The Slipperiness of Clay
Lectionary Date: September 4, 2022 [13th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]
This week, Rachel and Tim are joined by Dr. Steed Vernyl Davidson. Dr. Davidson is the Dean of the Faculty, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and a Professor of Hebrew Bible / Old Testament at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. He is also an ordained elder within the United Methodist Church. A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Davidson he earned his PhD in Hebrew Bible from Union Theological Seminary in New York. He is an expert on postcolonial dynamics in the content and reception of the Hebrew Bible, and has written and edited several volumes on that topic. He is also a frequent contributor to WorkingPreacher.com.
Genuine Humility
Lectionary Date: August 28, 2022 [12th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]
Rosy percolates in a deceptively simple proverb.
Feeling God’s Call
Lectionary Date: August 21, 2022 [11th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]
Rachel connects the language of Isaiah to our own experiences of divine calling.
A Metaphor Inside a Metaphor
Lectionary Date: August 14, 2022 [10th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]
Tim dips into the First Reading vault to pull out a classic episode.
Things are not Always as they Seem
Lectionary Date: August 7, 2022 [9th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]
Rachel traces the surprising development of a hopeful psalm.
Wrestling with the Act-Consequence Nexus
Lectionary Date: July 31, 2022 [8th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]
Rachel dives into Qohelet to mess with a sometimes problematic platitude.
A Challenging Marriage Metaphor in Context
Lectionary Date: July 24, 2022 [7th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]
This week, First Reading is thrilled to have Dr. Gale Yee as our guest scholar to help us with a dense, troubling, and rich text. Dr. Yee is the Nancy W. King Professor of Biblical Studies, emerita, at Episcopal Divinity School. She served as the President of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2019. Her contributions to feminist biblical interpretation have influenced the entire field of Biblical Studies, one of the reasons we are so excited to talk with her today! If you are interested in more of her work, check out Towards an Asian American Biblical Hermeneutics: An Intersectional Anthology (Cascade, 2021) or The Hebrew Bible: Feminist and Intersectional Perspectives (Fortress, 2018).
The Ministry that Happens at Tables
Lectionary Date: July 17, 2022 [6th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]
Rosy puts Abraham and Sarah’s pop-up dinner party in conversation with Martha’s ministry.
A Somewhat Confusing Poem
Lectionary Date: July 10, 2022 [5th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]
This week, we’d love to promote an episode by friend-of-the-podcast, Dr. Brent Strawn. Brent is a past guest on First Reading, and has a great episode all about Psalm 82 on his podcast, “In Parallel.” Here’s a link to the episode. Enjoy!
An Embodied Experience of God
Lectionary Date: July 3, 2022 [4th Sunday after Pentecost, Year C]
Rachel explores a passage with fascinatingly embodied imagery.