Episodes

Continuing the discussion about the embodied image of God, Joshua Sherman and I talk about the ancient Near East context of the image and also ethical and philosophical implications of it.  Is the image ontological or is it functional?  It is a noun or is a verb--or can we see it as both? Carmen Joy Imes, Being God’s Image: https://www.amazon.com/Being-Gods-Image-Creation-Matters-ebook/dp/B0BLD43TVC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1683274732&sr=8-1 Catherine L McDowell, The Image of God in the Garden of Eden: https://www.amazon.com/Image-God-Garden-Eden-Mesopotamia/dp/1575063484/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2BYFYZ7X527M2&keywords=the+image+of+god+in+the+garden+of+eden&qid=1683274768&sprefix=the+image+of+god+in+the%2Caps%2C196&sr=8-1&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.006c50ae-5d4c-4777-9bc0-4513d670b6bc Rene Girard, I See Satan Fall Like Lightning: https://www.amazon.com/See-Satan-Fall-Like-Lightning-ebook/dp/B008KO4MGG/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1683274831&sr=8-1 Bonus material: http…

Discussing the concept of curses in the ancient world, exploring some of the ways we see them in the Bible, looking at their impact through the NT, and seeding a few questions along the way for further exploration. Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesismarksthespot Faith Unaltered: https://www.youtube.com/@FaithUnaltered Myths, Mysteries, and Majesty: https://www.youtube.com/@3mmm777 Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/ Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

What is the “documentary hypothesis”? Also known as the four-source hypothesis, or JEDP, is there any good basis for this theory of higher criticism? These are questions we look at, ending up focusing on some of the “priestly” texts of the Bible. Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesismarksthespot Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/ Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

How did I go from strong LDS belief to believing in Christianity as formulated in biblical theology? This is my story and a little bit of exposition as to what I think it all means. Do you know what faith is? What is “believing loyalty,” anyway? Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesismarksthespot Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/ Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

Continuing with the series on the image of God, in this episode I talk to Joshua Sherman about the important aspect of the image being embodied in both Christ as well as in us as individual humans and the church as the body of Christ. Book recommendations:Bearing God’s Name by Carmen Imes https://www.amazon.com/Bearing-Gods-Name-Sinai-Matters/dp/0830852697/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1680889175&sr=8-1 Being God’s Image by Carmen Imes https://www.amazon.com/Being-Gods-Image-Creation-Matters/dp/1514000202/ref=sr_1_2?crid=342N6UTNAJ78&keywords=bearing+god's+name&qid=1680889225&sprefix=bearing+god's+name%2Caps%2C347&sr=8-2 Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesismarksthespot Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/ Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel…

The theme of the cosmic temple is a popular one in the halls of biblical theology—how solid of an idea is it, though? Here we are going to talk about temples, including touching on the purposes of the temple in LDS theology to compare that with the temple in the Bible, and I’m going to discuss Daniel Block’s pushback on this idea that Eden can be seen as a temple. Bible Project videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTnq6I3vUbU&ab_channel=BibleProject https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K60TAYja110&ab_channel=BibleProject https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy2AQlK6C5k&ab_channel=BibleProject Recommended reading: Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord? (Michael Morales) https://www.amazon.com/Who-Shall-Ascend-Mountain-Lord/dp/0830826386/ref=sr_1_1?crid=G8P5K79AUZ78&keywords=who+shall+ascend+the+mountain+of+the+lord&qid=1680146486&sprefix=who+shall%2Caps%2C282&sr=8-1 The Temple and the Church’s Mission (GK Beale) https://www.amazon.com/Temple-Churchs-Mission-Biblical-Theology/dp/08308…

Exploring two views of creation: the analogical view (the days of creation are analogically similar to the workweek of the Israelite, but the days are not necessarily 24-hour days) and the literary view (Genesis 1 is literarily designed to give us theological truth). Both of these views ask the question, “What is Genesis 1 supposed to teach us?” The episode concludes with the question of how to date Genesis--are there enough literary clues in the text to help us figure that out? (Stay tuned for further episodes exploring this question!) Livestream mentioned in the intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6BEmtxsomE&t=1963s&ab_channel=FaithUnaltered Regarding the translation of Genesis 1:1: Deep dive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op4BJmLi3f8&ab_channel=HaibaneXIII Shorter dive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7looT8fo0gk&ab_channel=BiblicalLanguages%26Literature Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.faceboo…

Discussion with Jon Dillon (of the Two Trees Podcast) centered on the theme of trees, fruitfulness, and multiplication. What does it mean to be fruitful? Why trees? Is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil a “bad” tree? Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesismarksthespot Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/ Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

Our first Q&A! Timestamps: (1:11) - What do we do when we grew up Christian, or have been in a particular Christian tradition or church for a while, and…we start thinking in terms of biblical theology, of studying the Bible in its ancient context? (18:00) - In college years ago, I heard about the idea that the Israelite’s religion evolved from polytheism to monotheism. It looks to me like you’d disagree with this, but the professor made it seem like such a sensible idea, and when I look at all this parallel literature, I really can see a point there, so maybe could you talk about that? (38:56) - How do I find good resources? And how can I judge a resource well so that I am not wasting my time? (48:48) - Do you reject young earth creationism? (50:30) - If you reject young earth creationism, are you sold on old earth creationism? (51:21) - If the gods of the nations are real, if God gave them authority, and if Christ defeated them, then…why doesn’t it seem like they’re defeated? Why are…

Joshua Sherman joins the podcast to talk about the image of Christ.  We discuss how we can trace the image of God through the Bible forward into its ultimate picture in the incarnation of Jesus and how we ought to think of both the image of God and the image of Christ in relationship to who we are and how we live our lives. “You are called to this purpose because of who God created you to be. And we're inviting you to live into that through Christ because he is the one that makes it possible.” —Joshua Sherman Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesismarksthespot Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/ Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

This episode takes a bit of a diversion from biblical theology into the question of “What is the image of God?” Does God have a physical aspect that we copy (could the LDS church be right about us becoming gods)? Is the image of God proof against evolution? Is the image of God the soul of man? What about relationality or rationality or consciousness or morality, are any of those the image of God? Is the image of God a status or a function? Main podcast site with bonus files: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/ Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

Several views of creation are introduced and in particular John Walton’s “functional” or “identity” view of creation is discussed. We look at how that fits into the Bible and explore whether or not this is the likeliest way the ancient person would have thought regarding the creation of the cosmos by looking at some ancient Near Eastern creation accounts. Main podcast site with bonus files: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/ Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

Who is Graham Hancock and is his Netflix show, Ancient Apocalypse supposed to mirror the History Channel show, Ancient Aliens? Do his ideas have any basis in reality or the Bible? What does his work have to do with the study of the ancient Near East? And who are the apkallu and why should we care? These questions and more will be discussed in this episode of Genesis Marks the Spot. Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesismarksthespot Piri Reis Map: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piri_Reis_map#/media/File:Piri_reis_world_map_01.jpg Piri Reis Map (Fringepop 321, YT):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCoivJ1wOgs&ab_channel=FringePop321 On the Origin of the Watchers: https://www.academia.edu/4570714/On_the_Origin_of_Watchers_A_Comparative_Study_of_the_Antediluvian_Wisdom_in_Mesopotamian_and_Jewish_Traditions Refuting Hancock with real data: https://drmsh.com/graham-hancock-bad-archaeolog…

Reading ancient literature can help us understand the Bible.  Following on from the conversation in episode 7 about how to read myth in relation to the Bible, this episode includes a reading of the Babylonian creation account known as Enuma Elish. A bonus question at the beginning of the episode: did God really only have 70 “sons of God”? Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesismarksthespot Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/ Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

What is mythology and why should the student of the Bible be interested in it? Isn’t mythology just a bunch of made up stories? Or, can mythology actually relate directly to history? In this episode, the concept of mythology is explored along with the field of form criticism, which is a fancy of way of talking about genre. As life-long listeners of stories, we are all capable of looking at a text and finding cues which tell us what kind of a story we are reading or hearing and we can use this information to study Scripture.  However, we need to be aware that genres change over time and what is "history" is not the same from era to era. Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesismarksthespot Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/ Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_cha…

Did the Bible steal all its ideas from its neighbors? Was Israelite religion merely an off-shoot of Canaanite religion? How do we understand ancient literature that is similar to the Bible? These questions and more are explored, focusing in on how the Bible describes God having a divine council that seems in some respects eerily similar to pagan pantheons. Have a listen to find out how we can read the Bible and pagan literature and reach an even higher understanding of who God is than we might have had previously.Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesismarksthespot Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/ Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

As Christians, we may have a difficult time in seeing the connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament and early Christian belief, especially when it comes to understanding the divinity of Christ. How would a Jew of the first century understand a man living amongst them as God? Many Christians have understood appearances of YHWH in the Old Testament as Jesus pre-incarnate, but surely Jews would not have understood these in the same way—would they? As a matter of fact, a Jewish belief in a binitarian godhead did exist at the time of Jesus and only later, when Christianity became popular, was this belief labeled a heresy.Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesismarksthespotMusic credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/ Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=W…

Most Christians have an image of the heavenly realm that contains more than just God. We believe in angels and we might even have an idea that there are strange creatures with a lot of eyes and wings and heads...well, once we get that far, maybe we get a little freaked out so we stop looking too closely. But the inhabitants of the spiritual realm are no small part of the Bible’s narrative, and once we start looking, we find that there may be more to this than mere abstract knowledge; it may, in ...

Who is Jonathan Cahn and what is the “explosive mystery” that he reveals in his book The Return of the Gods? Though he suggests that you need to read the entire book to uncover the mystery because it can’t be pared down to a short description, I actually found it quite easy to summarize the mystery…and I’m not even going to make you listen to this whole episode to “reveal” it. (Stop reading here if you like anticipation and want to keep the suspense of my reveal inside the episode!) Cahn claims that the New Testament describes the demonic possession of civilization just as it describes individual demonic possession... and western civilization—America in particular—is now being “repossessed.” (dramatic music here) The question now is, does he have a legitimate, scriptural case to make for this claim? Not gonna make you wait for that answer, either. No, he does does not, and you can listen to this episode to find out how he defends his claim and how his claim is not the same as the…

How do we understand the days of creation in Genesis 1? That question can only be answered after exploring what the Bible is and how it is a book written by ancient people in a specific time and place. The Bible, science, cosmic temples, a flat earth, and would an ancient person have used a DeLorean to look back at the creation of the world? All this and more in this episode of Genesis Marks the Spot. Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesismarksthespot Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/ Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q&ab_channel=Wintergatan

An introduction to the show, discussing why critical thinking is essential to our pursuit of the study of the Bible and how questioning our assumptions about the text doesn’t need to break our faith. A “scientific” reading of Genesis chapter one is compared and contrasted with a more contextual reading.Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan

A brief introduction to the podcast's focus.