It Means What It Means

Episode 113: Reading Creation Myths Economically with Eric J Harvey

Eric Harvey discusses his recent work on creation myths, divine service, and the economic implications of ancient religious practices. He explores the differences between Mesopotamian and biblical narratives, particularly in terms of sacrifice and the needs of the divine. The discussion highlights the complexity of ancient texts and the importance of understanding them within their cultural context. Resources included mentioned in this episode include Atrahasis [chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https:/geha.paginas.ufsc.br/files/2017/04/Atrahasis.pdf]; The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel [https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/bodies-of-god-and-the-world-of-ancient-israel/72E589D9BD86AEDF5DBF5043453C203F]; God: An Anatomy [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/563773/god-an-anatomy-by-francesca-stavrakopoulou/]; scholar Bruce Wells [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.15699/jbl.1394.2020.1]; The Consuming Fire: The Complete Priestly Source, from Creation to the Promised Land [https://www.ucpress.edu/books/the-consuming-fire/paper]; Food in Ancient Judah: Domestic Cooking in the Time of the Hebrew Bible [https://www.routledge.com/Food-in-Ancient-Judah-Domestic-Cooking-in-the-Time-of-the-Hebrew-Bible/Shafer-Elliott/p/book/9780367872229]; scholar Roland Bohr [https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/history/faculty-staff/roland-bohr.html]; The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently [https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-bible-with-and-without-jesus-amy-jill-levinemarc-zvi-brettler?variant=39971192799266]; Beautyland: A Novel [https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374109288/beautyland/]; A Thursday Murder Club [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/TM9/a-thursday-murder-club-mystery/]; and Eric’s blog [https://www.blindscholar.com/].

Episode 112: On Having a Body with Jennie Grillo

Jennie Grillo, an Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, discusses her insights on divine embodiment in the Hebrew Bible, particularly in relation to the work of Benjamin Sommer. The conversation explores the complexities of how God is represented in biblical texts, the significance of embodiment, and the implications of time in understanding these representations. Grillo emphasizes the fluidity of divine embodiment and the distinctions between human and divine experiences of having a body, drawing on examples from the Book of Job and other biblical narratives. Recommendations in this conversation include The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel [https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/bodies-of-god-and-the-world-of-ancient-israel/72E589D9BD86AEDF5DBF5043453C203F]; historian Caroline Bynum [https://history.columbia.edu/person/bynum-caroline/]; Mark S Smith [https://ptsem.edu/academics/faculty/mark-s-smith/]; “When Gods Were Men”: The Embodied God in Biblical and Near Eastern Literature [https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110206715/html?lang=en#:~:text=About%20this%20book,the%20%22%C4%ABsh%20theophany%22.]; The Prophetic Body: Embodiment and Mediation in Biblical Prophetic Literature [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-prophetic-body-9780197604960?cc=us&lang=en&]; The Betrothed: A Novel [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/107406/the-betrothed-by-alessandro-manzoni/]; and Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/305612/call-the-midwife-by-jennifer-worth/].

Episode 111: Colossians Remixed with Brian Walsh & Sylvia Keesmaat

In this conversation, Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat (of Russet House Farm [https://www.russethousefarm.ca/welcome]) discuss their book Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire [https://www.ivpress.com/colossians-remixed?srsltid=AfmBOoqQ35GGjLSwv6Lc0F2RKcFugmE_OStx7xzZUf_VirBoX1YkJMlg]. In the book they explore the themes of inevitability and possibility through the lens of biblical narratives. They also emphasize the importance of living with hope and the belief that God can make the impossible possible, urging listeners to embrace a future of reconciliation and new beginnings. Recommendations from this conversation can be found in the show notes for this episode at: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-111-with-148004507?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link [https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-111-with-148004507?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link]

Episode 110: Saul and the Not-So-Holy Ghost with David Basher

David Basher discusses his research on the biblical text of 1 Samuel 16, focusing on the concept of ghosts and evil spirits in the ancient Near East. He explains the story of Saul, who is tormented by an evil spirit after being rejected as king, and explores various interpretations of Saul's condition, including psychological and supernatural explanations. The discussion also touches on the role of music in healing, the historical context of biblical narratives, and the lack of medical texts from ancient Israel. Basher emphasizes the importance of understanding ancient beliefs and practices to interpret biblical texts accurately. Resources recommended in this episode include Judahite Burial Practices and Beliefs about the Dead [https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/judahite-burial-practices-and-beliefs-about-the-dead-9780567506238/]; Death in the Iron Age II and in First Isaiah [https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/en/book/death-in-the-iron-age-ii-and-in-first-isaiah-9783161517518/]; Death and Burial in Iron Age Israel, Aram, and Phoenicia [https://www.gorgiaspress.com/burial-practices-funerary-texts-and-the-treatment-of-death-in-iron-age-israel-and-aram]; A History of Death in the Hebrew Bible [https://academic.oup.com/book/9018]; God’s Monsters [https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9781506486321/Gods-Monsters]; Disembodied Souls: The Nefesh in Israel and Kindred Spirits in the Ancient Near East, with an Appendix on the Katumuwa Inscription [chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https:/www.sbl-site.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/9781628370775_OA.pdf]; Unfamiliar Selves in the Hebrew Bible: Possession and Other Spirit Phenomena [https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110670035/html?lang=en&srsltid=AfmBOoowAZ_k98gMOcO72fFwnpeLmxyrxJcU1B5vBET2TvS__OQCss6l]; Recovering the Monstrous in Revelation [https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/recovering-the-monstrous-in-revelation-9781978784574/]; Star Wars Legends [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/STW/star-wars---legends/]; and Murder in the Tidwell Building [https://wipfandstock.com/9798385256990/murder-in-the-tidwell-building/].

Episode 109: The Pro-Choice Biblical Ethic with Kirk MacGregor

Kirk MacGregor discusses his Journal of Biblical Literature article “The Pro-Choice Biblical Ethic of American Evangelical Scholars before the Religious Right.” MacGregor’s article is focused on understanding the historical context of and changes since the 1968 Protestant Symposium on the Control of Human Reproduction. Resources mentioned or recommended in this episode include MacGregor’s book A Historical and Theological Investigation of John’s Gospel [https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-53401-1]; historian Randall Balmer [https://www.randallbalmer.com/]; Brave New People: Ethical Issues at the Commencement of Life [https://www.amazon.com/Brave-new-people-Ethical-commencement/dp/080280070X]; author Letha Scanzoni [https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/52211.Letha_Dawson_Scanzoni]; “The ‘Biblical View’ That’s Younger than the Happy Meal [https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2012/02/18/the-biblical-view-thats-younger-than-the-happy-meal/]”; Thy Kingdom Come: How the religious Right Distorts Faith and Threatens America [https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/randall-balmer/thy-kingdom-come/9780465005208/?lens=basic-books]; Broken Words: The Abuse of Science and Faith in American Politics [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/43426/broken-words-by-jonathan-dudley/]; Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right [https://www.eerdmans.com/9781467462907/bad-faith/]; “The Religious Right and the Abortion Myth [https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/05/10/abortion-history-right-white-evangelical-1970s-00031480]”; “How Evangelicals Decided that Life Begins at Conception [https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-evangelicals-decided-that-life-begins-at-conception_b_2072716]”; and novelist Amy Gentry [https://amy-gentry.com/].   Follow the podcast on Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/it-means-what-it-means/id1677338684], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3WZINnQFSdGVhkToozcR89], Amazon/Audible [https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/31c49850-ed95-4de8-b362-616a47218683], iHeartRadio [https://iheart.com/podcast/110425317], Player FM [https://player.fm/series/3456902], Listen Notes [https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/it-means-what-it-means-itmeanswhatitmeans-6Iu0itczlOV/embed/], Podchaser [https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/it-means-what-it-means-5199215], Boomplay [https://www.boomplaymusic.com/podcasts/58531]. Please reach out with guest suggestions and/or feedback at itmeanswhatitmeans@gmail.com. If you would like to support the podcast financially, you can hear episodes a week early for $5 a month on Patreon [patreon.com/ItMeansWhatItMeansPodcast]. You can also get updates and promotional clips if you follow us on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@ItMeansWhatItMeansPodcast], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575081462964], TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@itmeanswhatitmeans], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/itmeanswhatitmeanspodcast/], Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/itmeanswhatitmeans.bsky.social], Spoutible [https://spoutible.com/It_Means_What_It_Means], Twitter [https://x.com/means_podcast], Threads [https://www.threads.com/@itmeanswhatitmeanspodcast], Wordpress [https://itmeanswhatitmeanspodcast.wordpress.com/?_gl=1*1rtt3ts*_gcl_au*MTY1MjQ0MjgwOC4xNzQ0Mzk3NTYz], and Tumblr [https://www.tumblr.com/blog/it-means-what-it-means].