Bible Scholarship Podcast

Jordan Ryan of Wheaton College discusses the role of the synagogue in Second Temple-era Jewish life, drawing on recent archaeological evidence, and uses this information to interpret several biblical texts, including Jesus' disputes with synagogue leaders in the Gospel of Luke. Lecture delivered at SBL/AAR in San Antonio in Fall 2016.

Bas van Os of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam argues that scholars have too narrow a set of criteria for judging the probable date of Jesus' life. Lecture delivered at SBL/AAR in San Antonio in Fall 2016.Here's a link to download a PDF of the handout for this lecture. Or see it below: 

Brant Pitre of Notre Dame gives a lecture on the dating of the Last Supper in the Gospel of John. While John has long been interpreted as having a different dating scheme for the Last Supper and the Crucifixion, Pitre argues that this is a misinterpretation. Pitre's latest book, Jesus and the Last Supper, delves into this and other related questions at greater length, and is mentioned in the lecture. Lecture delivered at SBL/AAR in San Antonio in Fall 2016.Here is a PDF of the handout for this lecture. You can also view it below:

A lecture on the political theology of the New Testament by NT Wright. Delivered in 2015 at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Source. 

New Testament scholar and Anglican bishop NT Wright describes the origins of Christian theology in the works of St. Paul. Lecture delivered at the Lanier Theological Library Chapel in Houston, Texas, in 2014. Source.

Lecture from New Testament scholar NT Wright on the historical reality of Jesus' resurrection. Delivered at the Roanoke College Center for Religion. Source.

An interview with New Testament scholar NT Wright about his views of Paul. Covers material from Wright's books, Paul and the Faithfulness of God and The Paul Debate. Source (Westminster Theological Centre).

A lecture on themes of descent from Abraham and inheritance of the Holy Land in the New Testament, from Wheaton College New Testament professor Gary Burge. Delivered at the Christ at the Checkpoint conference in Israel-Palestine.

A lecture on the origins and development of the text of the Hebrew Bible by professor Emmanuel Tov. 

In 1986, a 2,000-year-old boat was discovered in Israel on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. The vessel is representative of the large fishing boats common on the ancient lake, and the type of boat used in the Gospels by the disciples of Jesus. It is also the type of boat used by the Jews in the brutal nautical Battle of Migdal in AD 67 against a makeshift Roman fleet. The lecture describes the adventure of the boat's discovery and excavation, and delves into the revealing research about the vessel and its milieu.Original video here. 

Lecture on new archaeological findings about the Philistines, delivered by Aren Maeir. Aren Maeir is a professor at Bar Ilan University and director of the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project. Born in 1958 in Rochester, New York, USA, he moved to Israel in 1969 and has lived there since.Original video here. 

Nina Burleigh is the author of Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed and Forgery in the Holy LandIn this lecture, journalist and author Nina Burleigh examines what Israeli authorities have called "the fraud of the century" -- a scheme to modify archaeological objects or create entirely new ones to make them appear to verify biblical characters or stories. Burleigh will discuss these characters, the scheme to defraud high-end collectors, and the gullible religious public, and how the James Ossuary Case in a small courtroom in Jerusalem has put all of biblical archaeology on trial.Original video here. 

A lecture on St. Paul by Ben Witherington III, professor at Asbury University and New Testament scholar.

A lecture on how the historical Jesus would have seen himself: divine, human, both? Delivered by Dr. Ben Witherington III, New Testament scholar and professor at Asbury University.

A lecture on the quest for the historical Jesus by Ben Witherington III, an American New Testament scholar. Witherington is Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, and an ordained pastor in the United Methodist Church.

Jewish historian of religion Daniel Boyarin lectures on the subject of first-century Judaism and the Jewish historian Josephus.

A lecture in the subject of Jewish-Christian relations, placing the Apostle Paul in his Jewish context, by Dr. Mark Nanos, a Jewish scholar, lecturer at the University of Kansas, and author of numerous books on the Apostle Paul.

Dr. Jon D Levenson, Hebrew Bible scholar and professor of Jewish studies at Harvard, speaks about the story in Genesis 22 known as the Binding of Isaac, in which God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son, with special attention to the difficulties of teaching this passage to college students, referencing both the Bible story and the Jewish traditions around the story.

Dr. Jon D Levenson, Hebrew Bible scholar and professor of Jewish studies at Harvard, delivers a lecture on a controversial passage in the Psalms.

Abraham is often described as the common father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the three traditions that venerate his memory. Noted Harvard Professor of Jewish Studies, Jon D. Levenson argues that Abraham both separates and links the surviving Abrahamic religious communities and does so in interesting ways.

Part of the Manifold Greatness series celebrating the 400-year anniversary of the King James Bible. Dr. Harry Singleton is a Professor of Religion and Theology at the Benedict College.

Part of the Manifold Greatness series celebrating the 400-year anniversary of the King James Bible. Dr. Valinda Littlefield is an Associate Professor of History at the University of South Carolina.

Lecture by Dr. Philip Stine in the Manifold Greatness series in honor of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible translation. Bio: in 1968, Philip Stine joined the translation program of the United Bible Societies (UBS) where he served in various capacities for nearly 30 years, first as a translation consultant in Africa and later as the global coordinator of translation work and related research. For six years he was global director for publishing, marketing and translation services for UBS. Since moving to Wilmington eleven years ago, Dr. Stine has been active in the community, serving on the NHC Commission for Women, the Wilmington Sister Cities Commission, the board of the Child Advocacy Commission, and was a founding board member of the African American Heritage Foundation of Wilmington. He is on the board of WHQR and a member of the Executive Council of the Diocese of East Carolina (Episcopal).

A description of the features and faults of the King James Bible by professor Bart Ehrman. Ehrman is an American New Testament scholar, currently the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Part of the "Manifold Greatness" series of lectures, which explore the history and influence of the King James translation of the Bible. This lecture is by Helen Moore, Oxford University professor and editor of the volume on which the lecture series is based.