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Colossians 1.15 presents an interesting test case to examine translation bias. Well-meaning Bible students have taken this text in at least three different ways. However, some translators, motivated by a fear that readers might see Christ as a member of creation, have increasingly pushed for translating this text so that it says Christ is superior to all creation and thus on the creator side of the creator-creature divide. In what follows I examine several popular translations and discuss the two main issues in this verse. —— Books —— A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd Edition (BDAG) Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics by Daniel Wallace Truth in Translation by Jason David BeDuhn —— Links —— Colossians 1.15-20: Preexistence or Preeminence by William Wachtel (paper) Christ the Firstborn Head of the Universe by Nathan Crowder (paper) Explanation of Colossians 1.15 -20 by John Schoenheit (from One God & One Lord) Resurrection Impact by Sean Finnegan (audio sermon on Colossians 1.15-20 as ascension theology) Debate: Patrick Navas vs. James White on Chris Date’s Theopologetics Podcast (part 2 addresses Colossians 1) Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

How should translators render the word προκσυνέω (proskuneo) into English? Since this word has a range of meanings from bowing as a sign of respect to worshiping God, translators sometimes decide what English words to use based more on their theological presuppositions than the grammar or textual context. For example, some translations (mostly those done by evangelicals) employ the language of worship when proskuneo is done to Jesus but then interpret the term as a respectful gesture when done to others. This, I suggest, is another smoking gun of translation bias. —— Books —— A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd Edition (BDAG) The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HAOT) Truth in Translation by Jason David BeDuhn Did the First Christians Worship Jesus?: The New Testament Evidence by James Dunn —— Links —— Who Should Christians Worship? by Dale Tuggy Podcast 21: Should We Worship Jesus? by Sean Finnegan Pliny the Younger’s statement about Christians singing hymns to Christ as if to a god Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

This is our first of five examples of bias in translation. Today we’ll examine Philippians 2.6-7, specifically focusing on how translators render two important words (ἁρπαγμός harpagmon and μορφή morphe). We’ll see how a couple of the most popular evangelical versions break free from the underlying Greek syntax in order to inject their own doctrinal bias into scripture. Regardless of your own interpretation of this passage, can we all agree that translators should not read their beliefs into scripture? —— Books —— A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd Edition (BDAG) New American Bible (NAB) The New Oxford Annotated Bible (NRSV) Truth in Translation by Jason David BeDuhn —— Links —— Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Last time we evaluated two popular single-translator Bibles: the Message and the Passion Translation. This time, we’re switching gears to consider committee-based versions. I want to shine a spotlight on the whole subject of bias in translation in an effort to point out what often goes unnoticed. We’ll consider both the committee effect that tends to eliminate non-traditional renderings as well as how the concept of sola scriptura exerts immense pressure on evangelicals to nudge their translations in the direction of their doctrinal commitments. —— Books —— The Art of Bible Translation by Robert Alter The New Testament by David Bentley Hart Truth in Translation by Jason David BeDuhn —— Links —— Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Last time we looked at the King James version which is one of the strictest formal equivalence Bibles every made. This time we are going to analyze two Bibles on the other end of the spectrum: the Message Bible and the Passion Translation. These two versions share a number of characteristics in common. For example both are very popular, both were done by single translators, and both employ a very free application of dynamic equivalence. —— Books —— The Message Bible by Eugene Peterson The Passion Translation by Brian Simmons The Hebrew Bible by Robert Alter The New Testament by David Bentley Hart —— Links —— Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

What do you know about the King James Version? Is it an accurate translation? Does it have flaws? Should you use it as a measuring stick for other translations? In today’s episode, we’ll cover the making of the KJV of the Bible, going back to William Tyndale’s courageous work before delving into four areas of evaluation. We’ll examine the KJV’s manuscript base, translation accuracy, lexicography, and vocabulary in an effort to objectively decide how the KJV compares to other English versions. —— Books —— William Tyndale: A Biography by David Daniell The Complete Guide to Bible Translations by Ron Rhodes Essential Guide to Bible Versions by Philip W. Comfort The Journey from Texts to Translations by Paul D. Wegner How to Choose a Translation for All Its Worth by Gordon Fee and Mark Strauss The Art of Bible Translation by Robert Alter “History of the English Bible” by Philip W. Comfort in The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated, ed. F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip Comfort, Carl F. H. Henry “English Versions of the Bible” by J. H. Skilton in New Bible Dictionary, ed. D. R. W. Wood “English Versions Since 1611” by Luther Weigle in The Cambridge History of the Bible: Vol 3 The English Bible from KJV to NIV, 2nd ed. by Jack Pearl Lewis The King James Only Controversy by James White The King James Bible after Four Hundred Years by Hannibal Hamlin and Norman W. Jones —— Links —— Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available he

Did you know that controversies surrounding how to translate gender in the Bible had a major impact on Bible translation over the last 30 years? In this episode we’ll briefly overview various feminist movements before examining the NRSV, which proved to be a forerunner for gender inclusive Bible translations. Next we’ll take a journey through the NIVI and TNIV controversies at the turn of the 21st century before seeing how evangelical Bible translations both reacted against (ESV, HCSB) and appropriated (NIV2011, CSB) varying degrees of gender accuracy into their Bibles. —— Books —— The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing: For Writers, Editors, and Speakers by Casey Miller and Kate Swift, 1980 “Femme Fatale” by Susan Olasky, World, March 29, 1997 Colorado Springs Guidelines “Statement by Participants in the Conference on Gender-Related Language in Scripture” May 27, 1997 “Bailing Out the Stealth Bible” by Susan Olasky, World Magazine, June 14, 1997 “Hands Off My NIV!” by Doug LeBlanc, Christianity Today, June 16, 1997 What’s Wrong with Gender-Neutral Bible Translations? by Wayne Gruden, 1997 D. A. Carson, The Inclusive Language Debate: A Plea for Realism Mark L. Strauss, Distorting Scripture? The Challenge of Bible Translation and Gender Accuracy The Gender-Neutral Bible Controversy: Muting the Masculinity of God’s Words by Wayne Gruden and Vern Polythress, 2000 Two Views on Women in Ministry by Linda L. Belleville, Craig L. Blomberg, Craig S. Keener, Thomas R. Schreiner, 2001, updated 2005 Southern Baptist Convention Resolution “On Today’s New International Version,” June 11-12, 2002 How To Choose a Translation for All It’s Worth by Gordon Fee and Mark Strauss, 2007 (see especially chapter chapter 7) “Why the English Standard Version (ESV) Should Not Become the Standard English Version” by Mark Strauss, 2008 (presented at ETS) “An Evaluation of Gender Language in the 2011 Edition of the NIV Bible,” Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, June 6, 2011 Jesus, Justice, and Gender Roles by Kathy Keller, 2012 —— Links —— Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Last time we focused on the two main translation theories: formal and dynamic equivalence. This time, we need to take a look at five major default decisions translation teams make at the outset. Units of Measurement and Currency Hebrew Idioms English Vocabulary Editorial Enhancements God’s Name By becoming familiar with these five topics, you’ll be able to better assess English Bible translations and less susceptible to misunderstandings. —— Books —— The Complete Guide to Bible Translations by Ron Rhodes Essential Guide to Bible Versions by Philip W. Comfort The Journey from Texts to Translations by Paul D. Wegner How to Choose a Translation for All Its Worth by Gordon Fee and Mark Strauss The Art of Bible Translation by Robert Alter How We Got the Bible by Neil Lightfoot The Theory and Practice of Translation by Eugene Nida —— Links —— “Q&A: Translation Decisions for the Christian Standard Bible” Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Up until now we’ve focused our attention on the text of Scripture. We took five episodes looking at the Hebrew Bible, including it’s sources, transmission, and how textual scholars go about deciding the initial text. Then for the last seven episodes we did the same for the New Testament, examining the surviving source material and looking at the work of textual criticism. Now, we are in a good position to shift gears and turn to the whole world of translation. As it turns out, English Bible translators divide into two broad styles of translation: formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence. In this episode we’ll explore these two translation philosophies and the trade offs each makes in order to produce English Bibles. —— Books —— The Complete Guide to Bible Translations by Ron Rhodes Essential Guide to Bible Versions by Philip W. Comfort The Journey from Texts to Translations by Paul D. Wegner How to Choose a Translation for All Its Worth by Gordon Fee and Mark Strauss The Art of Bible Translation by Robert Alter How We Got the Bible by Neil Lightfoot The Theory and Practice of Translation by Eugene Nida —— Links —— Andi Wu, “A Quantitative Evaluation of the Christian Standard Bible” Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Last time we covered two corrected corruptions (1 Timothy 3.16 and 1 John 5.7). This time we’ll consider two uncorrected corruptions, including the long ending on Mark (16.9-20) and the passage about the adulterous woman that Jesus saves (John 7.53-8.11). Although these two texts are not found in the earliest and best manuscripts and translators have known this for decades, they continue to include them in virtually all English translations. What’s going on here? In this episode you’ll learn the textual basis for both passages and the reasons why textual scholars don’t accept their authenticity. —— Books —— New Testament Text and Translation Commentary by Philip W. Comfort Textual Commentary of the Greek New Testament by Bruce Metzger The NET Bible with 60,932 Translators’ Notes (online here) —— Links —— For background on textual criticism see part 10 New Testament Textual Criticism as well as 6 Greek New Testament Papyri, 7 Greek New Testament Uncials, and 8 Other New Testament Manuscripts Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Today we move from learning about manuscripts and textual criticism to actually doing textual criticism. I’ve chosen two well-known corruptions to illustrate the process of textual criticism: 1 Timothy 3.16 and 1 John 5.7. In each of these cases scribes have altered the text of scripture and we have the manuscript evidence to show exactly what happened. —— Books —— New Testament Text and Translation Commentary by Philip W. Comfort Textual Commentary of the Greek New Testament by Bruce Metzger The NET Bible with 60,932 Translators’ Notes (online here) The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture by Bart Ehrman Revisiting the Corruption of the New Testament by Daniel Wallace et al. The King James Only Controversy by James White —— Links —— Read my more thorough treatment of 1 John 5.7-8: “The Story behind the Comma Johanneum“ For background on textual criticism see part 10 New Testament Textual Criticism as well as 6 Greek New Testament Papyri, 7 Greek New Testament Uncials, and 8 Other New Testament Manuscripts Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Last time we surveyed five hundred years of New Testament textual criticism. Today we address the process by which these scholars have done and continue to do their work. We’ll see how they weigh internal and external evidence. We’ll cover reasoned eclecticism, the refined documentary approach, and the computer-driven coherence based genealogical method. (Don’t worry if these terms don’t mean much to you yet.) Lastly, we’ll see what resources you can access to find out the inside scoop on what’s going on with a particular NT verse. —— Books —— New Testament Text and Translation Commentary by Philip W. Comfort An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and their Texts by D. C. Parker The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration by Bruce M. Metzger and Bart D. Ehrman NA28: Nestle-Aland 28th Edition, aka Novum Testamentum Graece UBS5: United Bible Society 5th Edition, aka The Greek New Testament THGNT: Tyndale House Greek New Testament, aka The Greek New Testament —— Links —— Editio Critica Maior Coherence Based Genealogical Method (CBGM) tool Read Peter Gurry’s article, “How Your Greek NT Is Changing: A Simple Introduction to the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method (CBGM)” from the Journal of Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Before we can understand how textual scholars do their work today, it’s important to understand the history of how they have endeavored to reconstruct the Greek New Testament over the years. In this episode you’ll learn about the rich and important history of how our understanding of the Greek New Testament changed over the last five hundred years. This history is vital for you to understand why older translations are often based on younger manuscripts–a key paradox we’ll return to in future sessions. —— Books —— An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and their Texts by D. C. Parker The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration by Bruce M. Metzger and Bart D. Ehrman The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts by Philip Wesley Comfort and David P. Barrett (2 volumes) The King James Only Controversy by James White NA28: Nestle-Aland 28th Edition, aka Novum Testamentum Graece UBS5: United Bible Society 5th Edition, aka The Greek New Testament THGNT: Tyndale House Greek New Testament, aka The Greek New Testament —— Links —— Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

We’ve been working our way through the various sources for our Greek New Testament. We’ve looked at the papyri and the uncials, but there is so much more to consider. In fact, the New Testament papyri and uncials combined make up less than 2% of our manuscripts. Today, we’ll consider the other 98% of manuscripts including minuscules, lectionaries, quotations in the church fathers, and ancient translations. —— Books —— Constantine Tischendorf: The Life and Work of a 19th Century Bible Hunter by Stanley E. Porter An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and their Texts by D. C. Parker The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration by Bruce M. Metzger and Bart D. Ehrman The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts by Philip Wesley Comfort and David P. Barrett (2 volumes) Encountering the Manuscripts by Philip Comfort —— Links —— See SBL’s publications of The New Testament in the Greek Fathers Visit The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts and look at high resolution pictures of many manuscripts. Visit the Institute for New Testament Textual Research (INTF) to see the work they are doing to compare access and analyze New Testament manuscripts Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Today we are moving into our second group of New Testament manuscripts–the uncials. However, before describing them, we’ll need to focus on how Christian scribes went about their work. As it turns out the situation is quite different than the Jewish scribes who preserved the Hebrew Bible. Then we’ll follow the exciting career of Bible hunter Constantine Tischendorf as he brought to light two huge discoveries. Lastly, we’ll take a brief survey of the five most famous uncial New Testament manuscripts: Codex Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, Vaticanus, Ephraemi Rescriptus, and Bezae. —— Books —— Constantine Tischendorf: The Life and Work of a 19th Century Bible Hunter by Stanley E. Porter An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and their Texts by D. C. Parker The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration by Bruce M. Metzger and Bart D. Ehrman The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts by Philip Wesley Comfort and David P. Barrett (2 volumes) Encountering the Manuscripts by Philip Comfort —— Links —— Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Today we are shifting gears from the Old Testament to the New Testament, from Hebrew manuscripts to Greek ones. We’ll begin with the earliest evidence for the Greek New Testament, the papyri. Made from the papyrus plant, approximately 130 of these manuscripts survive today in museums around the world. In this lecture you’ll learn the important role collectors like Chester Beatty and Martin Bodmer played as well as the earth-shattering discovery made by archeologists Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt at Oxyrhynchus Egypt. —— Books —— The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration by Bruce M. Metzger and Bart D. Ehrman Christian Oxyrhynchus: Texts, Documents, and Sources by Lincoln H. Blumell and Thomas A. Wayment The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts by Philip Wesley Comfort and David P. Barrett (2 volumes) Encountering the Manuscripts by Philip Comfort —— Links —— Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Today we are going to take a brief break from manuscripts and dip our toes into the pool of Bible translations. Specifically, we’ll take a look at six of the most prominent Jewish translations of the Hebrew Bible, including: Jewish Publication Society (1917) Koren Jerusalem Bible (1961) New Jewish Publication Society (1985) Artscroll’s Stone Tanach (1996) Schocken Bible of Everett Fox (1995, 2014) Robert Alter’s translation (2018) For each of these versions we’ll get a brief sense of the translation style from the preface and then we’ll compare four texts from each: Genesis 1.1-3; Psalm 23.1-2; Isaiah 9.6; and Micah 7.20. —— Books —— Jewish Publication Society Bible (1917) New Jewish Publication Society Bible (1985) Koren Jerusalem Bible Artscroll Stone Tanach Everett Fox‘s Schocken Bible Robert Alter’s three volume Bible with commentary The Song of Songs by Ariel and Chana Bloch (translation and commentary) —— Links —— Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

For our Hebrew Bibles we have three main groups of manuscripts to compare: the Masoretic Text group, the Samaritan Pentateuch group, and the Septuagint group. Each of these groups contain many manuscripts with the Masoretic Text group containing the most. In this episode of How We Got the Bible, we’re going to look at the history of how textual scholars have and continue to pour over all of this information and determine the best reading when they encounter differences in the texts. —— Books —— Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia ed. by Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph Biblia Hebraica Quinta series (available as individual volumes) Proverbs: An Eclectic Edition with Introduction and Textual Commentary by Michael V. Fox Old Testament Textual Criticism by Ellis Brotzman and Eric Tully Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible by Emmanuel Tov —— Links —— Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible visit The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition site See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

In How We Got the Bible, we’re continuing on in our quest to understand the sources for the Hebrew Bible. We’ve already covered the Masoretic Text and the Dead Sea Scrolls, but we have one last important Hebrew source to look at before surveying several significant ancient translations. As it turns out the Samaritans have their own Hebrew version of the Torah, commonly called the Samaritan Pentateuch. In this episode you’ll learn about the Samaritan Pentateuch and why scholars take it more seriously today than they did in previous centuries. We’ll also consider very important ancient translations of the Tanakh, in Greek, Aramaic, Syriac, and Latin. —— Books —— The Israelite Samaritan Version of the Torah by Benyamin Tsedaka and Sharon Sullivan A New English Translation of the Septuagint by Albert Pietersma and Benjamin G. Wright The Septuagint with Apocrypha by Lancelot C. L. Brenton The Targums: A Critical Introduction by Paul V. M. Flesher and Bruce Chilton The Aramaic Bible Volume 1A: Targum Neofiti: Genesis by Martin McNamara The Aramaic Bible Volume 2: Targum Neofiti and Targum Psuedo-Jonathan: Exodus by Martin McNamara Old Testament Textual Criticism by Ellis Brotzman and Eric Tully —— Links —— Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Last time we looked at the Hebrew manuscripts known as the Masoretic Texts from the middle ages. Today, we’ll focus on the earliest Hebrew manuscripts ever found, including those at the Cairo Genizah, the Ein-Gedi Scroll, the Nash Papyrus, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Ketef Hinnom Silver Scroll. This is going to be very helpful for future lectures when we cover the process of figuring out which readings are best when manuscripts differ from one another. —— Books —— Old Testament Textual Criticism by Ellis Brotzman and Eric Tully Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Genizah by Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible by Martin Abegg Jr., Peter Flint, and Eugene Ulrich The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation by Michael Wise and Martin Abegg Jr. The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English by Geza Vermes —— Links —— Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible Frieberg Genizah Project digitizing Cairo genizah manuscripts (see also the free app) See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Today we are beginning a major new class on how we get our English Bibles. I’m so excited about sharing with you so much about what I’ve learned in doing the research for this project. We’re going to have a great time together. My goal here is to cover the transmission of manuscripts and translation process so you understand where Bibles come from. In fact, I was thinking of calling this class, “Where Bibles Come From,” but when I searched for that phrase the search engine in its infinite wisdom had auto corrected it to “Where do babies come from,” which needless to say wasn’t the target audience for this material. Today marks part one of this class, How We Got the Bible, and our focus will be on the manuscripts that underlie the Masoretic Text. You’ll learn about the Aleppo Codex: probably the most accurate Masoretic Text on the planet. We’ll cover the Leningrad Codex which to this day dominates textual studies since it is the oldest complete Hebrew Bible. We’ll look at a handful of other important manuscripts in an effort to begin understanding where our Bibles come from. Introduction to How We Got the Bible 1: The Masoretic Text —— Books —— Old Testament Textual Criticism by Ellis Brotzman and Eric Tully The Aleppo Codex by Matti Friedman —— Links —— Check out all the lectures in How We Got the Bible See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library    

This is the fifth and final part of our parenting class. Today you’ll learn about striking the balance between oversight and independence. Although many parents today think their children are at risk of kidnapping and other terrible crimes, our society is actually much safer than it has been in decades. The tendency to protect our children at all times has resulted in a culture of “safteyism” that leads to ill-preparedness when children grow up and move out of the house. On the opposite side chronic neglect or toxic stressors result in adults who are likewise unable to cope with and overcome the complexities of adult life. Download [5.21 MB] In this episode we’ll take a close look at David to see what evergreen lessons we can learn about parenting our own children today. In the end, we want to do our best to prepare our children for the road ahead so that they can be their best for God and others. —— Links —— Watch a panel discussion between the teachers of this class: Mary Ann Yaconis, Sean & Ruth Finnegan, and Russell & Joelle Brown. If you prefer, you can watch the unedited videos here See other episodes in this parenting series Check out Greg Lukianoff & Jonathan Haidt’s excellent book The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

In part 4 of our parenting class, Ruth Finnegan tackles the issue of screen time for children. Although technology itself is neutral, much of what our children spend their time doing with screens is self-destructive and worldly. As parents our responsibility is to bring God and his scriptures into the family and curtail exposure to worldly entertainment. Doing so may help prevent adolescent anxiety and depression. —— Links —— For more Ruth Finnegan, check out this episode on consumerism If you prefer, you can watch the unedited videos here See other episodes in this parenting series Check out Greg Lukianoff & Jonathan Haidt’s excellent book The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library  

Welcome to part three of our parenting class where Dr. Mary Ann Yaconis will help us deal with episodes of anger both within ourselves and our children. This is such an important issue because childhood anger can lead to serious characterological disorders in adulthood if not dealt with appropriately. In this episode you’ll learn about what’s underneath anger, what prevents anger, and what provokes anger. The goal here is to learn how to relate to our children in a godly way that incorporates both age-appropriate discipline and unconditional love. Download [3.89 MB] Mary Ann Yaconis has served Living Hope Community Church for more than a dozen years in the areas of counseling and hospitality. She is a licensed Mental Health Counselor with her doctorate degree in pastoral counseling from Loyola University Maryland. She maintains a full-time counseling practice ,helping scores of people over the years to work through troubling issues. —— Links —— Handout 1: Manipulation Test Handout 2: Manipulation Behavior Handout 3: God Centered Home Article (Mary Ann Yaconis) Handout 4: Proverbs about Parenting Listen to Victor Gluckin on “I’m Angry,” taught at Revive 2020. (Note this is not on the podcast (yet). It’s an mp3 file.) Also check out The Insidious Danger of Self-Righteousness (Sean Finnegan) Dr. Mary Ann Yaconis’ class on parenting is available here If you prefer, you can watch the unedited video here See other episodes in this parenting series Check out Greg Lukianoff & Jonathan Haidt’s excellent book The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

In this the second part of our parenting seminar, we will broach the topic of disciplining children. For many of us, this is the hardest part of parenting. We’d rather enjoy harmony in our homes rather than having to lay down the law. Even so, the scriptures call us to do the hard work of holding our children accountable. In this brief but incredibly helpful episode, you’ll learn about setting proportionate consequences to disobeying, affirming children when they do what is right, taking away privileges like screen time, and the controversial topic of spanking. Download [575.68 KB] Your teachers for this session are Russell and Joelle Brown, the proud parents of two young children, Hosanna and Isaiah who at the time of this recording were five and three and a half years old. They live in Rhode Island and serve in several ministries at Living Faith Christian Church. —— Links —— Handout: the four parenting styles of Diana Baumrind Dr. Mary Ann Yaconis’ class on parenting is available here If you prefer, you can watch the unedited video here See other episodes in this parenting series Check out Greg Lukianoff & Jonathan Haidt’s excellent book The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

For many of us during this COVID-19 pandemic, quarantine has been difficult. A huge number of us are working from home and those of us with children are home schooling as well. Add to that cold and rainy spring weather, and you’ve got a perfect storm for challenging parenting. In an effort to help out, I thought we’d spend a few weeks equipping, challenging, and encouraging parents. Now, I realize that many of you are not parents, but you may have grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or other children in your life. I’m sure some of you plan to have children one day as well. This parenting class will help you both understand ways in which our culture is hurting our children and the how the scriptures can guide us in a better direction. Our first session is called, “Preparing Our Kids for the Road.” The simple fact is that our children are going to suffer at different times in their lives. They are going to face failure, rejection, and disappointment. This is absolutely unavoidable for everyone. Rather than protecting them from everything, our goal as parents is to prepare them for real life in the real world. —— Links —— If you prefer, you can watch the unedited video here See other episodes in this parenting series Check out Greg Lukianoff & Jonathan Haidt’s excellent book The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure See what other classes are available here or on the Restitutio Classes podcast (subscribe in Apple, Spotify, RSS feed) If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

This is part four of our series on original sin. Last time Kegan Chandler and Jerry Wierwille discussed their different views of original sin and the resultant human condition. In this final part of our series, we circle back to Romans 5 one last time and both explain how they understand it. What drives our desire to sin? Is it our mortality, our toxic environment, or our fallen flesh? Listen in as these two scholars discuss this important issue. —— Links —— Part 1: 321 Origins of Sin (Kegan Chandler) Part 2: 322 Inherited Sin in Romans 5 (Jerry Wierwille) Part 3: 323 Original Sin Debate 1 (Kegan Chandler vs. Jerry Wierwille) More podcast episodes with Kegan Chandler More podcast episodes with Jerry Wierwille If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

This is part three of our series on original sin. In part one, Kegan Chandler discussed the history of Augustine’s doctrine of original sin, arguing that the whole idea is post biblical. Last time Jerry Wierwille responded to Chandler, explaining that we do have solid biblical grounding to believe in some form of inherited original sin based on Romans 5.12-21. Today, we put these two scholars in dialogue with each other. In today’s episode we being by defining how Chandler and Wierwille understand original sin. Then Chandler lays out his case for a positive view of children in the bible, using Deuteronomy 1.39, Isaiah 7.15-16, Ezekiel 28.15, Isaiah 53.6, Matthew 18.3, Mark 10.13-16, and Romans 9.11, 4.15, 7.8. Next we consider Ephesians 2.1-3, a major text for believing all humans are fallen and sinful as a default. Although we’ll have to wait until next week to get into Romans 5, this discussion helpfully elucidates two important views on original sin to help you think through your own position. —— Links —— Part 1: 321 Origins of Sin (Kegan Chandler) Part 2: 322 Inherited Sin in Romans 5 (Jerry Wierwille) More podcast episodes with Kegan Chandler More podcast episodes with Jerry Wierwille You may also be interested in our 6-part Calvinism Debate or our series on foreknowledge and free will If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

In our last episode Kegan Chandler presented his case against the classic doctrine of original sin. Today we are going to hear a critique from Jerry Wierwille of Chandler’s presentation. Wierwille makes the case for a middle position between Augustine and Chandler on the basis of the flow of thought in Romans 5.12-21. He agrees with Augustine that Adam’s sin corrupted human nature so that we are all born with rebelliousness in our hearts. However, he agrees with Chandler that these impulses are resistible, especially with God’s spirit living within us. This is part two of a four part series on Original Sin. —— Links —— Other Restitutio podcasts with Jerry Wierwille Check out his website at JerryWierwille.com If you’d like to support Restitutio, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library —— Notes —— Romans 5.12 Greek Διὰ τοῦτο ὥσπερ δι᾽ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ἡ ἁμαρτία εἰς τὸν κόσμον εἰσῆλθεν καὶ διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ θάνατος, καὶ οὕτως εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ὁ θάνατος διῆλθεν, ἐφ᾽ ᾧ πάντες ἥμαρτον· Latin propterea sicut per unum hominem in hunc mundum peccatum intravit et per peccatum mors et ita in omnes homines mors pertransiit in quo omnes peccaverunt ESV Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned– Five ways to translate Romans 5.12 with the result that (Kegan Chandler) in whom (Augustine of Hippo) by imitating because in Adam because in themselves Romans 5.12-21 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned– 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be ma

Today we are beginning a new series on original sin based on Kegan Chandler’s presentation from last year, entitled, “Origins of Sin: The New Heretics and the Metaphysics of Disobedience.” I’m excited about this four part series for a couple of reasons. First off, I’m glad to host a place where we can discuss genuine theological differences in a respectful and constructive way. So often in Christianity today, there’s just not an opportunity for peer review. Well, here on Restitutio, we are going to do just that. Secondly, I’m excited because this is an important topic that many of us have not through. Oftentimes until someone challenges our beliefs, we just go with the flow. However, whether we realize it or not, that flow was determined long ago by Christians whose reasoning may or may not stand up to scrutiny today. In what follows Chandler is going to present his case that the idea of original sin goes back to Augustine who combined bits and pieces from earlier Christians like Cyprian and the Manicheans. Now, this is a strong position Chandler takes. Essentially, he argues that the doctrine of original sin is not native to scripture, an innovation of the fifth century. If Chandler is right then all of us are born neutral without the stain of Adam’s sin upon us. Furthermore, Christians need to stop making excuses for sinning and realize that we can live without sin. Next week, I’ll air part two, which will be Jerry Wierwille’s critique of this presentation. Then I have two more interviews where Chandler and Wierwille discuss this topic at length. Also, I took notes on Chandler’s presentation which may help you navigate your way through this talk as well as show you the spelling for these ancient Christians in case you want to research any of them further. (See below.) —— Links —— You can watch the raw video of this talk on YouTube (including the Q&A, starting at 1:18:00) Other Restitutio podcasts with Kegan Chandler Check out his books The God of Jesus in Light of Christian Dogma and Constantine and the Divine Mind Follow Chandler on his Buried Deep blog and his God of Jesus website. Read his scholarly papers on Academia.edu If you’d like to support Restitutio financially, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library —— Notes —— Augustine’s Doctrine Defined A) Adam’s disobedience caused transgressions to enter the world of humanity B) Adam’s disobedience caused all of his progeny to physically die C) Adam’s disobedience fundamentally changed human nature. D) Adam originally had free will, but it became corrupt as a consequence of his disobedience. E) Adam’s disobedience caused all of his progeny to be born without free will (a ‘non-free’ free will). F) Adam’s disobedience transmitted sin-guilt to all his progeny. G) Adam’s disobedience transmitted a sinning-nature

This is the sixth and final part of Joshua Anderson’s Announcing the Kingdom evangelism class. In this panel discussion Josh Anderson, Jerry Wierwille, and I discuss several issues before taking questions from the audience. Questions we cover include: How can we develop relationships with non-Christians? How should we handle rejection? What should we say when asked a question we don’t know the answer to? How do we respond when someone brings up all the pain and suffering in the world? What should we do when the conversation stalls out? What about Ray Comfort’s method of confrontational evangelism? If you haven’t yet, check out the previous episodes in this six-part series here. —— Links —— See all the sessions in this class, Announcing the Kingdom Download the notes for this seminar along with the 5 Thresholds Worksheet Watch the unedited videos of this seminar. Visit Joshua Anderson’s website Pascal’s Jacket See more podcasts, posts, and book recommendations about evangelism If you’d like to support Restitutio financially, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

We are living in an unprecedented time. As many of you know, I live in New York, the state with the most positive coronavirus cases in America. In my lifetime, I have never seen a disease spread like this all around the world. This pandemic is taking lives every day even if most of us who get it will probably recover in a week or two. We&#8217;ve seen hoarding and panic, but neither of these is fitting for Christ-followers in this time. Thankfully, we are not without guidance on how to behave in these times, for we have the scriptures, the example of Jesus, and the historical record of those who went through much worse plagues than COVID-19. From all of this, I have come to see that we have been in training for this moment all our Christian lives. We have learned the priorities of loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves. We have learned to pray, to read scripture, to repent of our sins, to live out the fruit of the spirit. And we have learned that through Christ, God has decisively defeated death, leaving behind an empty tomb and rock solid hope in his return to resurrect the saints. This hope is not wishy-washy or nebulous, but the anchor of our souls&#8211;a concrete expectation that when Messiah comes, he will make everything wrong with the world right. However, our unbelieving friends, neighbors, coworkers, acquaintances, and family members, do not have the example of Jesus. They do not have a hope to anchor them through the storms of life. They have only the news, their instincts for self-preservation, and the uncertainty of the future. Now is our time to let our lights shine before people so that they may see our good deeds and glorify our Father who is in heaven. Now is our time to be salt, the seasoning that grabs attention rather going with the flow. Now is our time to share the good news with people who are asking the big questions like &#8220;What happens when I die?&#8221; or &#8220;What&#8217;s the meaning of life?&#8221; or &#8220;Is there a God?&#8221; This is your chance to practice cross-shaped love, self-sacrificial generosity, and heroic kindness. Although, I&#8217;ve thought about interrupting this evangelism class, honestly, I can&#8217;t think of a better topic for your consideration today than this evangelism session. This is part five of Joshua Anderson’s Announcing the Kingdom evangelism class. Today you&#8217;ll learn how to diagnose people&#8217;s spiritual condition, based on five thresholds that they typically cross on their way to becoming a Christians as well as how to handle objections. This approach will relieve pressure from you of thinking you have to convert someone in just one conversation and it will provide guidance to know what to do to help them along to the next threshold. Now, I did want to mention that in this episode Anderson seems to equate the kingdom of God with the church. Although these two are obviously close ideas theologically, strictly speaking the kingdom arrives at the second coming. We are the citizens of the kingdom who preach the gospel of the kingdom while living out the kingdom ethics in anticipation of the kingdom, and there&#8217;s no question that the Jesus is already the crowned king who has inaugurated his kingdom in seed form, but we await his return for the consummation when the meek will inherit the earth and God will heal our world. So, I just wanted make that point that the kingdom is still primarily future. In light of the topic of evangelism during the pandemic, I&#8217;m interested in hearing your stories. Have any of you seen opportunities to testify about your faith or open doors to speak to folks in this crazy time of pandemic? How have you been dealing with it? Leave a comment below or check out our facebook group. <a href="https://restituti

This is part four of Joshua Anderson’s Announcing the Kingdom evangelism class. Francis of Assisi allegedly said, &#8220;Preach the gospel at all times; use words if necessary.&#8221; Sadly, many of us have taken this way of thinking as an excuse to remain silent. However, as Anderson points out, the scriptures specifically call us to open our mouths and use words (Romans 10). In fact, remaining silent can actually disprove Christianity, especially if you work really hard to show Christian love, but never mention your faith. People will assume you are a well-adjusted non-believer and may even use you as an example of why they don&#8217;t need to look into Christianity! In this episode, Anderson shares two secret tools of the missionary craft that he learned when he went off with his family to be missionaries in Japan. The first is running a language route and the second has two do with parties. I don&#8217;t want to give a way too much, but these common sense strategies have the potential to get you back on track reaching people with God&#8217;s love. —— Links —— Visit Joshua Anderson&#8217;s website Pascal&#8217;s Jacket See all the sessions in this class, Announcing the Kingdom Download the notes for this seminar Watch the unedited videos of this seminar. See more podcasts, posts, and book recommendations about evangelism Restitutio on Spotify Check out the 20s and 30s Conference in Paducah, KY If you&#8217;d like to support Restitutio financially, you can donate here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

This is part three of Joshua Anderson&#8217;s Announcing the Kingdom evangelism class. In the previous teaching we learned what evangelism is not as well as some ineffective methods to avoid. Today, we&#8217;ll hear about what evangelism is and one key to sharing your faith more effectively. Anderson also explains the history of how our culture shifted from seeing religious matters as objective to subjective. The end result is that people now see evangelism as rude and inappropriate. Knowing this can help us navigate the challenges of sharing our faith authentically today. —— Links —— See all the sessions in this class, Announcing the Kingdom Download the notes for this seminar Watch the unedited videos of this seminar. See more podcasts, posts, and book recommendations about evangelism Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Today we are gong to hear part two of Joshua Anderson&#8217;s Announcing the Kingdom evangelism class. His topic is &#8220;What Evangelism Is Not.&#8221; Evangelism is not forcing a decision, converting people, condemning people&#8217;s sins, or arguing endlessly. This material is critical for us to grasp so we don&#8217;t get frustrated or stuck in ineffective methods. We do well to keep in mind that whatever your evangelism system is right now, it&#8217;s perfectly designed to keep getting the same results. Do you want to see different results? Then you have to change something! —— Links —— See all the sessions in this class, Announcing the Kingdom Download the notes for this seminar Watch the unedited videos of this seminar. See more podcasts, posts, and book recommendations about evangelism The Unitarian Christian Alliance Conference (October 16-18) in Nashville, TN area. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

How do you feel about evangelism? Do you have a heart for the lost? I know that for me, sharing my faith is pretty challenging, not because of a lack of commitment or a lack of knowledge, but because my culture makes it difficult. And that stinks, because I want to be faithful to Jesus who commissioned us to make disciples of all nations. I want to do that. But, many times, I&#8217;m not sure how. Today we begin a brand new class on evangelism that is going to cover what evangelism isn&#8217;t, what evangelism is, and how we can get better at it. Our teacher is Joshua Anderson of Rogers, Arkansas who recently got back from Japan after serving there as a missionary for two years. Anderson has a bachelor of arts from the University of Arkansas, a master&#8217;s in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a second master&#8217;s in philosophy from Talbot at Biola University. He&#8217;s an expert on apologetics and Christian philosophy and has varying degrees of proficiency in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Spanish, and Japanese. Not only is he well educated and super intelligent, but he has the gift of explaining topics in a way that is easy to understand. I think you are really going to enjoy this. This class totally shifted my paradigm on how I think about and carry out evangelism and I think it will help you as well. Here&#8217;s the handout for this class: Loading... Taking too long? Reload document | Open in new tab Download [522.10 KB] —— Links —— See all the sessions in this class, Announcing the Kingdom Download the notes for this seminar Watch the unedited videos of this seminar. See more podcasts, posts, and book recommendations about evangelism Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Have you ever heard of Bethany Christian Services? They are a large Christian adoption agency in the USA and internationally, working hard to find good homes for babies. In this interview I visit my local branch in Latham, NY and speak with adoption specialist Renee Rogowski about how adoptions work. I&#8217;m so impressed by the work she does and how Bethany provides an alternative to abortion in our country. In fact, Christian couples have signed up throughout the US to adopt children born with drug addictions, disabilities, birth defects, and even babies who won&#8217;t live beyond a year! Although you don&#8217;t hear about this in the news, so many are self-sacrificially putting into practice the teachings of Jesus by loving and investing in these vulnerable children. —— Links —— Visit Bethany Christian Services for more information about adopting, foster care, and other related services Contact Renee Rogowski at the Albany branch of Bethany See also Interview 38: Advocating for the Unborn (Kirk Walden) Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

How much control should Christian groups exercise over their people?&nbsp; Should people be free to research and diverge from past ways of thinking?&nbsp; In this interview, I talk with William Barlow who grew up in the Way International, but ran into problems when he started suggesting changes to the administrators at the Way Corps leadership training program.&nbsp; After three and a half years of attending, when he was just a few months from graduation, they dismissed him from the program, dashing his dreams of becoming a minister.&nbsp; Thankfully his story did not end there. —— Links —— Visit studydrivenfaith.org to read articles and listen to teachings by William Barlow Get in touch via email: [email protected] Check out LHIM free online classes Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Last week John Truitt began discussing the theological framework of dispensationalism, especially the &#8220;mid-Acts dispensationalism&#8221; taught by the Way International.&nbsp; He pointed out some flaws that got his attention and made him explore the issue more deeply.&nbsp; In the course of his research, Truitt discovered another way of approaching scripture known as covenantalism.&nbsp; In this episode he explains his covenantal approach with special emphasis on the new covenant, including the responsibilities and benefits of this new way of relating to God. —— Links —— Get in contact with John Truitt through the Allegiance to the King site or by joining his Facebook Group To join one of Allegiance to the King’s weekly virtual fellowship meetings, visit here or email [email protected] If you would like to attend the 20s and 30s Christian Conference in Paducah, KY (June 12-14), check out the Facebook Page – 20’s &amp; 30’s Christian Conference Check out previous podcast episodes with Truitt including Virtual Fellowship for Isolated Believers and Apologetics Conference: 6 Evangelism, Jesus’ Way See all interviews with Truitt Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Have you ever been on a long drive in the summer when you wore sunglasses for hours and hours? It&#8217;s getting dark and then suddenly you realize you&#8217;re still wearing sunglasses. You take them off and the whole world brightens and you realize it&#8217;s not nearly as dark as you thought? This is the nature of looking through a lens&#8211;it colors your perception of reality. Today, we are beginning a two part series to talk about lenses through which we read scripture. What&#8217;s your hermeneutic or interpretation strategy? Today we&#8217;ll focus on the view known as dispensationalism, championed by Dallas Theological Seminary, the Way International, many Baptists, Charismatics, and non-denominational churches as well as theologians like Charles Ryrie, C. I. Scofield, and E. W. Bullinger. We&#8217;ll get into what this system entails in just a moment, but let me first introduce my guest. John Truitt grew up in California and Texas converting to Christianity as a Methodist at 14. After a few years of not attending church, at 21 he converted to biblical unitarianism in the shadow of the Way International through an ex-Way group and learned to read the bible in line with classic dispensationalism. Later on he joined Spirit and Truth Fellowship and even served on the board for a number of years. After this, Truitt co-founded Allegiance to the King, a web-based ministry with over 150 video teachings, regular virtual church video-conferencing meetings, and an annual young adult event in Kentucky. Truitt is also the founder and owner of Kalleo Technologies, a managed IT service provider company, based out of Paducah, Kentucky. Today he&#8217;s going to talk to us about dispensationalism. Whether that&#8217;s where you&#8217;re coming from or not, this interview should broaden your understanding of the topic. —— Books —— Progressive Dispensationalism by Craig Alan Blaising Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding of the Covenants by Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum (also see God&#8217;s Kingdom through Covenant: A Concise Biblical Theology) Progressive Covenantalism by Stephen Wellum and Brent Parker Dispensationalism and the History of Redemption by Jeffrey Bingham and Glenn Kreider The Last Days of Dispensationalism: A Scholarly Critique of Popular Misconceptions by Alistair Donaldson Three Central Issues in Contemporary Dispensationalism: A Comparison of Traditional &amp; Progressive Views by Darrell Bock, Elliott Johnson, Herbert Bateman, e

Are spiritual gifts available today or did they cease after the original apostles died? In this interview, I talk to Dr. Sam Storms about his own personal experience with speaking in tongues, his biblical case for why gifts are available today, and how he makes room for them in his church services. Before delving in, I want to just clarify some quick vocabulary. You are going to hear two terms a lot, and I want to be sure you know what they mean. The first is cessationist. This is someone who believes spiritual gifts ceased with the death of the apostles. The other term is continuationist, which is someone who believes these manifestations continue right down to our own day. Dr. Sam Storms has a Ph. D. from the University of Texas and has pastored for about forty-five years in Texas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. He taught at Wheaton College for four years and now serves as the lead pastor of Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He&#8217;s the founder of Enjoying God Ministries and serves on the boards of Desiring God Ministries, Bethlehem College and Seminary, and Acts 29 Network. He&#8217;s the author of numerous published books and articles (see below). He describes himself as &#8220;an Amillennial, Calvinistic, charismatic, credo-baptistic, complementarian, Christian Hedonist who loves his wife of 47 years, his two daughters, his four grandchildren, books, baseball, movies, and all things Oklahoma University.&#8221; —— Books —— Language of Heaven: Crucial Questions about Speaking in Tongues by Sam Storms Understanding Spiritual Gifts: A Comprehensive Guide by Sam Storms (not yet released) Practicing the Power: Welcoming the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Your Life by Sam Storms Simply Spirit Filled by Andrew Gabriel —— Links —— Find out more about Enjoying God Ministries and Sam Storms at samstorms.org Check out the Bridgeway Church website Listen to David Bercot&#8217;s lecture, &#8220;What the Early Christians Believed about the Gifts of the Spirit&#8220; See more Restitutio resources on the holy spirit Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Today, we are publicly announcing the launch of a new para-church organization called the UCA or the Unitarian Christian Alliance. This is a new ministry that I&#8217;ve been working on with Dale Tuggy, Kegan Chandler, and Mark Cain for months and I believe it will help all of us, but especially those who don&#8217;t live near a church that allows for biblical unitarian members. Currently the UCA is a website and a conference, though we are hoping it will grow to be much more. The site is unitarianchristianalliance.org and it&#8217;s where you can register to be found by others looking for fellowship with one-God believers. The conference is slated for the Fall of 2020 in the Nashville, TN area. I&#8217;ll get you more details about that once we settle on a venue and a date. I hope that if you are a unitarian Christian&#8211;someone who believes the Father of Jesus is the only true God&#8211;you&#8217;ll sign up. It&#8217;s free and raising your hand to be counted will help others find you so that our scattered movement can coalesce into more home fellowships as well as brick-and-mortar churches.

This is part 6 of our Foreknowledge and Free Will series. Last time Dr. Sean Cole introduced the Calvinist understanding of God&#8217;s foreknowledge and the limitations on our freedom as a result of our fallen nature. This time I ask Cole about unconditional election and how that compares to a lottery. After all, if God has no conditions by which he decides whom he elects to salvation, then isn&#8217;t randomness all we have left? Also, I ask Cole to respond to a number of texts including John 3.16, 1 Timothy 2.4, 2 Peter 3.9, and Luke 7.30. —— Books —— Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility by D. A. Carson Excusing Sinners and Blaming God: A Calvinist Assessment of Determinism, Moral Responsibility, and Divine Involvement in Evil by Guillaume Bignon The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination by Loraine Boettner Whomever He Wills by Matthew Barrett and Thomas Nettles No Place for Sovereignty: Whats Wrong with Freewill Theism by R. K. McGregor Wright Chosen for Life: The Case of Divine Election by Sam Storms The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther —— Links —— See other episodes in this series on Foreknowledge and Free Will Understanding Christianity Podcast See more about Dr. Cole at seancole.net

This is part 5 of our Foreknowledge and Free Will series. We&#8217;ve considered Open Theism and Arminianism and now we are going to begin thinking about Calvinism. This way of conceiving of God&#8217;s foreknowledge argues for both exhaustive foreknowledge and meticulous providence. Thus, no one comes to Christ apart from God&#8217;s predestination since our natures are so corrupted that we do not have the ability to choose God. I&#8217;m happy to have Dr. Sean Cole as my guest today. He is the lead pastor at Emanuel Baptist Church in Sterling, Colorado. He is the host of a podcast called &#8220;Understanding Christianity&#8221; and he teaches Old Testament and New Testament theology as well as biblical interpretation as an adjunct instructor at Colorado Christian University. He has a Doctor of Ministry degree in expository preaching from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of Your Identity in the Trinity: Discovering God&#8217;s Grace in the Gospel, which came out last April. In this episode I ask Cole to share about his background and lay out a positive case for his view of foreknowledge and free will. —— Links —— See other episodes in this series on Foreknowledge and Free Will Understanding Christianity Podcast Check out Cole&#8217;s recent debate with Tuggy on the Trinity See more about Dr. Cole at seancole.net

This is part 4 of our Foreknowledge and Free Will series. Last time Dr. Leighton Flowers of the Soteriology101 podcast laid out his commitment to both God&#8217;s complete knowledge of all future events as well as humanity&#8217;s ability to freely choose. Rather than explaining philosophically how that is possible, he suggested that we do not need to know &#8220;how&#8221; God does something in order to believe &#8220;that&#8221; he does it. In this episode, I ask him about one more Calvinistic text, Romans 9, before delving into a number of Open Theism texts to get his exegesis of these interesting passages, including Genesis 6.5; Isaiah 5.3-7; Jeremiah 7.31; and Psalm 106.23. &nbsp; —— Books —— Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius on internet archive and on amazon Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis The Potter’s Promise by Leighton Flowers God’s Provision for All by Leighton Flowers —— Links —— See other episodes in this series on Foreknowledge and Free Will Soteriology101 Podcast: YouTube, RSS, Apple, Stitcher YouTube debate: Romans 9, James White vs. Leighton Flowers Purchase Flowers’ class, “Tiptoeing through TULIP,” a six-week study on the doctrines of human responsibility and God’s saving grace ($39) Check out the affirmations and denials about the provisionalist soteriology

We are now in part 3 of our Foreknowledge and Free Will series. We&#8217;ve considered Open Theism&#8211;the idea that God&#8217;s foreknowledge is limited to what he plans to do as well as what he can ascertain from past and present conditions. In a couple of weeks we&#8217;ll examine Calvinism, which holds that God not only foreknows but also predestines all who will be saved. But, for today, our focus is on the Arminian position. Today, I&#8217;m happy to have Dr. Leighton Flowers the host of the Soteriology101 a podcast that puts forward an Arminian understanding of salvation as well as responds to prominent Calvinist thinkers. Flowers is also the Director of Evangelism and Apologetics for Texas Baptists. He has authored two books, including The Potter&#8217;s Promise, which rebuffed the theology found in James White&#8217;s The Potters Freedom. More recently, he came out with God&#8217;s Provision for All, which sets out a positive case for provisionalism, an understanding of salvation that teaches everyone is free to choose to believe the gospel. Flowers earned his PhD from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary where his dissertation focused on the rise of Calvinism in the Southern Baptist Convention. In this episode, I ask Flowers to share about his background in Calvinism and how he changed his mind about it. We discuss his middle position that both affirms God&#8217;s exhaustive foreknowledge and our free will. Then we take a look at a couple of texts like Ephesians 1 and Romans 8 to hear his exegesis of them. —— Books —— The Potter&#8217;s Promise by Leighton Flowers God&#8217;s Provision for All by Leighton Flowers —— Links —— See other episodes in this series on Foreknowledge and Free Will Soteriology101 Podcast: YouTube, RSS, Apple, Stitcher YouTube debate: Romans 9, James White vs. Leighton Flowers Purchase Flowers&#8217; class, &#8220;Tiptoeing through TULIP,&#8221; a six-week study on the doctrines of human responsibility and God&#8217;s saving grace ($39) Check out the affirmations and denials about the provisionalist soteriology

Last week we began our Foreknowledge and Freewill series with Dr. Dale Tuggy who gave us an overview of the various positions. He also commended Open Theism as a view that triumphs where others suffer from logical contradictions. Now, today in part two, Tuggy will further explore and defend Open Theism against a number of common critiques including: If God doesn&#8217;t know the future, how can there be prophecy? Specifically, how could Jesus predict that Peter would deny him? Why do evangelicals generally look down on Open Theism? Isn&#8217;t Open Theism just Process Theology dressed up with some bible references? Doesn&#8217;t open theism posit a small God with limited knowledge? Additionally, we delve into how Open Theism deals with prayer, especially in light of Hezekiah&#8217;s prayer for healing. Now, I realize some of you listening are ardent Open Theists and some of you are not. Keep in mind that next week we are going to hear from Dr. Leighton Flowers on the Ariminian view and then Dr. Sean Cole is going to lay out the case for Calvinist compatabilism. My goal here is to expose you to multiple views so you can see all of the options laid out side by side. —— Books —— The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God by Clark Pinnock, Richard Rice, John Sanders, William Hasker, and David Basinger God of the Possible: A Biblical Introduction to the Open View of God by Gregory Boyd The God Who Risks: A Theology of Divine Providence by John Sanders Most Moved Mover: A Theology of God&#8217;s Openness by Clark Pinnock God, Time, and Knowledge by William Hasker —— Links —— See other episodes in this series on Foreknowledge and Free Will More about Dale Tuggy at Trinties.org Get his book, What Is the Trinity?, or read his article in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy about Trinity theories Listen to previous Restitutio podcasts with Tuggy here Check out <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt

Today we are beginning an exciting new series on one of the most interesting ongoing controversies within Christian theology. Does God have exhaustive foreknowledge of the future? Does he know everything that is going to happen before it happens? If so, what does that mean for human free will? What are the various options within Christian theology and philosophy that well-meaning bible students have taken over the years? Now, I&#8217;ve been working hard on getting competent representatives from various backgrounds so that you can hear the major options to chose from. As such, I&#8217;ve got interviews with an Open Theist, an Arminian, and a Calvinist, resulting in a six-part series on foreknowledge and freewill. To begin with Dr. Dale Tuggy will give us a lay of the land, going through seven different ways that Christian philosophers have understood divine foreknowledge and human free will. He makes the case that the notion of exhaustive foreknowledge makes libertarian free will impossible. After all, if we are unable to do other than what God knows we are going to do, then we don&#8217;t really have the freedom to chose, right? See what you think. Dr. Dale Tuggy served as Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Fredonia for 18 years. He has taught courses in analytic theology, philosophy of religion, religious studies, and the history of philosophy. Tuggy has a PhD from Brown University. He has authored about two dozen peer-reviewed articles and book chapters relating to the Trinity and other topics in analytic theology and philosophy of religion. —— Notes —— Options for Foreknowledge and Freewill God&#8217;s foreknowledge does not cause you to act, rather he foreknows something because you are going to do it (Origen) Divine Timelessness: God is timeless. He timelessly exists. Any kind of change is impossible for God. God is outside of time. His knowledge is timeless as well (Boethius, Thomas Aquinas) Middle knowledge. God knows all necessary truths (like 2 + 2 = 4). He also knows all contingent truths b/c he knows what people will freely choose in any circumstances. (Luis de Molina, William Lane Craig) Determinism, no libertarian free will (Calvinism) Your free will changes past facts and changes God&#8217;s knowledge. Causation occurs from the future to the past or from the present to eternity It&#8217;s a mystery. God knows what I&#8217;m going to do and yet in the moment, I could have chosen otherwise and have free will. (Arminianism) The future does not yet exist. God knows everything that can happen and everything in the past and present, and everyone&#8217;s inclinations, and everything that he has planned to do. (Open Theism) —— Links —— See other episodes in this series on Foreknowledge and Free Will Check out the 6 part Calvinism vs. Arminianism debate between Blake Cortright and Jacob Rohrer More about Dale Tuggy at Trinties.org Also check out these six episodes from the Trinities podcast about God and time: podcast 206 – Florian Fischer – A Slightly Opinionated Introduction to Philosophy of Time <a title="podcast 207 – Ryan Mullins – In Defense of Divine Temporality" href="https://trinities.org/blog/podcast-207-ryan-mullins-in-defense-of-divin

Gratitude is a key to spiritually healthy living. We have so many reasons to be thankful, but in this message, I&#8217;d like to focus on just five: Thankful because God Commanded It Thankful for the Basics Thankful for the Family of God Thankful for God’s Attention Thankful for the Cross As God&#8217;s people, our lives should not look just the same as the world. Rather, they should be marked by an enduring sense of gratitude. —— Links —— For more sermons from the team at Living Hope International Ministries, visit this YouTube channel Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

We&#8217;ve had quite a number of folks commenting in on episode 299, my interview with Dr. Jerry Wierwille, called &#8220;Does the Bible Support Abortion&#8220;. That episode was very limited to focusing on a couple of texts relevant to building a Christian perspective on abortion. Essentially, we concluded, as on several previous episodes, that abortion-on-demand doesn&#8217;t fit with the biblical worldview. However, this is just one aspect of what the bible teaches about bodies. In fact there is much more to say on the subject. So I thought it would be good this week to play out my presentation from a theological conference last year called, &#8220;Biblical Somatology.&#8221; My aim for this research project was to mine the scriptures for information on the body, both how we should think about our bodies as well as the boundaries God has placed on what we should and shouldn&#8217;t do with our bodies. Then by contrasting the biblical approach with our own social issues related to bodies and sexuality, we can glimpse just a small bit of how genius God&#8217;s boundaries are as well as how they unleash human flourishing. Now there is also a video version of this talk you can access as well as a much more comprehensive paper with all the references and footnotes in it. So I encourage you to check those out if you are interested. —— Links —— See my Biblical Somatology paper and the YouTube video More podcasts and posts related to God&#8217;s boundaries to enable human flourishing For the comments at the end of this episode see episode 299 Does the Bible Support Abortion with Jerry Wierwille For information about attending the 2020 Theological Conference, visit theologicalconference.org Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library