Episode 80: Introduction to the Old Testament

Ben and Christopher begin this year’s LDPS Presents: Come, Follow Me podcast on the Old Testament by introducing themselves and their background for Old Testament studies. They cover where they’re coming from, how they’ll be approaching the Old Testament, and where they’re going with their approach. This wide-ranging discussion deals with many of the questions on the minds of Latter-day Saints approaching the Old Testament such as: What is the Bible, or even scripture, in general, and the Old Testament in particular, and what do we do with them? How does revelation work? Who were the authors and what are the genres of the books that make up the library we call “the Bible” and what was the context and purpose of those authors in writing the texts? Who later chose which books would be included in the Bible and which would be excluded and why? What role did manuscripts and translation play in this process of canonization and continue to play in ongoing reading and interpretation of the Bible? What are apocryphal and pseudepigraphical texts and what do we do with them? What assumptions are made by ancient interpreters of the Bible that were carried forward in Christian history and are still with us today in the Church? How will Christopher and Ben read and interpret the Old Testament applying nonviolent hermeneutics to deal with “the angry violent God of the Old Testament”? How does Ancient-Near-Eastern thought differ from modern Western thought and what does that mean for reading and interpreting the Bible? What are the major themes of the Bible? And finally, what do we do with modern critical Biblical scholarship in faithfully reading the Bible?

This is an unusually long episode for LDPS Presents: Come, Follow Me, but it is well worth the listen in coming to terms with the Old Testament before jumping into the reading.


Intro/Outro: Sweeper by Blue Dot Sessions