The Bible as Literature

Apr 03 2025 902 ep. 22 mins 1.2k
The Bible as Literature Podcast artwork

Each week, Fr. Marc Boulos discusses the content of the Bible as literature. On Tuesdays, Fr. Paul Tarazi presents an in-depth analysis of the biblical text in the original languages.

  Education  Religion & Spirituality
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The Arrogance of Job

Apr 03 2025 36 mins  
Theologians and philosophers love to talk about the meaning of life. They explore its purpose, justification, and value, questioning whether or not suffering has meaning. They sound like the Preacher in Ecclesiastes, wasting time viewing things from the wrong perspective: man’s point of view, the king’s point of view, Job’s point of view.This mirrors how Christians assess and

Sing to the Lord a New Song

Mar 27 2025 32 mins  
In every age, empires create words to describe the people in the societies they seek to dominate and exploit. Eventually, these terms are turned inward and used against themselves. The Greco-Romans—and their eastern heirs, whom modern scholars call the Byzantines—labeled those outside their empire as barbarians. The colonials who settled the Americas, after dismantling the peac

Glory to the Most High

Mar 13 2025 25 mins  
Some concepts in the Bible are so crucial that if they aren’t properly understood from the outset, the text itself can be twisted from a guide that protects your steps into a snare that traps you in a cycle of endless folly.One such example is the idea of ownership or proprietorship.When you hear the Bible, even in the original languages, but especially in translation—for examp

Forget, Lest You Forget

Mar 05 2025 37 mins  
What is it like to be unaffected?How sad it must be to go to church, attend a class, interact with your neighbor, and be indifferent to what they say.What is it like to be unaffected?To be so confined to yourself that when you look at your natural reflection in the mirror, you see your flaws—you might even acknowledge them—but the moment you look away, you forget them. You carr

It's Literature

Mar 03 2025 14 mins  
This week, Fr. Paul reminds us that a word does not carry meaning yet the words of Scripture make God’s instruction accessible. Likewise, it is the words of God to which we submit, not an abstract Torah in Deuteronomy, but the words of God, a point echoed in the letters of St. Paul. (Episode 333) ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

It's Personal

Feb 20 2025 40 mins  
When people hear Luke 8:18, they assume it is talking about stuff.But Luke, like the Book of Job, is not about stuff.It is about darkness and light.When people evaluate others—their first mistake is that they evaluate at all—they measure what others have. That is how the Duopoly assesses Job. They love him because he was rich, pity him because he was poor, judge him because he

May God Cover Us

Feb 06 2025 24 mins  
Most people, when they hear the story of Josiah and his priest rummaging through the rubble of the temple in Jerusalem and stumbling upon a scroll, fall prey to the hope that Josiah was a reformer. That he picked up the scroll, looked upon those who came before him, and thought: I can do it better. I can get it right this time.But that's the trap. That's the mistake. That's the arr

God is the Light

Jan 30 2025 36 mins  
Evil always dresses in a garment of light. It hides in plain sight. It smiles. It’s friendly. It’s comforting. It’s dishonest. It appears as something it’s not.Take, for example, that seemingly innocuous campfire song all your children have been taught to sing at your silly church camps: “This Little Light of Mine.” Like a mother who possesses children; like a tribe tha

God Is Not Shy

Jan 23 2025 38 mins  
It has taken some time to understand what the Parable of the Sower meant when it introduced the function “soil” in its critique of human beings’ betrayal of God’s covenant with Abraham. Still, by the time the New Testament was written, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all found it necessary to clarify that the position of the one being judged was separate from the station of the one

And of My Descendants?

Jan 16 2025 21 mins  
In Scripture, Abraham’s seed encompasses more than just biological lineage. It also transmits God’s covenant, outlining the potential for righteousness and human corruption in a single function.The Hebrew term zera', "seed" or "offspring," follows the continuity of God’s promise to Abraham from one generation to the next. It also marks the recurring story of human rebellion,