivity
In the natural world, as observed through the lens of the scientific method, when counting a person’s age, we measure their lifespan against the time it takes for our ...
The Pasture of Your Holiness
This week, Fr. Paul highlights Hebrew terminology in Moses’ Song of Victory that underscores the centrality of shepherdism in Scripture. (Episode 259)
God's New Deal
In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul explains that God’s people are held up as an example of sin, not so that sin is excused or justified, but as a cautionary tale, c...
One Text and the Beginning of Wisdom
This week, Fr. Paul notes that the commonly used expression “the original text” is misleading since there is only one text, which, in fact, is the original. (Episode 258)
Stand Your Ground
Scripture is clever. When Simeon stands in the temple waiting, he does so at the pleasure of his master. He has no agency, control, or personal expectations, yet he ha...