After Class

The guys finish their mini-series on Israel by focusing on the New Testament. How will God fulfill his promises to the Jewish people? Are the people living in Israel today included in those promises and should Christians involve themselves in the turmoil of the middle east?

This week the guys continue their focus on Israel - specifically what does "Israel" even mean?  Is it a people group - is it a single person - is it a land with specific boundaries? The guys walk through the Old Testament and describe the development of "Israel".

This week the guys lay the groundwork for a new After Class series centered on Modern Israel. The land of Israel/Palestine tends to be in a nearly constant state of turmoil. Do Christians have skin in the game?

This week the guys change speed and offer a movie review. Tune in to catch the highs and lows of the Hollywood spin on the life of Samson.

The book of Revelation is on stage this week as the After Class guys wrap up their discussion of apocalyptic literature. As we discovered last week with Daniel, history is key to our understanding and interpretation. Apocalyptic texts have a message of radical faithfulness for the church and if we cut the strings to the historical context we risk distorting that message, or losing it all together.

This week the After Class guys walk through relevant sections of Daniel to demonstrate the process for deciphering, interpreting, and understanding apocalyptic literature. You might be surprised to know the process leans more heavily on understanding historical events rather than future ones.

This week the guys (aka..... ACP) focus on the last remaining biblical genre - apocalypse. This discussion will be covered in multiple doses as apocalyptic literature is complicated and tends to be abused more than any other genre. Thankfully it has its own rules and conventions, just like every other genre, to aid us in our understanding.

Hey ACP listeners, this week we're diving into biblical letters. How did their unique voice function in the early church and how should we read and understand their situation-specific teachings? We would love to have you join and interact with the discussion.

Wisdom literature has unique characteristics when compared to other biblical genres: no mention of Torah, no specific commands from God, no mention of God's work in salvation history, etc. This week the guys define biblical Wisdom and explain how to understand it in light of its intended function.

Next to narrative, poetry is the second most used genre in the Bible. This week the guys discuss biblical poetry - how to read and understand it on its own terms and how to use it well when constructing theology.

The After Class Podcast gets back to the basics of biblical interpretation this week and zeroes in on biblical narrative. Biblical history is often shared in narrative form and it's important to understand how the narrative genre functions. The guys offer some tips for understanding biblical narrative on the basis of its own rules and expectations.

This week the guys wrap up their series on the strengths and weaknesses of digital discipleship with the last five commandments of the "Techalogue". Join the discussion as the guys cover the temptations and pitfalls of social media and all things digital.

The guys are ready to wrap up their discussion on digital discipleship by offering a unique mash-up of the Ten Commandments and the Fruit of the Spirit - "The Techalogue". Here's some practical tips for how to interact with social media in a faithful and Christ-centered way.

This week the guys get into the strengths and liabilities of "synchronous" digital discipleship - Zoom, Facebook Live, online worship, etc. They also dive into the possibilities of "cyber" church - is it a viable option for the future church? Is it something the church should prepare for and be ready to embrace?

The guys are on the second week of their digital discipleship topic. This week's episode focuses on "asynchronous" digital media - media that we interact with not in real time. The ACP podcast is an example of this type of media. There are some great digital resources out there for the church today and the guys offer some pros and cons. 

The guys take a break from the Intro to Biblical Interpretation series to engage the topic of digital discipleship.  How would Jesus have interacted with technology and the internet? What does a healthy approach to technology look like for the Church?

After taking John's most recent After Class pop quiz the guys dive into the topic of tradition and its relationship to Scripture. Church tradition can be one of those issues that polarizes and separates us - even from one church building to another. Fortunately there are some relevant New Testament passages that can help us navigate between the options. 

This week the guys get into more detail about how the biblical canon was formed as they share the timeline for when the New Testament books were recognized as canon by the early church.  Not all of the NT books were immediately recognized as "Scripture" by the early church and getting the Bible as we have it today was more of a process than you may think.  

The guys dive into the topic of canonization this week. How did we get the Bible and all 66 books as we have them? Who decided which writings made it in and which writings were relegated as merely interesting, but not inspired Scripture? Can we trust that process? The guys share what we know for sure and discuss some of the areas that are slightly more murky.

Ever wonder how we got the Bible as we have it? This week the guys discuss how the Story of the Bible started as oral traditions in a primarily oral culture and over centuries made it to the written form we have today. With so many steps along the way - can we be certain of its credibility and trust that it's not been tampered with?  Absolutely!  Listen in as the guys explain the process.