The Bible: Not As Bad As You Think (Part 1) — Kathryn Schifferdecker

Kathryn Schifferdecker is Professor and Elva B. Lovell Chair of Old Testament at Luther Seminary. She taught Katie's year-long Intro to Bible class, and she is the reason Katie can read the book at all. This is the first half of a two-part conversation: what the Bible even is, and why the Old Testament, of all things, might be worth going back for. The conversation covers an organist's kid in the balcony at St. Paul Lutheran in Farmington, Missouri, being too scared to take religion classes at St. Olaf, a call to ministry in a church that doesn't ordain women, the Bible as a library of sixty-six books written over more than a thousand years by mostly anonymous people, why the Psalms made no sense to Katie before seminary, Jonah as a comedy, and holding on to God with one hand while you shake your fist with the other. This is part one of two. Part two — Joshua, Judges, the texts with the violence in them, and what "the word of God" can honestly mean — airs Tuesday, October 13. To support Faith After Faith, visit https://faithafterfaith.com. A recurring donation of any amount will give you access to exclusive bonus content and full, unedited conversations. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the Bible and Faith Deconstruction 01:03 Katie's Journey with the Bible and Kathryn's Role 02:16 The Two-Part Conversation: What the Bible Is 03:14 Growing Up in a Conservative Lutheran Context 04:34 The Impact of Biblical Scholarship and Faith 05:58 Different Lutheran Denominations and Beliefs 09:13 Literal Beliefs and College Challenges 10:27 Faith and Academic Study of the Bible 12:20 Resilience and Personal Stories in Faith Journey 17:48 The Culture Surrounding the Bible 18:33 What is the Bible? A Collection and Library 22:21 The Number of Books and Different Canons 23:26 Genres of Biblical Literature 28:42 Understanding the Genre of Jonah 31:44 The Mercy of God in the Old Testament Resources Kathryn Schifferdecker, https://www.luthersem.edu/faculty/ksc... Kathryn Schifferdecker, https://books.google.com/books/about/... (Harvard Theological Studies 61, 2008) Kathryn Schifferdecker, https://enterthebible.org/author/kath... (Luther Seminary) Faith After Faith, https://katielangston.com/podcast/how...