Dr. Nijay Gupta (DPhil, University of Durham) is a professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary and has written several academic books including A Beginner’s Guide to New Testament Studies, Paul and the Language of Faith, 15 New Testament Words of Life, and Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church. He has co-edited The State of New Testament Studies, Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (2nd ed.), and The State of Pauline Studies. He's also the author of the recent book Strange Religion: How the First Christians Were Weird, Dangerous, and Compelling, which for ..read more

As the author of Not Forsaken: A Story of Life After Abuse and the recently released Defiant Joy: Find the Hope to Light Your Way, Even in Darkness, Jennifer Michelle Greenberg has risen to become one of the foremost voices against child abuse in the church. She writes for Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, and the Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention. In this conversation, Jennifer tells her raw story of experiencing ongoing physical, emotional, and sexual abuse from her father and how she took steps toward healing. We also talk about how churches can do a better job at preventing ..read more

Dr. Caryn Reeder (Ph.D. Cambridge) is professor of New Testament at Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California. Her research focuses on questions of gender, the household, women's lives, slavery, and violence in the biblical worlds. In this podcast, we discuss her book The Samaritan Woman's Story: Reconsidering John 4 After #ChurchToo. Caryn offers a fresh and more historically accurate interpretation of John 4 and then we discuss the problem of abuse in the church. Support Theology in the Raw through Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theologyintheraw ..read more

Jason Woodruff is the founder of The Pour Over, a Christian news organization with over half a million subscribers. The Pour Over is both a podcast and Newsletter that focus on providing limited news content that is not partisan or aimed and telling you how you should feel about the events they're reporting on, but simply tells you what's going on while reminding us of our allegiance to Christ and his kingdom. In this conversation, we talk all about how mainstream news outlets can (and often do) have a devastating effect on our minds and hearts, and often produce anything but the fruits of the ..read more

Dr. Elizabeth Phillips (Ph.D. Cambridge) is Director of Education and Engagement at the Woolf Institute, an interfaith institute in Cambridge, England. She teaches political theology and conflict transformation. Her latest book is Apocalyptic Theopolitics: Essays and Sermons on Eschatology, Ethics, and Politics, and her earlier book, Political Theology: A Guide for the Perplexed, is an introduction to political theology and serves as the backdrop of our podcast conversation. Support Theology in the Raw through Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theologyintheraw ..read more

In this bonus Q & A episode, I respond to loads of questions sent in from my Patrons, including: What are my thoughts on the rapture? Is it better for people to be an affirming church than in no church at all? Does my stance on non-violence prevent me from using force to rescue those in human trafficking? What are my thoughts on the "he gets us" ad from the Super Bowl? How can faith communities better support and honor single people? What is the orthodox way of thinking about women made in God's image when God is not female? If women preached the first Easter sermon, why can't they teach i ..read more

In this second episode on Kephale, I begin by looking at how Paul uses Kephale in Ephesians 1:22 and then 4:15, before jumping into its use in 5:23. I think go into great detail about the genre of "household codes" in the ancient world and how Paul is participating in this kind of conversation. I finally look at Eph 5:21-33 in light of the household code genre and examine several features in this passage that will help us understand the meaning and function of "head" (Kephale) in 5:23. I end up following a similar reading that Michelle Lee-Barnewall offers in her outstanding article: "Turning ..read more

Sandra Glahn is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary and the author most recently of Nobody's Mother. She's also the general editor of the fascinating book: Vindicating the Vixens: Revisiting Sexualized, Vilified, and Marginalized Women of the Bible (Kregel Academic), which forms the basis of our conversation. We talk about the Samaritan Woman, the wealthy women who funded Jesus' ministry (Lk 8:1-3), Tamar (Gen 38), and other misunderstood women in the Bible. We then talk about male/female relationships in the church and how we should best respond to the problem of abuse and misogyny in ..read more

I've been researching the meaning of the Greek word kephale ("head") for the last several months and I've been blogging about my findings over at  theologyintheraw.com This podcast episode is the first (quite long) summary of how I understand the meaning of kephale in extra-biblical Greek literature; namely, the LXX, secular Greek literature, and the early church fathers. In the next episode, I'll work through the meaning of kephale in the book of Ephesians; specifically, its use in 1:22, 4:15, and especially 5:23. Support Theology in the Raw throug ..read more

In this conversation, we talk all about Brandon's previous work in an Orphanage in Moshi, Tanzania, and how he came to realize that Orphanages are doing more harm than good when it comes to caring for orphans and their families. Brandon Stiver is an advocate, educator, and practitioner on behalf of orphans and vulnerable children with a special emphasis on seeing children grow up in families globally and for those families to be strengthened. He is the full-time director for CarePortal in Seattle, and a professor at Vanguard University and a podcaster at Think Global, Do Justice. Support Theol ..read more