The Bible For Normal People

Hold onto your thinking cap, because this episode of The Bible for Normal People is going to get really, really nerdy. Pete and Jared are joined by psychologist, professor, and priest Jonathan Jong to talk about the psychology of religious experiences, how scientists approach truth, and how engaging the Bible is an inherently communal experience. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Rev. Dr. Angela N. Parker joins Pete and Jared to talk about the impact of white supremacy in the field of biblical interpretation, whether we can truly read the Bible objectively, and how a womanist interpretation of the Bible can lead to liberation for all. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete and Jared unpack the centrality of the monarchy in the Hebrew Bible, the function of monarchy within the biblical narrative arc, and how not every story or book of the Bible is meant to be used as a devotional for our modern times. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Jared and Pete talk with Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg about the practice of repentance and the pursuit of repair in Judaism based on five steps from the medieval philosopher Maimonides. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Amanda Held Opelt joins Pete and Jared to talk about how her faith was impacted by her own experience with grief, and how rituals of mourning practiced by other cultures throughout history can encourage Christians to make room for grief, pain, and suffering within the church and their own lives. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Get your calculators ready…in this episode of The Bible for Normal People Podcast, Pete explores the book of Numbers in all its numerical and narrative glory—census lists, marches around the tabernacle, geopolitics, and even a talking donkey. What’s not to love? Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People Podcast, Pete and Jared talk with David P. Gushee about the role of the Bible in Christian ethics and how those ethics can guide our morality as global citizens in a modern world. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Dr. Sidnie White Crawford joins Pete and Jared to discuss the most important manuscript find in Hebrew Bible studies and how it impacts the New Testament. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People Podcast, Jared Byas concludes his four-part series exploring the shortcomings of evangelicalism’s ties to the modern mindset and how leaving the modern mindset behind can help us live out a more authentic faith. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, David Farrier joins Pete and Jared to discuss what he has uncovered while researching the downward spiral of megachurches. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Does the Bible address modern moral questions? In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete and Jared dive into a discussion on the uniquely modern tension between an ancient text and modern ethics. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Dale Allison joins Pete and Jared to discuss historical criticism and the resurrection. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Amy Kenny joins Pete and Jared to discuss what we have been taught about disability and invites us to reconsider how we think about disability being portrayed in Scripture. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We almost named this episode of The Bible for Normal People “Pete Rescues Leviticus,” because for most of you, Leviticus is ruined already. Not easily deterred, Pete Enns dives right in and helps us wrap our heads around what Leviticus is saying about God. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Andre Henry joins Pete and Jared to discuss the cultural and theological underpinnings of systemic racism in the church. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Jeff Chu joins Pete and Jared to discuss what the Bible has to say about grief and what grief looks like as a personal, communal, and spiritual practice. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How are faith and nature interwoven? In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Debra Rienstra joins Pete and Jared to discuss the value of the created world in scripture and what it looks like to care for the earth properly. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete and Jared celebrate their two-hundredth episode by discussing why the Bible still matters, looking at the Bible as a book of wisdom, and approaching the Bible without being an expert. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Becca Stevens joins Pete and Jared to share how the embodiment of faith can be an engine toward great good in the world. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Anna Sieges joins Pete and Jared to elaborate on the benefits of viewing the Minor Prophets as a literary whole. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People Podcast, Jared Byas explores how fundamentalist evangelicalism has bought into the modern mindset in some important ways, while condemning it in other ways. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Chris Hoklotubbe joins Pete and Jared to discuss the concept of the trickster, the value of learning from nature, and what a few biblical stories look like through an Indigenous lens. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How does the Bible interact with history? In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Gary Rendsburg joins Pete and Jared to discuss how history, epic, and theology are interwoven to create the biblical narrative. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete works through some common issues that make it hard to stay Christian and shares a few personal reasons why he stays Christian anyway. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People Podcast, Lisa Sharon Harper joins Pete and Jared to discuss the impact that colonization and enslavement had on Scripture and how to begin the humble business of decolonizing our faith. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What parts of our faith are worth holding onto? In this episode of The Bible for Normal People Podcast, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry joins Pete and Jared to discuss ways to think differently about scripture and the importance of keeping love at the center of your being. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Pete & Jared discuss the inevitability of reading our own context into the Bible and how reading the Bible creatively can help connect it to our own universe. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Austin Channing Brown joins Pete and Jared to discuss her experience within various faith traditions and the importance of the Bible, sermons, and community within the Black church. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why is the adjustment of beliefs based on experience often misunderstood or even maligned? In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete Enns explores how our formational experiences are not the enemy of faith and that making adjustments to our beliefs based on experience is a normal part of the spiritual journey. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Isn’t Acts just about the founding of the church? In this episode, Willie James Jennings joins Pete and Jared to discuss how the book of Acts reconstitutes what it means to be the people of God. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Kirsten Powers joins Pete and Jared to discuss toxic public discourse, non-dualistic thinking, and a look at how grace might hold a different meaning than we previously imagined. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Jared Byas explores the impact of reason and rationalism as he continues his deep dive into the origins of the modern mindset. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Randy Woodley joins Pete and Jared to discuss the impact of dualistic thinking on theology and how Jesus can be accessed outside of scripture. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What comes to mind when you think about monsters? In this episode, Heather Macumber joins Pete and Jared to discuss monster theory and how monsters are more prevalent in scripture than most people realize. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week’s episode, Jennifer Bashaw joins Pete and Jared to discuss how various atonement theories attempt to explain Jesus’s death. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Can Christianity and evolution coexist? In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete and Jared discuss a path forward for Christians who accept evolution and want to take the Bible seriously. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week’s episode, Kate Bowler joins Pete and Jared to discuss how suffering can cause us to adjust what we think God is like and how harmful the prosperity gospel can be. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The book of Revelation is just plain weird. For this episode, Pete and Jared sit down with Brian K. Blount to discuss how to read and understand the book of Revelation. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode, Pete and Jared sit down with Paul Deal to discuss the intersection of mental health, psychology, and faith. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of the Bible for Normal People, Pete Enns continues his habit of ruining things for everyone. Today’s topic is the book of Isaiah, and Pete shares five fun facts that biblical scholars like to talk about that will ruin your life—probably not. We’ll see. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For this episode, Pete and Jared are joined by Obery M. Hendricks, Jr., who walks us through pervasive biblical evidence for social justice. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For this episode, Jared Byas takes a deep dive into the origins of the modern mindset and how understanding our own context impacts our study of the Bible. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Pete and Jared sit down with Jodi Magness to discuss what archaeology can teach us about Jesus in his Jewish context. And also - quiches, frittatas, and toilets. Oh my! Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete and Jared sit down with Brian McLaren to discuss stages of faith, the prevalence of doubt, and what paths to faith after doubt might look like. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Can biblical interpretation have an ethical impact? Our guest this week, Cheryl B. Anderson, combines her background as a practicing attorney with her Ph.D. in Biblical studies to create a compelling discussion on ethics, law, and how we read our Bible. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Pete looks at Genesis from an angle we’re guessing will be new to many of you. We’re going to focus on the big picture. What is Genesis as a whole about? For what purpose was it written? What is it doing? Those are the big questions we’re going after. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The word of the day is "complicated" and the nerd-o-meter is set to the max. Join us on this week's episode as Pete & Jared explore the messiness of history and the origins of Yahweh with Dr. Ted Lewis. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Where did white Evangelical support for men like Donald Trump come from? Pete & Jared sit down with Kristin Kobes Du Mez to discuss toxic patterns of masculinity and patriarchy that have surfaced over the past seventy years in the white Evangelical church. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What do you do when you notice something in the Bible that doesn’t pass the muster of historical research? In this episode, Pete & Jared discuss the problem of history found within the pages of the Bible and the implications of history on Christian life and faith. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this reissued episode, Pete & Jared converse with Xavier Pickett about ways in which the Bible and the church have been shaped by hundreds of years of systemic racism and white privilege. Show Notes → Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices