This summer, while the Lectionary uses the Book of Acts as the first reading, we are re-releasing some of our best episodes from the First Reading Podcast vault. This week, we’re going way back to one of our first episodes (#007 actually, for James Bond fans out there), back to 2019 when Rachel and Tim interviewed the amazing, delightful, Rev. Dr. Vanessa Lovelace. Dr. Lovelace has moved institutions since our interview and is now Associate Dean at Lancaster Theological Seminary, where she is also a faculty member in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Dr. Lovelace has a brand new book about to drop with Fortress Academic Press: A Womanist Reading of Hebrew Bible Narratives as the Politics of Belonging from an Outsider Within. The book comes out in June, but you can pre-order it today!
Easter is a strange season in the Lectionary for us here at the “Old Testament Lectionary Podcast,” because during Easter the first reading is drawn from the New Testament book of Acts. So, this year, we’ve decided to use this season to re-release some of our favorite episodes from the vault, conversations with leading scholars in the field. This week, since we just passed the Jewish holiday of Purim, we are featuring our 2021 interview with Rosy Kandathil, who (not long after this interview) became one of our regular hosts! Our conversation is centered around the book of Esther, which is the topic of Rosy’s PhD dissertation—which, by the way, she is defending this week! Go Rosy! So enjoy this “best of” FR episode!
Esther is a rich and complex biblical story—which is why it’s unfortunate that it only appears once in the 3-year lectionary cycle. But to help us make the most of this occasion, we invited Rosy Kandathil to join us for a deep dive into Esther. Rosy is a PhD candidate in Hebrew Bible at Emory University, where she is writing a dissertation on the collision of humor and violence in the book of Esther. Rosy’s insights help us get to the core relevant issues of the book: how it navigates multiple identities at once, deals with the challenges of thriving in diaspora, and hosts some of our own deep questions about violence and vengeance. Buckle up for a great episode!
Lectionary Date: March 31, 2024 [Easter Sunday, YearB]
Rachel, Paul, and Tim discuss the first reading for Easter in this party episode (also celebrating Rachel’s birthday!). We also made a video version of this episode, which you can see on YouTube:
