The Bible in a Year from Luther Seminary

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A weekly walk through all 66 books of the Bible, where you can discover more about Scripture and how it shapes our lives today.

  1. 4d ago

    26. The Verse on Dr. King's Wall, and the Book Most People Never Read

    In this book of Amos overview, hosts Kristofer Phan Coffman and Jennifer Wojciechowski welcome back Cory Driver, Director of Research at the Center for Life at Miami University and author of God, Gender and Family Trauma, to explore one of the Old Testament's most pointed minor prophets. Cory explains how Amos draws Israel in with a "tour of sinfulness" against their neighbors, building confidence and comfort, before turning that same judgment back on Israel itself. The conversation digs into prophecy as a window into God's emotional life: God's love, disappointment, and frustration, expressed through a farmer turned reluctant messenger. Cory and the hosts also explore the agricultural language that runs through Amos, Jeroboam II's prosperous but unjust reign, and the famous Amos 5:24, the verse Dr. King made iconic on the walls of his memorial. They draw a surprising connection between Amos and the prophet Jonah, two prophets sent to people who weren't their own, with very different responses.

    21 min

  2. Jun 24

    25. The Day of the Lord: What Joel and Obadiah Teach About Judgment and Hope

    The Day of the Lord connects two of the Bible's shortest and least familiar prophetic books. In this episode, Dr. Kathryn Schifferdecker and Katie Langston welcome Dr. Tyler Mayfield to explore Joel and Obadiah. Joel reads a catastrophic locust plague as a sign from God, calling the people to lament and repent before delivering a tender promise of restoration and a vision of a far-off day of divine judgment. It is the same passage about God pouring out the Spirit on all flesh that the book of Acts would later draw upon. Obadiah turns its gaze toward Edom, the sibling nation whose story reaches back to Jacob and Esau and whose betrayal after the fall of Jerusalem turned the people's lament into righteous anger. Dr. Mayfield helps us see how both books wrestle with judgment, hope, and the very human desire for vengeance, and why the Day of the Lord ultimately points toward God's longing to set things right. Father Abraham’s Many Children

    31 min

  3. Jun 17

    24. What the Book of Hosea Reveals About the Heart of God

    What is the Book of Hosea really about? In this episode, Old Testament scholar Dr. Brad Kelle joins hosts Katie Langston and Dr. Kathryn Schifferdecker to get the book of Hosea explained from the ground up. Dr. Kelle walks listeners through the book's three major sections, the famous and often misread story of Hosea and Gomer, and why the rich web of metaphors at the heart of this prophetic book points to something far bigger than one man's unusual marriage. Set against the backdrop of rising Assyrian imperialism and communal trauma in the eighth-century northern kingdom of Israel, Hosea's message is ultimately about identity, faithfulness, and what it means to be the people of God under pressure. The conversation moves through Hosea's Bible Bingo words, including metaphor, marriage and family, the Exodus tradition, politics, and divine love, before landing on the book's breathtaking arc from human unfaithfulness to the transforming love of God. Dr. Kelle highlights key passages including Hosea 6:6, the stunning parent-child portrait of God in chapter 11, and the promise of healing and new future in chapter 14. Whether you are reading Hosea for the first time or returning to it with fresh eyes, this episode offers three guiding questions that will open the book in a whole new way. The Bible and Moral Injury: Reading Scripture Alongside War's Unseen Wounds by Brad KelleTelling the Old Testament Story: God's Mission and God's People by Brad KelleEzekiel: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition (New Beacon Bible Commentary) by Brad Kelle

    35 min

  4. Jun 10

    23. Monsters, Empires, and Gallows Humor: The Book of Daniel You Never Knew

    The Book of Daniel is one of the strangest, funniest, and most hope-filled books in the Old Testament, and in this episode, Dr. Michael Chan helps us see why. Joining hosts Katie Langston and Dr. Kathryn Schifferdecker, Dr. Chan walks us through Daniel's two distinct halves: court tales of Jewish exiles navigating life under foreign kings in Babylon, and apocalyptic visions that pull back the curtain on the cosmic forces shaping human history. Along the way, he unpacks surprising details about Daniel and his friends, including the very real possibility that they were eunuchs, the significance of Daniel's Babylonian name Belteshazzar, and what it meant to live a dual identity under an empire that was not your own. Dr. Chan also explores the Daniel Old Testament themes that make this book so theologically rich: the earliest clear expression of resurrection theology in scripture, the connection between Antiochus Epiphanes' persecution and the Maccabean revolt, and why apocalyptic literature uses monsters and cosmic imagery to critique empire. Most of all, this conversation surfaces the two themes Dr. Chan sees at the heart of Daniel: hope and humor, traveling together as a kind of Trojan horse for people living under cruelty and disempowerment. If Daniel has always seemed like a Sunday school book to you, this episode will change your mind.

    24 min

  5. Jun 3

    22. The Bible Book So Intense, Rabbis Said You Had to Be 40 to Read It

    The Old Testament book, Ezekiel, is one of the strangest, most visionary, and most hope-filled books in all of scripture, and in this episode of Bible in a Year, we get a scholar's guide to its depths. Dr. Kathryn Schifferdecker and Jenny Wojciechowski are joined by Professor Stephen Cook, the Katherine N. McBurney Professor of Old Testament Language and Literature at Virginia Theological Seminary, for a rich conversation about wheels within wheels, the glory of the Lord, and what it means that God showed up in Babylon of all places. From the Valley of Dry Bones to the temple's stream of living water, Professor Cook traces the thread of hope running through a book that is often dismissed as dark or difficult. Ezekiel's vision of a new heart, a new spirit, and a God who is mobile enough to meet us anywhere offers a powerful word for anyone who has ever felt like the world is crumbling underfoot. Tune in and discover why holiness is stronger than exile, chaos, and death.

    31 min

  6. May 27

    21. The Most Honest Book in the Bible Nobody Talks About

    The Book of Lamentations is one of the lesser-known books of the Hebrew Bible, but it may be one of the most honest. In this episode of the Bible in a Year podcast, Dr. Cameron Howard, Professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary, joins hosts Dr. Kathryn Schifferdecker and Kristofer Phan Coffman to explore this Lamentations Bible book — a collection of five lament poems set against the devastation of Jerusalem's siege and destruction by Babylon in 586 BCE. Dr. Howard unpacks the book's striking acrostic structure, its shifting voices, and the way its poetry reaches for language to describe suffering that almost defies description. More than a historical document, Lamentations raises questions that still resonate today: Is God present in suffering? Has God abandoned us? Dr. Howard explores the theological significance of a book that gives voice to grief, anger, and doubt — and explains why a tradition that includes shaking a fist at God is actually powerful evidence of a God who is not a tyrant. Whether you are new to the Lamentations Bible book or returning to it with fresh eyes, this conversation offers a thoughtful and moving guide to one of Scripture's most profound and underappreciated voices.

    19 min

  7. May 20

    Jeremiah: The Prophet Who Accused God and Kept Going

    What made Jeremiah the most radical prophet in the Hebrew Bible? In this episode of Bible in a Year, Dr. Kathryn Schifferdecker and Jennie Wojciechowski welcome Dr. Marvin A. Sweeney, professor of Hebrew Bible at the Claremont School of Theology, for a Jeremiah Bible commentary that spans the full depth of this extraordinary book. Dr. Sweeney unpacks Jeremiah's identity as a prophet in the tradition of Moses, his priestly outsider status, the themes of exile and return, and the striking fact that two major versions of the Book of Jeremiah exist in the Christian canon with meaningfully different views of the Davidic covenant. Dr. Sweeney also brings Jeremiah's raw, unfiltered laments to life, including the famous passage where Jeremiah accuses God of betrayal while still refusing to abandon his faith. It's a portrait of a prophet who faced national disaster, persecution, and profound suffering and kept speaking anyway. Whether you're a first-time reader or a seasoned student of scripture, this conversation offers fresh insight into why the Book of Jeremiah remains one of the most urgent and human books in the entire Bible.

    36 min

  8. May 13

    19. Why Some Scholars Call Isaiah the "Fifth Gospel"

    The Book of Isaiah is one of the most sweeping, complex, and consequential books in the entire Old Testament, and in this episode, Dr. Kathryn Schifferdecker and Katie Langston sit down with Old Testament scholar Dr. Michael Chan for a summary of the Book of Isaiah that brings it to life. Dr. Chan explains how Isaiah grew over centuries across three major historical horizons: the Assyrian period, the Babylonian exile, and the Persian period, shaped by generations of scribes writing in Isaiah's name. From the famous "voice crying in the wilderness" in chapter 40 to the haunting Suffering Servant passage in Isaiah 52-53, this conversation covers the key themes, people, and moments that make Isaiah so remarkable. Dr. Chan also makes the case that you simply cannot understand Christian theology, or Jesus' own self-understanding, without reading the Book of Isaiah. Called by some "the fifth gospel," Isaiah's fingerprints are all over the New Testament, from Advent texts to Handel's Messiah. Whether you're a first-time reader or a seasoned Bible student, this episode will help you approach Isaiah's dense Hebrew poetry with patience, curiosity, and a capable guide alongside you.

    26 min
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A weekly walk through all 66 books of the Bible, where you can discover more about Scripture and how it shapes our lives today.

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