Tyndale House Podcast Tyndale House, Cambridge

In this second series Dr Andrew Ollerton meets with academics and researchers from the Tyndale House network to discuss how they approach the Old Testament and wrestle with its trickier passages. Each episode focuses in on a different text from the Old Testament, as we explore the reading processes and practices that researchers bring to their own Bible reading.

In this episode Dr Andrew Ollerton is joined by Dr Peter J Williams to look at strangeness and stories in the Old Testament, and to ask: how do we take it seriously? Andrew and Peter discuss talking animals, miraculous events, the bizarre breeding program we find in Genesis 30 and how we might become confident readers of the Old Testament, even in its stranger parts.

Please note that this episode does include a very brief discussion of sexual violence.

Dr Peter J Williams is Principal of Tyndale House and a member of the Faculty of Divinity in the University of Cambridge. He received his MA, MPhil and PhD, in the study of ancient languages related to the Bible from Cambridge University. He’s currently Chair of the International Greek New Testament Project and a Member of the Translation Committee of the English Standard Version of the Bible. He is the author of Can We Trust the Gospels? and The Surprising Genius of Jesus, both published by Crossway.
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This episode is a re-release from the Trusting the Bible podcast which was a collaboration between Tyndale House, Cambridge @Tyndale_House and the Bible Society @biblesociety in 2022.
Edited by Tyndale House 
Music – Acoustic Happy Background used with a standard license from Adobe Stock.
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In this episode Dr Andrew Ollerton is joined by Dr Ros Clarke to talk about how we read poetry and allegory in the Old Testament. We focus in on Chapter 5 of the Song of Songs as Ros helps us to unpack some of the richness and beauty of Old Testament poetry. 
Please note that this episode does include discussion of sexual violence. 
Reading list:
Forty Women: Unseen women of the Bible from Eden to Easter (IVP,  2021)
Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins 
Dr Ros Clarke is a Christian teacher, speaker and writer. Since 2017 she has been employed as the Associate Director of Church Society where her responsibilities include editing Crossway, their quarterly magazine, and producing their weekly podcast. Prior to that she worked for the Diocese of Lichfield as the first Online Pastor in the Church of England. She holds theology degrees from Oak Hill College and Highland Theological College. Her PhD thesis was on canonical interpretations of the Song of Songs, and she is particularly passionate about helping Christians to read and understand the Old Testament.

This episode is a re-release from the Trusting the Bible podcast which was a collaboration between Tyndale House, Cambridge @Tyndale_House and the Bible Society @biblesociety in 2022.

Edited by Tyndale House 
Music – Acoustic Happy Background used with a standard license from Adobe Stock.
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In this episode Dr Andrew Ollerton is joined by Dr Daniel Block to look at Old Testament law and instruction. This episode’s text is Deuteronomy Chapter 27 and the instruction to set up the stones on Mount Ebal, as Daniel demonstrates how even after 50 years of study the biblical text might still have surprises for us.

Dr Daniel Block is Gunther Knoedler Professor Emeritus of Old Testament, Wheaton College. His scholarly work focuses on the books of Deuteronomy, Judges, Ruth, and Ezekiel. Dr Block studied for his DPhil at Liverpool University. He has written numerous scholarly articles and reference works and served as a senior translator for the New Living Translation. His books include The Gods of the Nations: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Theology and The Gospel according to Moses: Theological and Ethical Reflections on the Book of Deuteronomy.


Reading list:
Covenant: The Framework of God’s Plan for Redemption (Baker Academic, 2021)
Daniel I. Block, "'What Do These Stones Mean?' The Riddle Of Deuteronomy 27," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 56.1 (March 2013): 17-41

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This episode is a re-release from the Trusting the Bible podcast which was a collaboration between Tyndale House, Cambridge @Tyndale_House and the Bible Society @biblesociety in 2022.

Edited by Tyndale House 
Music – Acoustic Happy Background used with a standard license from Adobe Stock.
Support the Show.

In this episode Dr Andrew Ollerton is joined by the Revd Dr Helen Paynter to look at horror and violence in the Old Testament. Helen walks us through one of the Old Testament’s “Texts of Terror”—the notorious 19th chapter of the book of Judges and explores how we can bring humility and empathy to the way we read the Bible. 

Content note: Please note this episode contains extended discussion about sexual violence in the Old Testament narrative.
Reading list: 
God of Violence Yesterday, God of Love Today?  by Helen Paynter (The Bible Reading Fellowship, 2019)The Lost World of the Israelite Conquest: Covenant, Retribution, and the Fate of the Canaanites by John H. Walton and J. Harvey Walton (IVP US , 2017)Did God Really Command Genocide? Coming to Terms with the Justice of God by Paul Copan and Matt Flannagan (Baker Books, 2014)Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric? Wrestling with Troubling War Texts by William J. Webb and Gordon K. Oeste (IVP US, 2019)Telling Terror in Judges 19: Rape and Reparation for the Levite’s wife by Helen Paynter (Routledge, 2020)The Revd Dr Helen Paynter is a Baptist Minister and the Director of Bristol Baptist College’s Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence. Helen has a Masters in Missional Church Leadership, another Masters in Biblical Studies, and a PhD in Old Testament. Her main research interests are in the narrative portions of the Hebrew Bible. 

This episode is a re-release from the Trusting the Bible podcast which was a collaboration between Tyndale House, Cambridge @Tyndale_House and the Bible Society @biblesociety in 2022.

Edited by Tyndale House 
Music – Acoustic Happy Background used with a standard license from Adobe Stock.
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In this episode Dr Andrew Ollerton is joined by James Bejon to talk about lists, names and genealogies in the Old Testament. Andrew and James take a look at Judges chapters 10 and 12 to talk about messy families, the significance of Biblical names, and to ask: How do we make sense of the Old Testament, particularly in the more unexciting moments?

James Bejon is a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge. Following careers in both music and financial maths, James has now moved into Biblical research. He is currently writing a thesis on the semantic content of Biblical names and their parallels outside of the Bible. James has a particular interest in the canonical study of Scripture - in the fact that the Bible is an organic and highly interconnected text which finds its fulfilment in the person and work of Jesus.

This episode is a re-release from the Trusting the Bible podcast which was a collaboration between Tyndale House, Cambridge @Tyndale_House and the Bible Society @biblesociety in 2022.

Edited by Tyndale House 
Music – Acoustic Happy Background used with a standard license from Adobe Stock.
Support the Show.

In this episode Dr Andrew Ollerton and Dr Peter J Williams discuss how we gauge trustworthiness in everyday life and how we approach the question of the credibility of the four Gospels.

Dr Peter J Williams is Principal of Tyndale House. He received his PhD in the study of ancient languages related to the Bible from Cambridge University. His 2018 book, Can We Trust the Gospels?, examines evidence from non-Christian sources to assess the trustworthiness of the four biblical accounts of Jesus’s earthly life. 
This episode is a re-release from the Trusting the Bible podcast which was a collaboration between Tyndale House, Cambridge @Tyndale_House and the Bible Society @biblesociety in 2020.
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