All Episodes
Against Humanity
In today’s program, Fr. Paul reminds us of the Bible’s painful and relentless campaign against the human ego. (Episode 229)
Three Things
When we read a text in translation, we imagine we hear what the author wrote because we believe that meaning can be taken separately from the words on the page. But if...
No One Is Special
This week, Fr. Paul explains that the mission of Joseph was to combine Israel and the nations to the extent that his progeny was called—not the fullness of Israel—but ...
Birth Pangs
In the Old Testament, human patriarchy is portrayed cynically and satirically as bumbling and insecure in its competition with motherhood. Men cannot give birth. In Sc...
The Journey of Jacob Israel
In today's episode, Fr. Paul reiterates a basic premise of Scripture, that we are not to follow the example of our fathers, but of the teaching, noting the specific ca...
Bow to the Chair
The problem with all contemporary churches is that we treat the term Scripture as though it were a noun. We gossip about the Bible like a difficult relative nobody wan...
The Sheep Are Not a Flock
This week Fr. Paul stresses the critical distinction between sheep and flock in Hebrew, giving biblical and contemporary examples. (Episode 226)
The Preacher
Everyone has something to say. If you operate on a human premise, this is perfectly acceptable, admirable--even a thing to be encouraged. It is the empty fuel that mak...
Ephraim and Manasseh
This week, Fr. Paul touches on the literary function of Ephraim and Manasseh, who become the kernel of the northern kingdom in the story of the biblical Israel. (Episo...
Anti-History, Anti-Patriarchy
How can Luke ensure that his addressees get the point? Wisdom does not come from you. Life does not come from you. The baby in Elizabeth's womb does not come from you....
Back to Joseph
This week, Fr. Paul begins his discussion of Genesis 39, reiterating the calamity of the mistranslation of the Hebrew word masleah. (Episode 224)
Power and Control
The Holy Spirit is not about inspiration but power and control in the Bible. The power of the story is that it exerts control expressly to silence our voice. This face...
About Judah
This week, Fr. Paul reminds us of the harlotry of the children of Jacob who used the covenant of circumcision--a covenant of brotherhood--to kill their brothers. (Epis...
Nobody Else But You
When Scripture deconstructs a human proposition by forcing an opposing position (which we have repeatedly described as functional judgment, meaning Scripture has no st...
Person, Persona, Prosopon, Mask
This week, Fr. Paul reminds us that the term person is the translation of persona which is mask in Latin which is the translation of prosopon in Greek, which also mean...
Nothing Good Comes From Us
What does the destruction of the Temple mean? What does it mean not to be anything? Not to have an identity? Not to be a part of anything? Not to believe in anything? ...
The Cycle of Joseph, Ad Nauseam
This week, Fr. Paul highlights the importance of Joseph's story: he and his kin were Hebrews and shepherds in the epitome of civilization, the land of the pharaohs and...
The Jerusalem Above Is Free
Time and again, we have explained the tension in Scripture between the things human beings construct, which cannot create life, and a mother's natural womb--the gramma...
The Oasis Is Not Yours
This week, Fr. Paul explains that the story of Jacob is in the story of his children, noting, in his words, "the silliness" of individualism. (Episode 220)
You Are Not Doing Anything
The novelty of Scripture lies in its multi-faceted handling of anthropocentrism. It deconstructs and breaks apart our institutions and smashes our egos, re-positing us...
You Are Done With
In this week's episode, Fr. Paul reminds us that the hope in Scripture is not for us but for the following generations. (Episode 219)
Fire and Blood
This week Fr. Paul explains what theology does not want to accept: that God is one and he is the judge. He is neither good nor bad; he is the just judge. (Episode 218)
The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness
The power of Semitic poetry stems, literally, from the functionality of its consonantal roots. With but three consonants, a long series of words, used in a specific wa...
A Tree, a Garden, and an Oasis
With a bit of common knowledge and an uncommon familiarity with the original text of the Bible Fr. Paul reminds us why scholarship isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Cou...
The Kingdom Under the Heavens
When Christians talk about evangelization, they do so along the lines of the historical King Herod, who twisted biblical circumcision into a trademark of the temple cu...
The City of False Religion
This week, Fr. Paul notes that the story of Jacob and his sons in the Bible continued through the story of the scriptural Jacob or Israel. (Episode 216)
It’s Ok to Laugh
The behavior of the chief priests after the resurrection of Jesus in Matthew 28 is so cynical, so unredeemable, and so pathetic that the only bearable quality of the s...
The Spirit of the Animal
This week Fr. Paul explains how the names Shechem and Bethel function against the will of God. (Episode 215)