Harold Attridge and John Hare discuss faith, doubt, shame, and mystic union in Romans 4:13-25. The text is appointed for the second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 5), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
The Faith of Rabbis and Philosophers (2nd Sunday after Pentecost)
Voiceover Voice:
But one great reading of this is Calvin, who says that we have to think about a “mystic union,” he says. “A mystic union between us and Jesus in Jesus’ death.”
Natalie Owens Pike:
This is Chapter, Verse, and Season: a lectionary podcast from Yale Bible Study. Join us each week as Yale Divinity School professors look at an upcoming text from the Revised Common Lectionary.
I’m your host, Natalie Owens Pike, MDiv class of 2023 here at Yale Divinity School. In this episode, we Harold Attridge, Sterling Professor of Divinity at Yale Divinity School and John Hare, Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology at Yale Divinity School discussing Romans 4:13-25, which is appointed for the Second Sunday after Pentecost, Year A. Here’s the text.
[Romans 4:13-25]
For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there transgression. For this reason the promise depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace so that it may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (who is the father of all of us,
as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”) —in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So shall your descendants be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), and the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore it “was reckoned to him as righteousness.”
Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.
John Hare:
Harry, as a Bible scholar, how do you respond to this passage in Romans 4 about Abraham’s faith being counted as righteousness? And what do you see here as the relationship between faith and righteousness as Paul is thinking about it in Romans 4?
Harold Attridge:
Well, when I think about Romans 4 and Paul’s argument here, there are a couple of things that I like to keep in mind. One is the rhetorical situation that Paul finds himself in, that is, telling people who are attracted to the history and spirituality and practice of ancient Judaism, of traditional Israel: That is to be valued, and it’s the foundation on which the movement of which he’s a part is based, but it’s not necessary, that’s not a necessary condition for relating to God or relating to his instrument for salvation, that is, Jesus Christ. So that’s the general rhetorical situation that he’s in.
And the other thing that is important to keep in mind is that this is not the first time Paul has used an Abraham argument to try to make that point, that is, that we don’t have to get circumcised in order to be participating in the people of God in a significant way. He’s made this argument before in Galatians. And in some ways, the Galatians argument is a little sketchier and less well-developed than what we have here in Romans. Paul has given the argument some thought and expanded it. So, basically what we have is an argument from scripture. He has a passage in Genesis where Abraham believes, and God reckons that belief to him as righteousness. That’s what the scripture text says. And Paul says, “Can we use that in some ways as an indication, or a symbol, of what has transpired with us, that is, that we’ve been given the option to be in relationship with God and we can accept it or not. And that’s what I mean,” Paul says by, by belief. And that’s what happens when we believe: God puts us in that relationship, justifies us,” as it were.
So that’s, that’s what Paul is doing. He’s doing a kind of Midrashic exercise. He’s taking scripture and saying, “There’s something here that’s relevant for our own situation. And we can understand our situation better if we read it through the lens of scripture.” By the time he comes to Romans 4, just the superficial belief leading to justification is not quite enough. He wants to go more deeply into the Abraham story. And he says, “Well, let’s think about what Abraham experienced.” And Abraham experienced the challenge that the death of his son was required by God. My goodness. Wow. That’s a very difficult thing, isn’t it? Why in the world would Abraham be willing to sacrifice his son, which the text and Genesis says that he was? Ah! Abraham must’ve been thinking, thinking about God’s promise, and God promised progeny to him through his son. Therefore his son was going to live, and therefore he can follow God’s command even to kill him, because God can resurrect him. Ah! We see in Abraham a belief in resurrection, “and friends in Rome,” Paul is in effect saying, “You, too, have a belief in resurrection, you, too, are related to God through Christ who is resurrected from the dead. So if you read the whole Abraham story in its fullness, you can realize that you are in a relationship with God. You are justified. Even if you have a process of sanctification yet to come, you have been justified by God through that relationship based upon the resurrection of Christ.”
So, this is a really interesting passage, I think, for showing Paul using scripture, finding in the Abraham story a model of his own understanding of how one relates to God, and then delving deeper into scripture in order to ground that story in a better way, in order to make his argument that, “Yes, we don’t have to get circumcised. Yes. Even Gentiles are welcome as part of the people of God.” So it’s an interesting passage.
John Hare:
Yes. I like thinking of the passage in terms of the story of Abraham and Isaac. But that story of Abraham and Isaac is a very difficult one… for an ethicist, anyway! (Prof. Hare chuckles) If I wake up in the middle of the night (I say this to my students), suppose you wake up in the middle of the night, and you think God is telling you to kill your roommate. Should you go and kill him? (Prof. Hare chuckles) But no, no, that can’t be right. “That’s not the sort of thing that God tells people to do,” you say, but then you think about Abraham. So, I think you’re right. And this is what the Letter to the Hebrews says also, that Abraham thought that Isaac was going to come back to life, and so there was still going to be progeny as “numerous as the sand on the seashore and stars in the sky.” So, there’s a model for faith, faith which Paul says here, it wasn’t weakened by (Prof. Hare uses a Greek term), by “lack of faith.” Actually, “weakened” there is (Prof. Hare uses another Greek term); so, it wasn’t “split up into two.” So it’s not like the Laodiceans, who are neither warm or hot, and God says he’s going to spew them out of his mouth, but Paul says Abraham was “filled up to the brim,” (Prof. Hare uses another Greek term), “brought to fullness” in his belief.
And we should ask, what is the place of doubt in a Christian life, in a faithful person’s life? If you’re faced with something really hard, like Abraham being faced with the requirement to kill his only son whom he loved, is there any place for doubt in that, or if we’re going to have faith like Abraham, does that mean we have to be full up to the brim with faith? That, I think, is a difficult question. I myself think there is a proper place for doubt in a Christian life, but there has to be always a ranking inside yourself: Are you going to put that down first? Or are you going to put your faith first? And there’s a battle inside you.
Harold Attridge:
That’s an important consideration, I think, to keep in mind: faith can’t be a simple thing. And especially if we take ourselves seriously and take our responsibility to think rationally about our faith, we’re going to have moments of doubt. I think we all do, but nonetheless, the struggle goes on and will result, I hope, as it does for Abraham, in a positive outcome. It’s interesting thinking about that story of the Akedah and thinking about how it got underway. It probably was not meant to pose some of these profound philosophical or theological questions. It was probably simply an etiological legend: “Why is it that we have this practice of making an offering of our firstborn son rather than killing him? Well, those other people down the road kill their sons. We don’t, and we don’t because our patriarch had this experience.” So, I think it was that kind of etiological legend that began.
But then, once it’s in trying to scripture, it provides this opportunity for reflection on the relationship between self and God, on the relationship between faith and its grounds, et cetera. And an enormously long tradition has done that, both Jewish and Christian, wrestling with that text, which as soon as you start putting it within that larger framework creates all sorts of difficulties. But Paul, I think is coming at it from that Jewish exegetical and Haggadic tradition and saying, “What can I make of this story that helps me in this moment make my argument and understand where I am about Jews and Gentiles coming together in this, this new people of God?” And Abraham, as someone who believes in resurrection, provides a model for that. So I think we can see what Paul is doing at the same time as we recognize that story has all sorts of difficulties for us if we start getting into it.
John Hare:
The rabbis on the whole took what you call the etiological reading of the story (how do we get animal sacrifice?), and the philosophers have tended, as you say, to take this deeper. I tend to think Paul here is with the philosophers, certainly. He is asking the question about how this story informs us about our relationship to God, our relationship of faith and what to do when reason, or ethical common sense, seems to work against faith; they seem to be in tension with each other. And there Abraham is an example for us as somebody who puts the faith first and puts the doubts aside. And I think we’re being told we should do the same thing.
Harold Attridge:
Yeah, I tend to see Paul a little more on the side of the rabbis than the philosophers. (Both laugh) But the potential is there, and that’s one of the joys of scripture, that it has such potential and has stimulated so broad a range of reactions and reflections.
One other element here that probably is worth noting (and it’s interesting that you mentioned the Epistle to the Hebrews, because that’s developed further there), and that’s the dead womb of Sarah. This same story is picked up and used in Hebrews, but with Sarah probably chiming and believing as well—there’s Paul perhaps missing an opportunity to emphasize gender parity or gender equality here.
John Hare:
There is one other thing we might talk about, which is at the end of this passage. Paul talks about Jesus being delivered over to death for us, and raised to life for our justification. And he seems to have in mind here that we are somehow identified with Jesus in his death, as in 2 Corinthians 5, “one died for all and therefore all have died.” And this is something theologians have tried to understand down the centuries. But one great reading of this is Calvin, who says that we have to think about “a mystic union.” He says, “a mystic union between us and Jesus, in Jesus’ death, so that we die in him.” And then we’re brought back to life in him when he is resurrected. But that might be to launch a conversation for the next minute! (Prof. Hare chuckles)
Harold Attridge:
Well, the seed is sown here in Romans, and Paul picks up that theme a little bit later on and sows the seeds for Calvin’s reading, when he talks about how we’re baptized into the death of Christ, and then we are called to walk in newness of life. Colossians picks up the same language, but without the sort of notion of “we are called to,” or “we should”; it’s rather that “we have been resurrected.” So that there’s some identification with Christ, that’s clear in Paul’s notions of salvation, his soteriology, if you will, an identification of Christ that’s ritually enacted through baptism, and probably ritually enacted in other ways too (Paul talks about the last supper in 1 Corinthians, that recalls the death of Christ until he comes again), and we participate somehow in that, through that action. So I think Paul is reflecting on the experience of a Christian worshiping communities when he uses this kind of language. And in that experience comes that notion of identification with Christ, both in his death and his resurrection, both of which we somehow participate in, in the here and now.
Exactly how that identification is supposed to work–clearly the theological tradition has had a long history of wrestling with that. There’s also wrestling with it within the new Testament. I think the Epistle to the Hebrews, which we’ve mentioned a time or two, knows this Pauline language, and wrestles with it, and wrestles with it in terms of its understanding of the covenant relationship and the promises of God to forgive. And that’s how it all happens. So you have different ways of making sense of this language that appealed to Christians from the get-go and was a part of their daily experience and their ritual experience them in every community that they were in. So I think it remains a theological issue today.
John Hare:
One thing that makes it harder for us than it was for Paul, is that we’ve, I think, lost a sense of how one person could be ashamed of what another person does. So how is it that Jesus could take on our sins? And we’ve become in our culture allergic, I think, to the sharing of responsibility of that kind, to thinking that one person could become ashamed of what another person has done. But I think in the ancient world in general, but in Paul in particular, that notion was much more familiar, that shame could be shared in that sort of way.
Harold Attridge:
Yeah. A lot of my colleagues like to talk about the honor shame culture that was wrapped around all of these texts and these people that we’re talking about. And yes, Christ took on our shame.
Natalie Owens Pike:
Thanks for listening.
Chapter, Verse, and Season is a production of the Center for Continuing Education at Yale Divinity School. It’s produced by: Creator and Managing Editor, Joel Baden; Executive Producer, Helena Martin; Production Manager, Kelly Morrissey; Associate Producer, Aidan Stoddart; and I’m your host, Natalie Owens Pike. Mixing on today’s episode, and our theme music, are by Calvin Linderman.
We’ll be back with another conversation from Chapter, Verse, and Season.
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Acts
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New Revised Standard Version Bible
Copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Host and Executive Producer: Helena Martin
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Creator and Managing Editor: Joel Baden
Assistant Producer: Aidan Stoddart
Music: Calvin Linderman
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Jennifer Herdt and Jere Wells discuss justice, abundance, and the spiritual power of leftovers in Matthew 14:13-21. The text is appointed for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 13) in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Justin Crisp and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss praise, transaction, and God’s action in history in Psalm 105:1-11. The text is appointed for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 12), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Almeda Wright and Kate Ott discuss the messages of dreams and mundane reality in Genesis 28:10-19a. The text is appointed for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 11) in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Bill Goettler and Joanne Jennings discuss applying the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23) to our own dynamic lives of faith. The text is appointed for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 10), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Volker Leppin and Vasileios Marinis discuss environmental justice, co-creation, and the kingdom of God in Psalm 145:8-14. The text is appointed for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 9) in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Bill Goettler and Joanne Jennings discuss hard truths and be in-dwelled by Christ in Romans 6:12–23. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 8), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss Jesus’ scarier proclamations in Matthew 10:24-39. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 7), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Sarah Drummond discuss hospitality, laughter, and the complexity of Sarah as a character in Genesis 18:1-15. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 6), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Justin Crisp and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss rest, reveling, and revelation in Genesis 1:1–2:4a The text is appointed for Trinity Sunday, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Awet Andemicael and Adam Eitel discuss diversity, reversal, and the power of the Spirit in Acts 2:1-21 and John 20:19-23. The text is appointed for the Day of Pentecost in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss righteousness, liberation, and vulnerability in Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35. The text is appointed for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Almeda Wright and Kate Ott discuss suffering, meaning, and unjust power structures in 1 Peter 3:13-22. The text is appointed for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Mark Heim and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss prophecy, interfaith reading, and incarnation in John 14:1-14. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Jacqueline Vayntrub and Christian Wiman discuss paradox, poetry, and life beyond death in Psalm 23. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joanne Jennings and Bill Goettler discuss divine encounter and human conversation in Luke 24:13-35. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Mark Heim and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss interfaith perspectives on the story of Easter in conversation with John 20:19-31. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss power, peace and healing in Acts 10:34-43. The text is appointed for Easter Day, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
John Collins and Jennifer Herdt discuss the problem of suffering, the impact of loss, and the resilience of human nature in Job 14:1-14 and 1 Peter 4:1-8. The text is appointed for Holy Saturday, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Justin Crisp and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss Christology, glory, and exclusion in John 18:1–19:42. The text is appointed for Good Friday in the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Sarah Drummond discuss sacrificial practice, identity markers, and imagined history in Exodus 12:1-14. The text is appointed for Maundy Thursday in the Revised Common Lectionary.
Volker Leppin and Vasileios Marinis discuss crucifixion, suffering, obedience, and solidarity in Philippians 2:5-11. The text is appointed for the Liturgy of the Passion (Palm Sunday), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Yejide Peters Pietersen and Bill Goettler discuss miracles, healing, and grief in John 11:1-45. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss the role of Joseph, the divine potential of dreams, and membership in the Holy Family in Matthew 1:18-25. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss life in the wilderness for the Israelites, being tested and testing God in Exodus 17:1-7. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday in Lent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Mark Heim and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss blessing, migration, and the inspiring legacy of Abraham across religious traditions in Genesis 12:1-4a. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday in Lent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss seduction, curiosity, craftiness, and misogyny in Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7. The text is appointed for the First Sunday in Lent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss leadership, inherited stories, and transfiguring moments in Exodus 24:12-18 and Matthew 17:1-9. The texts are appointed for Transfiguration Sunday, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Almeda Wright and Kate Ott discuss pedagogy, mixed metaphors, ageism, and spiritual growth in 1 Corinthians 3:1-9. The text is appointed for the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Volker Leppin and Vasileios Marinis discuss hypocrisy, reward systems, righteousness, and religious performance in Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12). The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Justin Crisp and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss blessedness, poverty, consolation, and the dangers of transactional theology in Matthew 5:1-12. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joanne Jennings and Bill Goettler discuss living with both faith and fear in Psalm 27:1, 4-9. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss the story of John the Baptist, a wild and perhaps uncertain character, in John 1:29-42. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss Messianism, prophetic gentleness, and hermeneutical approaches in Isaiah 42:1-9. The text is appointed for the First Sunday after the Epiphany, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Vasileios Marinis and Volker Leppin discuss human nature, sovereignty over creation, and preacherly responsibility with reference to Psalm 8. The text is appointed for the First Sunday after Christmas, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Yejide Peters Pietersen and Bill Goettler discuss the spirit of children, the multiplicity of interpretation, and pastoral responsibility at Christmas, with reference to Luke 2:1-14 (15-20). The text is appointed for Christmas Eve in the Revised Common Lectionary.
Mark Heim and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss Christian and Muslim interpretations of the Nativty of Jesus, with special reference to Matthew 1:18-25. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Judith Gundry and Adam Eitel discuss patience, endurance of suffering, and the challenges of family conflict in James 5:7-10. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday of Advent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss the imagined future of the glorious kingdom in Isaiah 11:1-10 and Romans 15:4-13. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday of Advent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
AndrewMcGowan and Ned Parker discuss the holiness of divine absence and the anticipation of things to come in Matthew 24:36-44. The text is appointed for the First Sunday of Advent in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss colonial narratives, indigenous theology, and the downsides of going to a “Promised Land” in Deuteronomy 26:1-11. The text is appointed for Thanksgiving Day (USA), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss Hebrew vocabulary, shepherd imagery, and the legacy of King David in Jeremiah 23:1-6. The text is appointed for the Feast of Christ the King (Proper 29), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss eschatology, aspiration, and ancient Near Eastern curse formulations in Isaiah 65:17-25. The text is appointed for the Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 28), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
John Collins and Jennifer Herdt discuss poverty, apocalyptic imagery, and economic justice in reference to Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18 and Luke 6:20-31. The text is appointed for All Saints’ Day, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Harold Attridge and Greg Sterling discuss redemption, the proper use of wealth, and the strange company Jesus keeps in Luke 19:1-10. The text is appointed for the Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 26, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Awet Andemicael and Adam Eitel discuss shame, redemption, and rehabilitation in Joel 2:23-32. The text is appointed for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 25, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss punishment, free will, and the dangers of metaphor in Jeremiah 31:27-34. The text is appointed for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 24, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Jacqueline Vayntrub and Christian Wiman discuss joy, salvation history, and chicken guts in Psalm 66:1-12. The text is appointed for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 23, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss trauma, hope, and poetic Hebrew in Lamentations 1:1-6 and 3:19-26. The text is appointed for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 22), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss faith, ritual performance, and divine blessing in Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16. The text is appointed for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 21), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Justin Crisp and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss capitalism, shrewdness, and the logic of parables in Luke 16:1-13. The text is appointed for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 20), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
John Collins and Jennifer Herdt discuss the undoing of creation, fidelity, and false prophets in Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28. The text is appointed for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 19, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Eric Reymond discuss precarity, God as creator and destroyer, and the potter metaphor in Jeremiah 18:1-11. The text is appointed for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 18, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss humility, reversing the status quo, speaking truth to power in Sirach 10:12-18. The text is appointed for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 17, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Christian Wiman and Jacqueline Vayntrub discuss justice, prayer and action, and getting God's attention in Isaiah 58:9b-14. The text is appointed for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 16, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Erika Helgen and Chloë Starr discuss faith heroes through history, triumphant faith, and the role of sin in Hebrews 11:29-12:2. The text is appointed for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 15, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Greg Sterling and Harry Attridge discuss women in early Christian communities, eschatology, and faith as a matter of the heart in Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16. The text is appointed for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 14, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Judith Gundry and Adam Eitel discuss possession, wealth, and covetousness in Luke 12:13-21. The text is appointed for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 13, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Tisa Wenger and Joel Baden discuss bargaining, God and Abraham's new relationship, and the righteous of Sodom and Gamorrah in Genesis 18:20-32. The text is appointed for Track 2 on the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 12, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Andrew McGowan and Ned Parker discuss Mary and Martha, extroversion, and authenticity in Luke 10:38-42. The text is appointed for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 11, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Volker Leppin and Vasileios Marinis discuss poverty, God's expectations, and our responsibilities to one another in Psalm 82. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 10, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Eric Reymond discuss kings, skin diseases, and prophetic power in 2 Kings 5:1-14. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 9, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Erika Helgen and Chloë Starr discuss prophetic leadership, sudden loss, and mentorship in 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 8, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Harold Attridge and John Hare discuss gender identity, ethnic dynamics, and changes of the heart in Galatians 3:23-29. The text is appointed for Proper 7, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss joy, multiculturalism, and feminine language in Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31. The text is appointed for Trinity Sunday, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Volker Leppin and Vasileios Marinis discuss signs and wonders, Hebrew Bible connections, the promise of salvation, and more in Acts 2:1-21. The text is appointed for Pentecost, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Yejide Peters Pietersen and Bill Goettler discuss love-songs, community, and connection in reference to John 17:20-26. The text is appointed for the Feast of the Ascension, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Erika Helgen and Chloë Starr discuss social justice, human failure, and heavenly hope in Revelation 21:10, 22–22:5. The text is appointed for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Eric Reymond discuss poetic structure, creation language, and the mechanics of praise in Psalm 148. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Andrew McGowan and Ned Parker discuss whiteness, danger, and comfort in Revelation 7:9-17. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Harold Attridge and Gregory Sterling discuss Resurrection encounters and calls to action in Acts 9:1-20 and John 21:1-19. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday of Easter, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Mark Heim and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss doubt, trauma, and the value of “Doubting Thomas” in John 20:19-31. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday of Easter, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Harry Attridge and John Hare discuss faith, uncertainty, and the power of emotion in John 20:1-18. The text is appointed for Easter Day, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss the construction of stories, Christian supersessionism, and the legacy of Christian storytelling in relation to Genesis 22:1-18. The text is appointed for the Easter Vigil, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Judy Gundry and Adam Eitel discuss the innocence of Jesus, divine kingship, and more in John 18:1-19:42. The text is appointed for Good Friday, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
John Collins and Jennifer Herdt discuss enslavement imagery, Passover liberation, and models of service in Exodus 12:1-14 and John 13:1-17. The texts are appointed for Maundy Thursday, in all three years of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Andrew McGowan and Ned Parker discuss community, sacrament, and suffering in Luke 22:14-23:56. The text is appointed for the Palm Sunday, the Liturgy of the Passion, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Tisa Wenger and Joel Baden discuss divine violence, colonialism, and the notion of “wilderness” in Isaiah 43:16-21. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Yejide Peters Pietersen and Bill Goettler discuss reconciliation, spiritual role-models, and what it means to “become the righteousness of God” with reference to 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. The text is appointed for the 4th Sunday in Lent, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Judith Gundry and Adam Eitel discuss repentance, leniency, and divine warnings in Luke 13:1-9. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday in Lent, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Eric Reymond discuss inheritance, offspring, and the promises of God in Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday in Lent, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Harold Attridge and John Hare discuss the possibility of being in relationship with God in Romans 10:8b-13. The text is appointed for the First Sunday in Lent, March 6, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss the healing and transforming power of God in Luke 9:28-43. The text is appointed for Transfiguration Sunday, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Sarah Drummond and Joel Baden discuss forgiveness and the sibling dynamics at work in Genesis 45:3-11,15. The text is appointed for the Seventh Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss Jesus’ blessings and warnings in Luke 6:17-26. The text is appointed for the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany, Sunday, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Jacqueline Vayntrub and Christian Wiman discuss the difference between verse and prose in Isaiah 6:1-13. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Sarah Drummond and Joel Baden discuss reluctant prophets and God’s will in Jeremiah 1:4-10. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Erika Helgen and Chloe Starr discuss the church universal and love as the basis for the exercise of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss recognizing God in the midst of community and the diversity of gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss the power of God in Psalm 29. The text is appointed for the First Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Awet Andemicael and Adam Eitel discuss the mystery, language and lyricism in John 1:1-18. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday after Christmas, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Gregory Sterling and Harold Attridge discuss the humanity of young Jesus and the role of Mary as mother in Luke 2:41-52. The text is appointed for the First Sunday after Christmas, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Sarah Drummond and Joel Baden discuss birth, kingship and signs of God’s redemption in Isaiah 9:2-7. The text is appointed for Christmas (Proper 1), December 24, Years A, B, and C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss the Magnificat and our understanding of Mary through the ages in relation to Luke 1:46b-55. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday of Advent (Advent 4), Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Sarah Drummond discuss hope, apathy, and why the context of prophecy matters in Zephaniah 3:14-20. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday of Advent (Advent 3), Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss disaster and hope, glory, and reversal in Baruch 5:1-9. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday of Advent (Advent 2), Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss messianic prophecy, timelessness, and historic context in Jeremiah 33:14-16. The text is appointed for the First Sunday of Advent (Advent 1), Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Chapter, Verse, and Season gives listeners the opportunity to overhear the kinds of conversations that take place in the halls of Yale Divinity School. Each week, professors from different theological disciplines chat about biblical texts from the Revised Common Lectionary. They bring their own interests to the table and hopefully spark new insights into the scripture appointed for each Sunday.