Psalm 97, with Marc Brettler

Righteousness and Justice are the Base of God’s Throne

Lectionary Date: June 2, 2019 [7th Sunday of Easter, Year C]

This week, Rachel and Tim are joined by Dr. Marc Zvi Brettler, one of the leading scholars in the field of Hebrew Bible. He is Professor Emeritus and former chair of the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. He has also taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Duke University, Yale University, Brown University, Wellesley College, and Middlebury College. He is actively involved in many aspects of Jewish communal life, and has served on the board of Boston’s Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center and Gann Academy—the New Jewish High School. Dr. Brettler is known for helping to build meaningful bridges between Jewish religious life and modern critical scholarship of the Hebrew Bible. He is co-editor of the Jewish Study Bible, which won a National Jewish Book Award. We think this volume should be on every pastor’s bookshelf, and consulted often, along with another of Dr. Brettler’s editorial projects, the Jewish Annotated New Testament. For Christian leaders interested in the shared Scriptures of Judaism and Christianity, these books are must haves. Dr. Brettler has published a slew of other books, both academic and popular. He is a clear and accessible communicator, as you will experience in this week’s First Reading episode. Finally, be sure to visit theTorah.com, which Dr. Brettler helped establish, a great online repository for biblical scholarship from a Jewish perspective.

Psalm 30, with Stephen Reid

Mourning and Dancing: the “Rhythm & Blues” of Life

Lectionary Date: May 5, 2019 [3rd Sunday of Easter, Year C]

photo of Stephen Reid

Dr. Stephen Reid joins Rachel and Tim this week for a long-form episode, focusing on Psalm 30. Steve is Professor of Christian Scriptures at George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University. He earned his PhD at Emory University and has held a number of academic positions during his career. Dr. Reid is ordained in the Church of the Brethren, and you can find his preaching tips and exegetical work on WorkingPreacher.org. His areas of expertise include the Psalms, apocalyptic literature (especially Daniel), and black biblical hermeneutics. If you’d like to know more about his work, check out his book, Listening In: A Multicultural Reading of the Psalms.