Was It Something I Read?
Everyday theology about important issues facing the church. Join us as we discuss excellent books that examine the issues and scriptures that make so many of us uncomfortable and leave us with a lot of questions. We want to break down troubling texts and hard concepts and make them useful in our life and faith.
Episodes
18 episodes
The Ballot and the Bible Ep. 3 -- "A Stick of Dynamite": Civil Rights and Scripture
SummaryWe look in this episode at Schiess' chapter on the civil rights movement, and discuss in particular the use of the Christian message in social issues, and the death of Christendom. We also discuss whether the career of "pa...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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38:56
The Ballot and the Bible Ep. 2 -- The Use of Scripture in Slavery and in Social Gospel
SummaryIn this episode, we look at chapters 3 and 4, in which Schiess looks at the use of scripture in both the defense of American slavery and in the social gospel. We look at how we use the stories of scripture to form our iden...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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1:07:07
The Ballot and the Bible Ep. 1 -- The City on a Hill and the Puritan Legacy
SummaryIn this first episode of Season 2, new host Gabe Magnus joins Ashley to talk about the introduction and first two chapters of The Ballot and the Bible: how scripture has been used and abused in American politics, and w...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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49:54
Aldarion and Erendis -- the wisdom of J. R. R. Tolkien, part 2
During this between season break, guest Gabe Magnus joins Ashley to discuss a small but profound meditation on war, militarization, and neighbour love found in the story of Aldarion and Erendis, from the the Unfinished Tales of J. R. R. Tolkien...
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34:22
Aldarion and Erendis -- the wisdom of J. R. R. Tolkien, part 1
During this between season break, guest Gabe Magnus joins Ashley to discuss a small but profound meditation on war, militarization, and neighbour love found in the story of Aldarion and Erendis, from the Unfinished Tales of J. R. R. Tolkien, as...
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32:45
Bloody, Brutal and Barbaric? Q&A with Bill Webb and Gord Oeste
SummaryWe were delighted and honoured that Bill Webb and Gord Oeste, the authors of this excellent work, were willing to take a substantial amount of time to sit down and chat with us about many of the questions that have occurre...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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1:31:00
Bloody, Brutal and Barbaric? Ep.12 The Cross, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus: A Conclusion to Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric?
SummaryIn this final episode, we look at Webb and Oeste’s insightful final chapter. Here, they look at how the death, resurrection, and final victory of Jesus forever changes – and in fact undoes – the place of warfare and violen...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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54:00
Bloody, Brutal and Barbaric? Ep. 11 Yahweh as an Uneasy War God?
SummaryIn this episode, we look at a number of the texts that describe God in the Old Testament as a warrior, and then at many of the texts that suggest that God is uncomfortable being associated with physical violence. We also d...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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1:00:04
Bloody, Brutal and Barbaric? Ep. 10 Ancient War Atrocities and Our Modern Context
SummaryIn this difficult and sobering episode, we look at a range of ancient – and not-so-ancient – war practices that were common in the Ancient Near East. But though we talk about what these horrific practices entailed (we hope,...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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37:18
Bloody, Brutal and Barbaric? Ep. 9 The Relationship between “Drive Out” and “Total Kill”
SummaryIn this episode, we dive into how Webb and Oeste explain the relationship between the "drive out" and "total kill" instructions in Scripture. We see that it doesn’t make sense for them to be two words for the same thing, bu...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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27:12
Bloody, Brutal and Barbaric? Ep. 8, 1 Samuel 15: Church Leadership, Repentance, and Hard Conversations
SummaryWhile Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric? is about the Canaanite conquest, as we read the chapter on Saul and the Amalekites, we couldn’t help but notice how strongly it is highlighted that Saul is an unfit leader, who cares abo...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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59:24
Bloody, Brutal and Barbaric? Ep.7 1 Samuel 15 and Hyperbole
SummaryIn a slightly short episode, we talk about 1 Samuel 15, and some of the ways in which it seems, at first glance, to be a challenge to Webb and Oeste’s suggestion that hyperbole is an extensive part of how war instructions ...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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26:33
Bloody, Brutal and Barbaric? Ep. 6 Hyperbole
SummaryIn this episode, we talk through chapters 8-10 of Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric?, which address the use of hyperbole in the conquest narratives, and addresses some of the arguments against hyperbole. We talk about reading t...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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47:07
Bloody, Brutal and Barbaric? Ep. 5 War Rape, Part 2
SummaryIn an equally difficult second part to our conversation on war rape, we begin to unpack what Ancient Near Eastern war practices looked like with regards to enemy women, in order to understand how the law in Deuteronomy 21:1...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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33:56
Bloody, Brutal and Barbaric? Ep. 4 War Rape Part 1
SummaryIn part one of this very uncomfortable episode, we try to think through the issue of forced marriage and war rape as addressed in Deuteronomy 21:10-14. We wrestle with our disgust for the practice, trying to see it through ...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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33:03
Bloody, Brutal and Barbaric? Ep. 3 Traditional Answers and Reading Redemptively Part Two
SummaryCarrying on from the prior episode, we continue to talk about divine purpose and human failings, messy toddlers, and the sometimes painful results and moral grey areas wrought by the actions of humans who are in process. An...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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29:53
Bloody, Brutal and Barbaric? Ep.2 Traditional Answers and Reading Redemptively Part One
SummaryWith less awkwardness and a little more laughter, we talk about chapters 2-4 of Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric. We think about the trouble with traditional answers to the Canaanite conquest and the importance of pers...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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33:53
Bloody, Brutal and Barbaric? Ep.1 Introduction and Slaughtering Children
SummaryIn our inaugural episode, we give an overview of some of the biblical texts that talk about the slaughter of innocents and war rape that rightly cause us such ethical discomfort. Pushing through the awkwardness of never ha...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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40:59