Almost Heretical

In 2018, we launched the podcast and recorded 49 episodes. Nate and Tim reflect on what they've learned. Top 10 episodes: 03: Why is there a snake in the garden? 20: Rachel Held Evans - Using and abusing the Bible 02: In the beginning 31: Authority over her own damn head (1 Corinthians 11:2-16) 30: Jesus ended hierarchy 01: Ex-pastors in a shed 32: Husbands and slave masters (Ephesians 5:22-6:9, Colossians 3:18-4:1) 15: Mako Nagasawa - Beyond penal substitution 33: Silencing women (1 Corinthians 14:34-35) 35: Adam, then Eve (1 Timothy 2:11-15) Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever thought about Hezekiah as one of the main characters in the Old Testament? And what if we told you that the child named Immanuel spoken of in Isaiah referred not to Jesus but to Hezekiah (at least at first)? Nate and Tim look again at the literary technique of “snowballing” and discuss how biblical characters and even biblical texts are presented as disappointing failures that will have to be recycled and repurposed in the future. Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever notice how all the “good guys” in the Old Testament turn out to be jerks? Tim and Nate talk about a narrative technique Tim calls “snowballing”, where the Biblical authors intentionally try to get us excited about each new hero figure, only to let us down in the end. It is this pattern that allowed Jesus to look back and say all these stories pointed to him. Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to the full interview here. (Also, listen to PART 1 here.) Dr. Tim Mackie (Bible Project) talks about LGBTQ and the bible, and continues talking with Nate and Tim about the Bible and ethics. Does the Bible end conversations about ethics or start them? Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to the full interview here. (Also, listen to PART 2 here.) Dr. Tim Mackie (Bible Project) talks with Tim and Nate about the often missed literary designs in the Bible. What kind of patterns and repetitions do we often overlook? And what does it mean that the Bible contains riddles and texts with multiple meanings? Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All the talk about stitching and literary complexity got Nate and Tim talking about why this stuff even matters. What does thinking of the Bible as a literary mosaic change? How does paying attention to redaction and arrangement affect our views of Christianity and how we relate to one another? Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nate and Tim discuss how ancient scroll technology led to literary binding techniques evident in the Bible. Collections of texts were stitched together through canonical seams and enclosed within literary introductions and conclusions. This seam work is how we got a Bible. Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Collectively, the Bible consists of complex literary layers stacked atop one another. Stories and motifs are recycled and re-used. When we read any individual story, we must read it as a single layer of a greater whole. The strange story of Ananias and Sapphira, for example, is written in conversation with a series of Old Testament stories as well as at least one other Ananias story in the Book of Acts. We aren’t reading it well unless we learn to read it as a literary layer. Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If the Bible is a mosaic, then the meaning is in the stitching. Nate and Tim look at how Psalm 108 is an example of clear editing and repurposing of texts within the Hebrew Bible, and how the Gospel of Luke is tracking with this literary mechanism at work. Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nate and Tim open up a new series of conversations exploring how the Bible actually works. They introduce the idea of the Bible as a literary mosaic in which various texts are pieced together to form a kind of theological portrait. This episode is the first in what will be an ongoing series called How The Bible Works. Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lisa Sharon Harper talks about what Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court really means, how we got here, and what the gospel has to say about it. Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike McHargue (Science Mike) sits down with Nate and Tim to talk about sexual assault, the Bible, why so many people are over church, finding hope amidst cynicism, and much more. The conversation happened on the heels of a long and emotional week relating to how our society and the church treats women and victims of sexual assault in light of Christine Beasley Ford's testimony at Brett Kavanaugh's hearing. It made for a raw and honest discussion. Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part 9 (conclusion) of the gender series. We talk about what we've learned, what we can do, and respond to your questions. Oh, and a poem from Tim. Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part 8 of the gender series. Nate and Tim discuss Paul’s words to Timothy concerning “elders” and “deacons”. Can women be elders? Or is Paul mandating male leadership? Is he even creating formal “church offices” at all? And what do these titles even mean? We seek to answer these questions and more while showing how and why we usually get Paul so wrong. Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part 7 of the gender series. Nate and Tim host their moms as well as some friends and listeners for a round table discussion on the topic. If you only listen to one episode in the series, listen to this one. Hear our five guests - Molly, Julia, Emily, Ada and Julie Anne - as they share their perspectives on how gender ideologies play out in relationships, church and the broader culture. The conversation covers an array of view points and, in the end, answers the question, “What do Christian men and pastors really need to hear from women like you?” Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part 6 in a series on gender, power and hierarchy. Nate and Tim wrap up the discussion on 1 Timothy 2, discussing Paul’s reference to Adam being created first and the concluding line about women being saved through childbirth. Is this Paul rooting patriarchy in “God’s creation order” or is Paul once again saying the exact opposite of what it sounds like he’s saying? Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part 5 on Christianity and gender. Nate and Tim begin to tackle 1 Timothy 2 by considering the context of the letter, the significance of the goddess Artemis, and the Greek word translated as “exercise authority”. Once again we see that paying close attention to the gender passages in light of their original context opens up whole new avenues of interpretation. Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part 4 in a series on gender. Nate and Tim discuss some of the more infuriating ways complementation theology affects Christian women and explore the frustrating passage where Paul seems to tell women to sit down and shut up. But what is Paul really saying? And how could he tell women to be silent while simultaneously encouraging them to preach and prophecy in the church gatherings? Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part 3 in a series on Christianity and gender. Nate and Tim discuss two more key passages related to gender, trying to understand why Paul grouped husbands & wives, children & fathers, and slaves & masters. What do wives, children and slaves have in common? And what does Paul say to them? And how does he address husbands, fathers and slave masters? Listen to see how Paul’s theology of power makes surprising sense of it all and shows how these passages mean the exact opposite of what many claim they mean. Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part 2 in a series on gender and the Bible. Nate and Tim discuss the first of six key New Testament passages pertaining to gender that have traditionally been used to support male authority. What is Paul really getting at about women covering their heads? Does “the head of the woman is man” really mean men are supposed to be in charge? Who gets authority over women’s bodies? And what in the world do angels have to do with any of this? All this and more as Nate and Tim take a closer look and show how most of us were taught that Paul was saying the exact opposite of what he really meant. Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month 2. All full-length episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices