The Two Cities

NEW EPISODE of The Two Cities podcast (@the_two_cities )! In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Elizabeth Backfish (@libbybackfish ), who is associate professor of biblical studies at William Jessup University (@jessupu ), and Dr. Cynthia Shafer-Elliott (@cshaferelliott ), who is associate professor of Hebrew Bible / Old Testament at Baylor University (@bayloruniversity ). And together they’re the authors of Grounded Theology in the Hebrew Bible: Exploring the Cultural Context That Formed Ancient Israel (@bakeracademic ). In our conversation we discuss the relationship between our biblical texts and material culture on a whole host of issues, highlighting how the two need to be understood together for proper interpretation. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne (@johnnypepper2 ) and Dr. Brandon Hurlbert (@brandonhurlbert ). Check it out! /us/podcast/the-two-cities/id1502131405?i=1000767566817

NEW EPISODE of The Two Cities podcast (@the_two_cities )! In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Andrew Rillera, who is assistant professor of biblical studies and theology at The King’s University in Edmonton, Alberta, in Canada, and the author of Lamb of the Free: Recovering the Varied Sacrificial Understandings of Jesus’s Death (Cascade). Over the course of our conversation, we discuss what the sacrificial death of Jesus means in the NT, how it relates to sacrifices in the Torah, and why Dr. Rillera finds Penal Substitutionary Atonement to be unbiblical and theologically problematic. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Adishian (@n8adishian ), Dr. John Anthony Dunne (@johnnypepper2 ), Rev. Daniel Parham (@daniel_parham ), and Dr. Logan Williams (@lllogaannnnn ). Check it out! /us/podcast/the-two-cities/id1502131405?i=1000764381815

NEW EPISODE of The Two Cities podcast (@the_two_cities )! In this episode, we’re joined by Professor Andrew Root (@aroot ), who is Professor and Carrie Olson Baalson Chair of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, MN (@lutherseminary ). He’s the author of several books, including: Baal and the gods of More: Rescuing Church Growth from Idolatry (published by @bakeracademic ). In our conversation, we discuss how capitalism has co-opted church growth discussions and turned it into a fertility idol. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Adishian (@n8adishian ), Dr. Josh Carroll (@pastorcoolguy ), Dr. John Anthony Dunne (@johnnypepper2 ), and Dr. Grace Ng (@gsangala.ng ). Check it out! /us/podcast/the-two-cities/id1502131405?i=1000763050081

NEW EPISODE of The Two Cities podcast (@the_two_cities )! In this episode, we’re joined by Prof. Cor Bennema, Professor of New Testament at London School of Theology and the author of Imitation in Early Christianity: Mimesis and Religious-Ethical Formation (published by @eerdmans ). Prof. Bennema talks about the distinctives of mimesis relative to other kinds of ethical formation/development, and where early Christianity is situated relative to mimesis in Greco-Roman philosophy. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Adishian (@n8adishian ), Rev. Dr. Chris Porter (@porterblepeople ), and Dr. Sydney Tooth (@sydneytooth ). Check it out! /us/podcast/the-two-cities/id1502131405?i=1000761521315

NEW EPISODE of The Two Cities podcast (@the_two_cities )! In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Max Botner (@maxbotner ), associate professor of New Testament at Jessup University (@jessupu ), host of the On the Way podcast, and the author of How Then Shall We Read? A Student’s Guide to Interpreting the New Testament (@eerdmans ). Over the course of our conversation, we talk about how Dr. Botner’s book compares to other primers on interpretation and how his book emphasizes the locationality of the interpreter, and the overall aim of faithful interpretation rather than “correct” interpretation. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. Josh Carroll (@pastorcoolguy ) and Dr. John Anthony Dunne (@johnnypepper2 ). Check it out! /us/podcast/the-two-cities/id1502131405?i=1000760229097

NEW EPISODE of The Two Cities podcast (@the_two_cities )! In this episode, we indulge in a little April Fool’s fun by discussing the best worst movies we’ve ever seen, and why we absolutely love to watch them ironically and in some cases even unironically. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne (@johnnypepper2 ), Dr. Brandon Hurlbert (@brandonhurlbert ), and Rev. Dr. Chris Porter (@porterblepeople ). Check it out! /us/podcast/the-two-cities/id1502131405?i=1000758635691

NEW EPISODE of The Two Cities podcast (@the_two_cities )! In this episode, we’re joined by Prof. Kelly M. Kapic (PhD, King’s College, University of London), who is Professor of Theological Studies at Covenant College (@covenantcollege ), and the author of several books, including the book that we’re discussing in this episode, Christian Life (as part of the New Studies in Dogmatics series published by @zondervan_academic ). Over the course of our conversation, we discuss Kelly Kapic’s aims to ground his theology of the Christian life in the Triune God, insisting that a theology of Christian life is necessarily theological. We also address how the particulars of Christian life pertain to universals, which helps to situate the topic in relation to various cultural and contextual settings. To round out the conversation, Prof. Kapic also highlights one of his main emphases that Christian life as a response to God begins with the Messiah’s response to God first. From there flows the ecclesial gathering of Christ followers whose Christian life is bound up in our relations to one another, but also to God and to creation. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne (@johnnypepper2 ) and Steph Kate Judd (@stephkatejudd ). Check it out! /us/podcast/the-two-cities/id1502131405?i=1000755945284

NEW EPISODE of The Two Cities podcast (@the_two_cities )! In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Preston Sprinkle (@preston.sprinkle ), who hosts the Theology in the Raw podcast (@theologyintheraw ) and is the author of From Genesis to Junia: An Honest Search for What the Bible Really Says About Women in Leadership (published by David Cook). In our conversation we talk about what caused Dr. Sprinkle to change his mind on this topic, and we discuss several key issues and passages related to the topic of women in ministry in the Bible. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Adishian (@n8adishian ), Dr. John Anthony Dunne (@johnnypepper2 ), and Dr. Grace Ng (@gsangala.ng ). Check it out! /us/podcast/the-two-cities/id1502131405?i=1000754642985

NEW EPISODE of The Two Cities podcast (@the_two_cities )! In this episode we’re joined by Dr. John Anthony Dunne (@johnnypepper2 ) and Dr. Jeannine Brown, New Testament professors at Bethel Seminary (@bethel_seminary ) in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to talk about their new book, The Greatest Story Ever Retold: Jesus Narratives From Gospels to Film (@bakeracademic ). As we discuss, Drs. Dunne and Brown share how Jesus films provide an external vantage point for thinking about the hermeneutical process of envisioning narratives while we read, making us like the directors of Jesus films inside our heads each time we read. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. Brandon Hurlbert (@brandonhurlbert ) and Rev. Dr. Chris Porter (@porterblepeople ). Check it out! /us/podcast/the-two-cities/id1502131405?i=1000753039655

NEW EPISODE of The Two Cities podcast (@the_two_cities )! In this episode, we’re joined by Prof. Andrew Crislip, who is Blake Chair in the History of Christianity at Virginia Commonwealth University, and the author of Emotion in Early Christianity (@eerdmans ). In our conversation, Prof. Crislip talks with us about what emotions really are, what early Christians thought about five key emotions, and how that thinking evolved within the first five centuries of the church. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Adishian (@n8adishian ) and Dr. John Anthony Dunne (@johnnypepper2 ). Check it out! /us/podcast/the-two-cities/id1502131405?i=1000751386444

NEW EPISODE of The Two Cities podcast (@the_two_cities )! In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Ryan Collman (@ryancollman ), who is Associate Supervisor at Westcott House, Cambridge, and tutor in New Testament at the University of London, as well as the author of The Apostle to the Foreskin: Circumcision in the Letters of Paul (De Gruyter), which won the Lautenschlaeger Award in 2023. In our conversation, we talk about circumcision in the letters of Paul with reference to ancient practices and perspectives, as well as modern pseudoscientific views about the contemporary practice in America. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne (@johnnypepper2 ) and Rev. Dr. Madison Pierce (@madisonpiercephd ). Check it out! /us/podcast/the-two-cities/id1502131405?i=1000750310130

NEW EPISODE of The Two Cities podcast (@the_two_cities )! In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Ruben Bühner (@rubenbuhner ), who is a postdoctoral researcher for New Testament Studies at the University of Zurich and the University of Bonn, and the author of Negotiating Jewishness: Paul’s Ethnicity Between Continuity and Discontinuity (@baylor_press ). Over the course of our conversation, we talk about key passages in the interpretation of Paul that relate to matters of continuity and discontinuity with respect to Paul’s Jewish identity and observance of the Torah. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne (@johnnypepper2 ). Check it out! /us/podcast/the-two-cities/id1502131405?i=1000749246483