Episode: Strawn argues that keeping secrets makes us sick, and the Old Testament offers a way to speak honestly about the BIG things like sin, suffering, and violence.

Guest: Brent Strawn is D. Moody Smith Distinguished Professor of Old Testament and Law at Duke Divinity and Duke University. He’s the author of numerous books, including The Old Testament is Dying (Baker) Honest to God Preaching (Fortress), The Old Testament: A Concise Introduction (Routledge), Lies My Preacher Told Me (WJK Press), and The Incomparable God: Readings in Biblical Theology (Eerdmans). He's the editor of many books and resources, including the award-winning The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Law (Oxford, 2015). He’s also hosted In Parallel, an offshoot of OnScript that looks at the resonances between biblical and modern poetry.

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Episode: In this episode, Dru Johnson talks with Garrick Allen about how paratexts (i.e., all the things around and between the biblical texts) have shaped our notions of canon, Gospel, and our reading practices of the biblical literature. His forthcoming Eerdmans book—Words Are Not Enough: Paratexts, Manuscripts, and the Real New Testament—argues that paratexts might hold the most sway over our biblical reading, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's unavoidable. From titles of anonymous books to cross-reference systems to extensive theologically-driven study notes, the biblical literature has always been entangled with paratexts. Dru and Garrick spend some time talking about the recent "Trump Bible" (AKA Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA Bible) and the ethical contours of paratexts.

Guest: Garrick Allen is Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism (Theology & Religious Studies) at the University of Glasgow. His first book, The Book of Revelation and Early Jewish Textual Culture (Cambridge 2017), was awarded the Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise 2019 and his essay "Monks, Manuscripts, Muhammad, and Digital Editions of the New Testament," published also in a chapter in his book Manuscripts of the Book of Revelation (Oxford 2020), was awarded the Paul J. Achtemeier Award for New Testament Scholarship by the Society of Biblical Literature (2018). His most recent book is Words Are Not Enough: Paratexts, Manuscripts, and the Real New Testament (Eerdmans, 2024).

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Episode: Back for the 7th time, Prof. Dr. Ervine Sheblazm is here to speak the hard truth about tuff questions. What happens when culture fails to address its own insidious tendencies? How do we move forward when culture reaches a dead end? What lies around the corner for those of us living on the crusted-over remains of modernity and its evil child, post-modernity? Dr. Sheblazm has thought through each of these questions, and he has answers that left reviewers stunned. Learn about how Abraham's bosom and Pauline passages may hold the key to navigating the troubled waters we live in.

Guest: Dr. Sheblazm is the best tendencies in all of us ... what we wish we were on a good day.

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If you enjoyed this episode … why not check out the good Dr.’s other episodes, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.