Friday, June 12, 2009

NT Pod Episode 1: Matthew's Genealogy

The first episode of the NT Pod begins at the beginning of the canonical New Testament and discusses Matt. 1.1-17 (Matthew's Genealogy).

It is six minutes long. Feel free to leave your comments below.



NT Pod Episode 1: Matthew's Genealogy (mp3)

Key texts: Matthew 1:1-17

Thanks to Ram2000, Me and You, for the opening theme, released under a Creative Commons agreement.

13 comments:

  1. Mark,

    I am excited to listen to this series. I think I will finally have something useful to listen to during my commute up to UCLA!

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  2. Thanks for the encouragement, Kevin!

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  3. Hi, Professor,
    Thank you very much for your new project here. I really appreiciate the first fruit of your NT Podcast.
    I had a blessed experience three years ago when I became a seminary graduate student in China. I had a random

    search in the google with the key words New Testament Studies. Guess what? your NTGateway rank the second just

    after the scholarly journal NTS. I learnt a lot and your website is absolutely helpful to my next three-year study

    at the seminary. It is really a gateway and highway to the NT studies world. Thank you again.
    God bless your life and ministry.

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  4. Thanks for your kind words. Once upon a time the NT Gateway would come out top with a google search on New Testament, but that's been usurped by good old Wikipedia now!

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  5. Could you find a way to paste in the text for the pod too? - makes it easier to search/index/xref/quote etc. (I assume you're not just speaking off the cuff but have prepared some sort of notes for yourself).

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  6. Hi Trevor. I don't have a text for the pod, but plan it in my head and then speak it, so I couldn't provide a text, unfortunately. I intend to tag each pod with relevant phrases and perhaps I should do that a little more broadly than I am at present. Any suggestions?

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  7. Foundyour podcasts by way of Dr. Robert Cargill's recommendation.

    I researched this very topic several years back and wrestled between the two popular theories. I settled with neither being "the reason" for the four women. I agree there are a lot of things at work in this genalogy.
    The thing the four women have in common is that in each of their stories they were all the example of a "greater righteousness". The mention of "the wife of Uriah" I think is meant to stress that Uriah is the righteous man in the story - more righteous than King David. And the genealogy builds up to the story revealing Joseph (a righteous man) doing a more righteous thing than quietly divorcing Mary. And it all prepares the reader for a story of a man who will reveal a righteousness greater than the pharisees.
    Just my take.
    I started leaning away from the sexual theme when I started trying to find how these women were referred to in other literature during early Judaism. Did the Jews in the writer of Matthew's time primarily view these women for their sexual acts/identity as they looked back on the history of Israel?

    Enjoying the podcasts!

    Allen Gillespie

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  8. Thanks, Allen. You make some excellent points here -- thanks.

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  9. I've just found and downloaded these podcasts. I'll listen to them carefully and respond where I can.
    I'm a retired Anglican priest, theologically educated from the sixties - John Robinson to Don Cupitt et al. I was taught New Testament at Kings' College, London by C F Evans. Exhilirating stuff!

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  10. Thanks for downloading, and thanks for dropping by to comment. I thought C. F. Evans was a fine scholar. He once kindly came to a paper I gave on Michael Goulder and he was most encouraging.

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  11. Thanks for doing these Mark - as a London School of Theology [formerly London Bible College] Graduate called now to work in the field of Health & Safety [of all things!!] it is good to have something to stimulate me theologically in bite size bits!
    With regards to this podcast, I wonder whether there is a theme to do with 'uncleanness' here. I have always been struck by the first two miracles where Jesus first of all touches a leper and then straight away goes on to heal a centurian. Both ritually unclean. These women were key to Jewish history and yet they would have been considered to be unclean - as forigners or as women of 'dubious morals'.
    My thinking may have been coloured also by listening to Rob Bell's podcast recently on Matthew's Beatitudes - worth listening to!
    I guess there is something powerful and profoundly anti-establishment about who the people are that God chooses to work with.

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  12. Eric -- many thanks for your interesting comments, and thanks for listening.

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  13. I have been listening to this podcast for awhile.... forgot about it, but It was clearly good enough to remember since I am back again to pay it even more well-deserved attention. When Itunes U was brand new, I found this podcast and wow, what a gem! Thank You SO much for doing this podcast for the 'common' bible students out there who are not students or from a University background. This is (in my opinion) by FAR the most enlightening and high-quality study available (that I have found) on the New Testament. You are an absolute joy to listen to. You give so many wonderful points that help to further personal research into this area (I wish I had had more teachers like you in school!). I hope this site and podcast never get taken down!
    ps. This Episode is particularly interesting, as it discusses the genealogy of Christ in Mathew. It's great how you discuss what the bible (and the writers of it) are trying to communicate in an objective manner - something that is apparent only of serious authorities on the subject and people who truly are familiar with the bible. In fact, one could say the ENTIRE bible is a timeline for God's people - from the festivals God gave for the Jewish people to keep, all the way to the New Testament. This is again why I love how you delve right into Christ's genealogy and the importance of it. It really helps to illuminate everything in the bible and build a deeper foundation for spiritual growth when I begin to understand, learn and study these things. Thank you for adding dimension and clarity to bible verses.

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