The Lydia McGrew Podcast

Lydia McGrew Podcast

The goal: To take common sense about the Bible and make it rigorous. I'm an analytic philosopher, specializing in theory of knowledge. I've published widely in both classical and formal epistemology. On this channel I'm applying my work in the theory of knowledge to the books of the Bible, especially the Gospels, and to apologetics, the defense of Christianity. My aim is to bring a combination of scholarly rigor and common sense to these topics, providing the skeptic with well-considered reasons to accept Christianity and the believer with well-argued ways to defend it.

  1. JAN 4

    Authorship of John, Part 4: Irenaeus and Ptolemy the Gnostic

    Did Irenaeus, or a mid-second-century compiler, invent the authorship of John to help oppose Gnosticism? Nope. Turns out, the debate with the Gnostics was over the interpretation of John, not its authorship.

    31 min

  2. 12/28/2025

    Authorship of John, Part 3: Papias?

    Everybody who's interested in the authorship of John would like to know what the early church father Papias said about the subject. But alas! We have no unquestionable statement from Papias about who wrote John. Though probably he did say something explicit, this is another illustration of the way that the chances and changes of this mortal life leave us missing a lot of things written in the ancient world. They just don't survive to our time.Here I survey the meager evidence on the question, "What did Papias say about the authorship of the 4th Gospel?" I give one ancient piece of evidence that is pretty direct--that it, it claims to be telling us what Papias actually said. But its reliability is genuinely questionable. And I give two indirect arguments, one (reasonable, but IMO not very strong) from Charles Hill and one (so weak as to be valueless) from Richard Bauckham.

    35 min

  3. 12/21/2025

    Merry Christmas! The Word Was Made Flesh

    A blessed Christmas to all my listeners and viewers. Here we pause in discussing authorship for a Christmas reflection: The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. John's Gospel emphasizes truth because literal truth is, in John's view, inherently bound up with the Incarnation of God. The true anachronism is not holding John to this literal, historical standard. The real anachronism is condescendingly imposing upon John a postmodern, fuzzy concept of truth.For more on the historicity of Christmas, see this playlist:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe1tMOs8ARn3za22QzE28xKqhTq5KvCB2

    8 min

  4. 12/14/2025

    Authorship of John Part 2: Our Earliest Evidence

    Here I talk about the earliest evidence we have about the authorship of John. as it happens, the author isn't named as "John" in this evidence, but it is still very valuable. It's very important to remember that "the earliest evidence that has come down to us" isn't "the earliest evidence that ever existed." Many ancient writings have simply been lost. See here for a discussion of Bart Ehrman's misuse of the term "anonymous." https://lydiaswebpage.blogspot.com/2015/07/on-bart-ehrman-and-authorship-of-gospels.htmlIf you want to hear me read my favorite Richard Bauckham quotation, which I allude to in the video, you can get that here:https://youtu.be/Ineqa_QL9aw?si=8ufEXQtIH4zDdq40&t=1091The Eye of the Beholder is available on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Eye-Beholder-Gospel-Historical-Reportage/dp/1947929151Or Logos users can get it here:https://www.logos.com/product/416637/the-eye-of-the-beholder-the-gospel-of-john-as-historical-reportage

    28 min

  5. 12/08/2025

    Authorship of John Part 1: Introduction

    Today begins a series on the authorship of the Fourth Gospel. In this introduction I explore what one might mean by authorship and what assumptions you shouldn't make when hearing that someone affirms traditional authorship. And just how important is authorship, anyway?Get more content on the Gospel of John in _The Eye of the Beholder: The Gospel of John as Historical Reportage_:https://www.amazon.com/Eye-Beholder-Gospel-Historical-Reportage/dp/1947929151The blog post on independence and the resurrection, which I mention at the beginning, is here:https://lydiaswebpage.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-resurrection-independence-and.htmlThumbnail: _Saint John and the Eagle_ by Vladamir Borovikovsky

    28 min

  6. 12/01/2025

    Examining Dale Allison's Arguments for "the appearance to the twelve"

    Recently Dr. William Lane Craig has claimed that what we "should be talking about" is how great it is that Dale Allison acknowledges "the appearance to the twelve" and Allison's arguments for it. Craig earnestly urges that we should accentuate the positive when it comes to Allison, emphasizing how very impressive it is that a person who thinks the Gospels have many legendary embellishment nonetheless acknowledges some of the central "facts" that Craig himself uses to argue for Jesus' bodily resurrection.https://content.blubrry.com/reasonable_faith/RF_PODCAST_Dale_Alliosn_on_Resurrection_2025.mp3?fbclid=IwY2xjawNnXMNleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFIdVphNUpRMHBXc3Nyd0J4AR6D--9gESoLXZeZ7Z4bfOIXHycoKgFFeUjw950BET6_-XgD-by2FuQadrftiA_aem_9VaaLpGJj1s-fHA0mNoXzAIn this video I take up Dr. Craig's suggestion that we be talking about Allison's arguments, but I take it in a very different direction from what Craig suggests. I argue that what Allison acknowledges as "the appearance to the twelve" is by his own conception so completely different from what Craig uses as a central fact that, if Allison were right, it would actually be evidence *against* Jesus' bodily resurrection, not for it. I also point out that his arguments show this same problem, to the point that it is just wrong to imply that he is admitting something against his own bias or that his acknowledgement points to the actual strength of the case. In fact, Craig's attempt to insist that we should all, like him, be deeply excited about Allison's acknowledgement points to the weaknesses of his own broadly minimalist approach (not just of a more specific "minimal facts" approach, which he disclaims).I have said more about my disagreements with Craig's "accentuate the positive" advice in this blog post: https://lydiaswebpage.blogspot.com/2025/10/on-maximalism-and-dale-allison-david.htmlThumbnail, Jesus Visits the Disciples in Locked Room Without Thomas © Drawn to the Word/Paul Oman Fine Art. All Rights Reserved.www.paulomanfineart.comUsed with permission

    1h 3m

  7. 12/01/2025

    Bereavement Apparitions 6: Not everybody can see him!

    Dale Allison admits that there are apparition accounts in which not everybody present can see the apparition. (Ya think?) But despite his insinuation that this has some connection with the "recurrent notice of doubt" in the Gospel accounts, this is actually a strong *dissimilarity* with the Gospel accounts, in which it is strongly implied that everybody present can see and interact with Jesus. And in Acts 1 we're told definitely that the earliest body of believers knew who had and hadn't seen Jesus after his resurrection and that they were thereby able to pick out Matthias and Joseph Barsabbas as candidates to replace Judas Iscariot and testify boldly to the resurrection.Thumbnail: Banquo's ghost at the feast as portrayed by the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. Photo by Joy Strotz.

    22 min

  8. 12/01/2025

    Bereavement Apparitions 5: Not with a bang but a whimper

    How do bereavement apparitions (assuming that they occur) typically end? *Not* with something like the ascension scene as described in Acts 1. Here again I'm investigating whether the bereavement apparition literature, even taken on its own terms, provides a good fit for what is *claimed* in the canonical Gospels and Acts. Dale Allison frequently implies or even states that there are significant parallels between these, but we see again and again that it isn't true. In this video I even describe a truly jaw-dropping eisegesis from Allison of Matthew 28:18.Thumbnail _The Ascension_, John Singleton Copley, public domain

    31 min
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About

The goal: To take common sense about the Bible and make it rigorous. I'm an analytic philosopher, specializing in theory of knowledge. I've published widely in both classical and formal epistemology. On this channel I'm applying my work in the theory of knowledge to the books of the Bible, especially the Gospels, and to apologetics, the defense of Christianity. My aim is to bring a combination of scholarly rigor and common sense to these topics, providing the skeptic with well-considered reasons to accept Christianity and the believer with well-argued ways to defend it.

Information

  • Creator
    Lydia McGrew Podcast
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    62
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Lydia McGrew Podcast
  • Show Website
    The Lydia McGrew Podcast