TSP 13: Mary, the Mother of God--Theotokos and Queen Mother

Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God (Theotokos). What is the history of this feast? How does our understanding of Mary relate to our understanding of Christ?

In the first half of the show we cover the Nestorian heresy and the Council of Ephesus. We then move on to talk about something that often gets overlooked: the role of the Queen Mother in the ancient Near East and then in the Old Testament (giberah). In particular, we look at royal maternity in the Davidic kingdom. We then turn to see how this forms a possible backdrop for understanding Mary's role in the New Testament--i.e., the Mother of the Son of David.

For an outline that includes bibliographical references and further sources, see www.TheSacredPage.com!





Podcast: The Feast of Mary the Mother of God: Theotokos and Queen Mother

TSP 12: Leroy Huizenga on Jesus as the New Isaac in Matthew' Gospel

This podcast I was joined by a very special guest: New Testament scholar Leroy Huizenga. Huizenga is Professor of Scripture at the University of St. Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, where he also serves as the Director of the Christian Leadership Center (more on that below).

I was so excited about having Huizenga on the show because I believe his work is very important. I think his doctoral dissertation, The New Isaac: Tradition and Intertextuality in the Gospel of Matthew (Leiden: Brill, 2009), is a ground breaking study. Here then he talks a bit about Jesus' role  as the New Isaac in Matthew.

Of course, given that we are about to celebrate Christmas, we pay special attention to the infancy narrative. Leroy has some fascinating ideas about Sarah-typology in Matthew's portrait of Mary.
In addition, we talk a bit about the historical value of infancy narratives, Jesus' baptism, his arrest and passion, and. . . well, you'll just have to listen.

Visit the Christian Leadership Center's website here (they have a number of good articles up in time for Christimas). He is also an editor (with Richard Hays and Stefan Alkier) of Reading the Bible Intertextually (Baylor Press, 2009). 

As always, I hope you enjoy our podcast! Please leave us your comments in the box below!

Podcast: Leroy Huizenga on Jesus the New Isaac in Matthew's Gospel 

TSP 11: Steve Ray on Archaeology, Bethlehem and Nazareth

In this episode we continue our series of podcasts on the Gospel reports of Jesus' birth. This time I was honored to be joined by my good friend, Catholic author and apologist Steve Ray. Among other things Ray has produced numerous television shows on the Holy Land (now available on DVD). He also takes large groups of pilgrims to the Holy Land each year. 

Today we talk a little bit about Nazareth and Bethlehem. What are these places like? Does it snow in Bethlehem? What can we see about the traditional sites honored as Jesus' birthplace, Mary's house, etc.? Why have them become honored as pilgrimage sites? 

I hope you enjoy our podcast! (As always, please leave us your comments in the box below!)

To learn more about Steve's work, please be sure to visit his site, CatholicConvert.com.

Podcast: Steve Ray on Archaeology, Bethlehem and Nazareth

For more on the theory that Christian "prophets" were the origin of some of the material in the Gospel tradition and other elements of this podcast--with specific references to academic works on the topics--go to earlier posts on TheSacredPage.com here and here.

TSP 10: Are the Gospel Stories About Jesus' Birth Historical?

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I've been swamped over the last few weeks finishing up the quarter and so I've been behind in posting the latest podcasts of The Sacred Page program. Now I'm going to get you all caught up.

Over the last couple weeks we've been focusing on the readings for Christmas, i.e., the "infancy narratives" of Christ. We've been looking at their historical value and meaning.

This show explores some of the broad issues, although a lot more will be discussed in upcoming podcasts. Here, among other things, we look at the reason many scholars have been skeptical about the Gospels' historical worth. In particular, we look at the impact of Bultmann and other earlier "form-critical" scholars who viewed the Gospels in terms of "folklore". We then look at more recent discoveries that call their approach to the Gospels into question. We also explore the claim that the Gospel stories about Jesus' birth were invented to parallel myths about pagan gods.

I'd love to get your comments! Sound off in the box below!





Podcast: Are the Gospel Stories About Jesus' Birth Historical? 

For more on the theory that Christian "prophets" were the origin of some of the material in the Gospel tradition and other elements of this podcast--with specific references to academic works on the topics--go to earlier posts on TheSacredPage.com here and here.

Podcast on the Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

Here is the podcast on the Sunday readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent.



Podcast: Fourth Sunday of Advent 2011

Of course, I'd be remiss not to mention John Bergsma's excellent post as well. In addition, check out Scott Hahn's fine commentary on the St. Paul Center's blog (with audio).