Overcoming Common ‘Mistruths’ We’ve Heard in Church (Brent Strawn)

Episode Summary

Somewhere along the line, we have inherited many “mistruths” about Scripture, as Dr. Brent Strawn calls them. These are conceptions that aren’t completely false, but are misleading—and sometimes pose a greater threat to truth than complete falsehoods do. He discusses his latest book, Lies My Preacher Told Me, and how misconceptions have seeped their way into the church, affecting their views of Scripture, God, and their faith.

Brent doesn’t mean to pick on pastors per se, but his book explores various ways in which mistruths have taken hold. He identifies key mistruths—such as excessive christocentrism and neglect of or aversion to the Old Testament—in the church and suggests how we might overcome them.

Chapters

    • 0:26 Lies My Preacher Told Me

    • 2:44 Dru Johnson, children’s pastor

    • 4:21 The formative years

    • 6:05 Examples of the lies

    • 7:55 The Jesus question

    • 12:20 Preaching is not King of the Hill

    • 15:21 The conceptual world of the biblical authors

    • 19:20 Constructing views of canon

    • 20:50 Openness to different views

    • 22:49 Stories

    • 23:57 Poetic qualities

    • 27:42 Dispositions toward God’s means of revelation

Transcripts are AI generated and are not guaranteed to correctly reflect the content of the podcast.
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Dr. Brent Strawn

Brent Strawn’s (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) research focuses on ancient Near Eastern iconography, Israelite religion, biblical law, the Psalms, poetry, and Old Testament theology. He joined the Duke Divinity School faculty in 2019 and has a secondary appointment at the Duke University School of Law.Strawn has published over two hundred articles, chapters in books, contributions to reference works, and reviews. His books include What Is Stronger than a Lion? Leonine Image and Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near EastThe Old Testament Is Dying: A Diagnosis and Recommended Treatment, and The Old Testament: A Concise Introduction.Strawn is an ordained elder in the North Georgia Conference of The United Methodist Church and regularly speaks and preaches at churches across the country. He has appeared on CNN on matters ranging from Easter celebrations to Pope Francis to gun violence, and served as both translator and member of the editorial board for The Common English Bible.

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