Jennifer Garcia Bashaw is back, and her timing is, as always, impeccable. We recorded this conversation about her new book on biblical interpretation right after Al Mohler announced that women cannot, in fact, teach the Bible on podcasts. So we did the only honest thing. We talked about scripture for an hour. Serving Up Scripture is the book Jennifer co-wrote with Aaron Higashi, and it uses a cooking metaphor that does what good metaphors do — gives you somewhere to stand while you realize the kitchen has been on fire the whole time. We walked through the four questions every passage requires (historical, literary, ideological, theological), put the woman saved from stoning on stage one more time, read Cato's instructions to Roman husbands whose wives commit adultery (a useful reminder that the Pastorals were the moderate position in their cultural context), and ended up where we always do — at the very different things you find in Paul depending on which Paul you are reading. Plus the news Al Mohler should have led the broadcast with: the Bible Divas podcast just launched, and all four are coming to Theology Beer Camp in October.

Here’s the Bible Divas on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.

Join our Online Summit - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Unsettled Ground: Faith & the American Story at 250⁠⁠⁠⁠

This summer, Diana Butler Bass and I are launching Faith at 250 — ⁠⁠⁠⁠an online summit⁠⁠⁠⁠ featuring scholars like Randall Balmer, Juan Floyd-Thomas, Elesha Coffman, and more, each offering their own take on religion and America at 250 years. We built it so faith communities have something honest and substantive to turn to when the nationalist narratives start flying. Sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.TheologySummit.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ to get access to every lecture, livestream, and discussion guide. The summit is donation-based, including 0.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices