Introducing Dr. Joshua Berman (CHT Fellow)

Many of us read Scripture as a book solely about God and our personal relationship with Him. While there is value in this ethical and spiritual lens, it can also blind us to some of the nuances and broader philosophical implications within the Bible. Dr. Joshua Berman wants to challenge us to think about Scripture in different ways—including comparing Israel to the other Ancient Near Eastern civilizations of its day, understanding its ethical proscriptions for entire communities (not just individuals), and seeing the Hebrew Bible’s influence on our modern political regimes.

In this episode, Dr. Joshua Berman describes what the intellectual world of the Bible looks like to him. He emphasizes both the radical elevation of equality within ancient Israel as well as Scripture’s concern for the health of the entire nation, not just individual ethics. He and Dr. Johnson also evaluate the limitations of source criticism and what modern Christians have to learn by carefully reading the Hebrew Bible instead of detaching it from the New Testament.