All Episodes
Don’t Be Lame
When Mary proclaims the Lord’s help toward his servant Israel, it’s easy to reduce her prayer to yet another platitude about mercy from our perspective, elevating Isra...
Just Burp
This week, Fr. Paul continues his discussion of Exodus, stressing the importance of submitting to and not circumscribing the biblical text. (Episode 235)
It’s Just News
The difficult teaching of Ecclesiastes warns us that all people share the same fate. This wisdom is pervasive in Scripture, from the violent imagery found in Deuterono...
Either/Or
This week, Fr. Paul stresses that in Hebrew and Greek the word house reflects the meaning of both house and household. (Episode 234)
Mercy and Fear
Having established that God—not herself—is her only reference, Mary moves to the next logical step from Scripture’s perspective: the proclamation of the fear of God. ...
Like a Woman in Travail
This week, Fr. Paul explains that God is in travail in Scripture and gives birth to children through his teaching. (Episode 233)
Magnify the Lord
When someone of authority speaks, it is only natural for people of lessor status to use his words to establish their position. Politicians do it, corporate underlings ...
Four Verbs
In today’s program Fr. Paul discusses four verbs in Hebrew: be fruitful, multiply as fish, became many, and became great in status. (Episode 232)
The Sound of a Greeting
As the Spirit moves through chapter one of the Gospel of Luke, it exhibits its power as a mechanism of destruction but also as an implement of God’s control—prompting ...
Hear Me Out
This week, Fr. Paul proceeds with his discussion of Exodus emphasizing the importance of hearing Scripture with the entire story in view. (Episode 231)
The Itinerary of the Spirit
The Scriptural God is not the God of a statue, a temple, a city, or a mountain, but the God of a story. For those who submit to this God as their heavenly Father, it i...
These Are the Names
This week Fr. Paul transitions from Genesis to Exodus, showing the interconnection between the books of the Pentateuch. (Episode 230)
I Know Jesus and I Know Paul
Normally, people don’t say much about the role of the Holy Spirit in the birth of John the Baptist—mainly because contemporary Mariology blinds them to the actual cont...
Against Humanity
In today’s program, Fr. Paul reminds us of the Bible’s painful and relentless campaign against the human ego. (Episode 229)
Three Things
When we read a text in translation, we imagine we hear what the author wrote because we believe that meaning can be taken separately from the words on the page. But if...
No One Is Special
This week, Fr. Paul explains that the mission of Joseph was to combine Israel and the nations to the extent that his progeny was called—not the fullness of Israel—but ...
Birth Pangs
In the Old Testament, human patriarchy is portrayed cynically and satirically as bumbling and insecure in its competition with motherhood. Men cannot give birth. In Sc...
The Journey of Jacob Israel
In today's episode, Fr. Paul reiterates a basic premise of Scripture, that we are not to follow the example of our fathers, but of the teaching, noting the specific ca...
Bow to the Chair
The problem with all contemporary churches is that we treat the term Scripture as though it were a noun. We gossip about the Bible like a difficult relative nobody wan...
The Sheep Are Not a Flock
This week Fr. Paul stresses the critical distinction between sheep and flock in Hebrew, giving biblical and contemporary examples. (Episode 226)
The Preacher
Everyone has something to say. If you operate on a human premise, this is perfectly acceptable, admirable--even a thing to be encouraged. It is the empty fuel that mak...
Ephraim and Manasseh
This week, Fr. Paul touches on the literary function of Ephraim and Manasseh, who become the kernel of the northern kingdom in the story of the biblical Israel. (Episo...
Anti-History, Anti-Patriarchy
How can Luke ensure that his addressees get the point? Wisdom does not come from you. Life does not come from you. The baby in Elizabeth's womb does not come from you....
Back to Joseph
This week, Fr. Paul begins his discussion of Genesis 39, reiterating the calamity of the mistranslation of the Hebrew word masleah. (Episode 224)
Power and Control
The Holy Spirit is not about inspiration but power and control in the Bible. The power of the story is that it exerts control expressly to silence our voice. This face...
About Judah
This week, Fr. Paul reminds us of the harlotry of the children of Jacob who used the covenant of circumcision--a covenant of brotherhood--to kill their brothers. (Epis...
Nobody Else But You
When Scripture deconstructs a human proposition by forcing an opposing position (which we have repeatedly described as functional judgment, meaning Scripture has no st...
Person, Persona, Prosopon, Mask
This week, Fr. Paul reminds us that the term person is the translation of persona which is mask in Latin which is the translation of prosopon in Greek, which also mean...