495: Session 9 Capstone

Summary

Podcast Summary: The BEMA Podcast – Episode 495: Session 9 Capstone (February 5, 2026)

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Main Theme and Purpose

This episode serves as the capstone for Session 9 of The BEMA Podcast—a reflective, communal, and heartfelt wrap-up with the entire teaching team. The episode honors the memory of co-host Josh Bosse (featuring his final recorded session), reviews Session 9’s major thematic series, discusses the influence of Dr. Walter Brueggemann, and shares personal updates and community happenings. The team celebrates their evolving rhythm as educators and the impact of their shared journey, while also sprinkled with their signature camaraderie and humor.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

A Tribute and Content Warning: Remembering Josh Bosse

• The episode opens with Marty Solomon and Brent Billings preparing listeners for the emotional impact of hearing Josh Bosse’s voice, as this was the final episode recorded before his passing ([01:07]).
  • “If this experience of hearing his voice is too hard for any reason... you need to be free to skip this episode.” – Brent Billings ([02:28])
  • A note is given that Josh’s wife, Sophia, supported the use of Josh’s final recordings.

Emily’s Poem in Honor of Josh

• Listener Emily reads a moving poem about loss, memory, and hope in honor of Josh ([03:48]):
  • “and you'll notice the pain becomes softness and memories of love and space for something new and the world will turn.” – Emily ([04:48])

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Personal Updates from the Team ([05:08]–[20:58])

• Elle Grover Fricks: Welcomed a new baby, Fia. “Literally a really cute baby from what I've heard… We love her so much.” ([13:55])
• Reid Dent and Marty Solomon: Announce their co-authored book, The Gospel of Being Human, second in the Asking Better Questions series, coming April 2026 ([15:15]).
• Brent Billings: Has a new German Shepherd puppy, Maple, with her own Instagram ([16:34]).
• Reid Dent: Celebrates his wife, Leanne Dent, earning her PhD ([17:28]).
• Josh Bosse: Updates on his cancer journey – finishing first round of chemo, mentions a Caring Bridge for updates ([18:12]).
  • “I'm still here. I'm still alive, still, still doing the thing. And... the fact that we've been able to do all this even in the midst of me battling cancer, is a point in favor of us having figured it out...” – Josh Bosse ([19:45])

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Celebrating Session 9’s Structure & Rhythms ([07:27]–[20:58])

• Dual-track recording—simultaneous reboot of Session 1 and new Session 9 episodes ([10:23]).
  • Amber contributed a well-received companion resource for the reboot.
  • “It's the same old good stuff with just a little bit more goodness into it.” – Reid Dent ([11:34])
• Enhanced production with the addition of an assistant editor ([12:58]).
• Ongoing gratitude for listener financial support, which funds these innovations ([13:17]).

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Series Recaps and Reflections ([21:04]–[33:27])

1. Hosea Series ([21:23]–[23:30])

• “We did a verse by verse journey through that book. I continue to love all the episodes where I get to share with these co-hosts…” – Marty Solomon ([21:23])
• Elle highlights Marty’s conclusion on God’s rescue and faithfulness in Hosea 14 ([22:27]).
  • “What do you have to do with Idols? I love that.” – Elle Grover Fricks ([22:27])
• Brent leaves in surprise audio of Elle singing Tarzan in the postscript, showcasing their fun, informal moments ([23:08]).

2. Talmudic Matthew ([23:30]–[24:53])

• Elle leads a deep dive, exploring dialogue between Matthew’s Gospel and the Talmud.
  • “Nerdy, bookish, detail-oriented people unite. These are my people.” – Elle Grover Fricks ([24:53])
• Team notes how each co-host has a devoted audience drawn to their unique style ([25:18]–[26:02]).

3. Vice and Virtue (Aquinas) Series ([26:02]–[29:20])

• Reed Dent tackles character formation through the lens of Aquinas, surprising listeners by making classical Christian theology “BEMA-flavored.”
  • “You can find good stuff in many places if you will just try to let anybody be your teacher.” – Reid Dent ([26:50])
• Marty and Brent appreciate fresh theological conversations beyond usual Jewish contexts ([27:43]).
• “Working on your character is pretty punk rock, right?” – Elle Grover Fricks ([28:47])

4. Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) ([29:31]–[33:29])

• Led by Josh, featuring dense, layered wisdom literature and its “Ramez structure” (hinting/alluding).
  • “A lot of stuff came out of that. That was way more than I bargained for.” – Josh Bosse ([29:54])
• Elle praises the treatment for taking difficult books verse by verse, rather than just summarizing themes ([32:44]).

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Other Content Highlights

Special/Bonus Content ([33:44]–[41:14])

• The Chosen: Ongoing analysis and behind-the-scenes insights from seasons 4 and 5, with an anticipated interview with Dallas Jenkins, the show’s creator ([33:44]).
• Interviews: Notable guests from Christian academia, writing, and the wider BEMA community. Each interview is briefly discussed, often with anecdotes and continued relationships.
  • “Perhaps our most ambitious interview: Bema Kokomo… If there's anything that's gotten close to Tohu va vohu, that was it.” – Marty Solomon ([37:40])

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Honoring Walter Brueggemann ([41:23]–[47:08])

• Recognizing the passing of the renowned Old Testament scholar during Session 9.
  • “We owe a great deal to Brueggemann.” – Elle Grover Fricks ([41:23])
• Brent recaps Brueggemann’s influence—seven doctorates, nearly 60 books (Wikipedia), and over 169 publications in total ([41:57]).
• Elle and Reid reflect on favorite Brueggemann works:
  • “Finally Comes the Poet… did something transformative and powerful for the way that I think of the preaching act.” – Reid Dent ([43:45])
  • “First introduction to thinking about the prophets as different voices talking about the same things with different rooted emotionality...” – Elle Grover Fricks ([45:14])
• Marty recounts just missing an opportunity to interview Brueggemann, and the scholar’s immense influence on BEMA and broader theological study ([46:16]).

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Closing Thoughts and Team Gratitude ([47:47]–[49:08])

• The team expresses ongoing gratitude to supporters:
  • “We are here because people believe in what we're doing and, and want to enable us and support us to continue that work. And we're blessed by that.” – Elle Grover Fricks ([48:38])
• Lighthearted jokes about titles, merch, and internal camaraderie.
  • “Never be surprised by a surprise.” – Team refrain and inside joke ([48:00], [50:02])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I love our team. It's not getting worse, it's getting better.” – Marty Solomon ([48:31])
• “If this experience of hearing [Josh’s] voice is too hard... you need to be free to skip this episode.” – Brent Billings ([02:28])
• "You can find good stuff in many places if you will just try to let anybody be your teacher." – Reid Dent ([26:50])
• “Why mine gold if we're not going to share it?” – Elle Grover Fricks ([23:13])
• “Nerdy, bookish, detail-oriented people unite. These are my people.” – Elle Grover Fricks ([24:53])
• “Working on your character is pretty punk rock, right?” – Elle Grover Fricks ([28:47])
• “Stay in the room with the king.” – Listener callback from Kohelet ([32:07])
• “Never be surprised by a surprise.” – Team refrain ([48:00], [50:02])
• “We owe a great deal to Brueggemann.” – Elle Grover Fricks ([41:23])

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Timestamps of Important Segments

• [01:07] – Content warning regarding Josh Bosse’s voice
• [03:48] – Emily reads a poem for Josh
• [05:08]–[20:23] – Personal updates from each co-host
• [21:23]–[23:30] – Hosea Series recap
• [23:30]–[24:53] – Talmudic Matthew reflections
• [26:02]–[29:20] – Vice and Virtue (Aquinas) recap
• [29:31]–[33:29] – Kohelet/Ecclesiastes discussion
• [33:44]–[41:14] – The Chosen, Interviews, and Bonus Content
• [41:23]–[47:08] – Remembering Walter Brueggemann
• [47:47]–[49:08] – Gratitude, closing reflections, inside jokes

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Tone and Style

The conversation is warm, authentic, and often humorous, richly layered with personal connection, scholarly reflection, and informal, inside-joke banter. While the episode carries the weight of loss and the passing of both a beloved co-host and a respected scholar, it is ultimately marked by hope, collegiality, celebration, and an ethos of continual growth and teamwork.

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For Further Engagement

• Visit baymadiscipleship.com for show notes, cited resources (including Brueggemann’s works), and to contact the team.
• Find updates on co-hosts, upcoming books, bonus materials, and the Caring Bridge for Josh Bosse.
• Listeners are encouraged to start at the beginning of the podcast for a structured journey through the Bible.

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Final Note

This episode not only reviews an accomplished season of biblical exploration and spiritual formation, but stands itself as a living testament to a communal journey—a space of laughter, tears, growth, and friendship—across the shifting chapters of life and faith.

Transcript

[Marty Solomon]

Hey everybody, it's Marty and you are about ready to listen to the capstone.

[Brent Billings]

Episode of Session 9 here on the Behemoth podcast.

[Marty Solomon]

And this was the last thing that we ever recorded together.

[Brent Billings]

Oh boy. Geez. Hey everybody, it's Marty and this is Wowzers.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah.

[Brent Billings]

Yeah.

[Marty Solomon]

Hey everybody, this is Marty and you are about ready to listen to the.

[Brent Billings]

Capstone episode of Session 9 here on the Behmoth podcast.

[Marty Solomon]

And this was the last thing that.

[Brent Billings]

We ever recorded with Josh before he passed away.

[Marty Solomon]

And whenever we've had an episode during the end of this session after his.

[Brent Billings]

Passing, we've wanted to just give you.

[Marty Solomon]

A note and let you know that.

[Brent Billings]

You'Re about ready to hear his voice at times in this episode.

[Marty Solomon]

And the whole team is here together and we have fun.

[Brent Billings]

And that's there.

[Marty Solomon]

But Josh is going to be a.

[Brent Billings]

Part of that larger group discussion and he's going to be a part of that fun.

[Marty Solomon]

And so we want to just take a moment. This will be the last time that we have to give you this disclaimer. And it's a fitting in a lot of ways, a fitting way to wrap up this session, which was our last session with Josh. But you're about ready to hear his.

[Brent Billings]

Voice and we don't want that to be a jarring or a triggering experience. I think we mentioned a few episodes ago we had a chance to talk with Sophia.

[Marty Solomon]

She was confident that she wanted us to use the content that Josh had.

[Brent Billings]

Produced before he passed.

[Marty Solomon]

And we felt good about that as well.

[Brent Billings]

We wanted to honor that.

[Marty Solomon]

But if this experience of hearing his voice is too hard for any reason, if hearing his voice is not a life giving experience, we want to invite you to.

[Brent Billings]

You need to be free to skip this episode. It will be okay.

[Marty Solomon]

And you can always come back later if it feels more appropriate or more right to do so. Experiencing grief is different for each and every one of us. Some of us want to lean into.

[Brent Billings]

These moments and hear these voices and.

[Marty Solomon]

Some of us want to lean away for different reasons.

[Brent Billings]

There's no right or wrong way to do that. It's just a part of how we grieve. And so we hope this episode will.

[Marty Solomon]

Be a great memory and a life giving conversation.

[Brent Billings]

And if, if it needs to be something that, that you know is coming ahead of time, let this serve as that, that indication and disclaimer.

[Marty Solomon]

So with that, we wanted to turn it over to the capstone episode of Session nine, but we had a listener. Her name is Emily. That's how she wanted to be credited.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

She.

[Marty Solomon]

She wrote a poem and we asked.

[Brent Billings]

Her if she would actually read it. We just thought. I thought it was a great poem and I always love it when a creator reads their own art.

[Marty Solomon]

And so before we get into the session nine capstone and you hear that intro music I wanted to be able.

[Brent Billings]

To share Emily's poem with all of you in honor of Josh.

[Emily]

When I die and I will dance and sing and cry There is still beauty in the hedgerows There is still sparkle in the sky and you'll miss me and I'll miss you but the world will turn when I die and I will eat cheese and drink the fancy wine There is still pleasure in the small things There is still tartness in the brine and you'll remember and you'll smile but the world will turn when I die and I will listen to your favourite album and dance in the rain There are still depths in your untold dreams There are still glimmers through the pain and you'll face the day and you'll rage but the world will turn when I die and I will know that I didn't want to leave you There is still unknown comfort yet to come There is still a shell speaking true and you'll notice the pain becomes softness and memories of love and space for something new and the world will turn.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Josh, do you want to share any personal updates in the personal updates section of this recording?

[Josh Bosse]

Oh, for the episode.

[Marty Solomon]

Yes.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

The publish date on this, by the way, will be January 29th. So we're a little bit out.

[Josh Bosse]

Yeah, I don't think so. Cause, I mean, I don't really have anything to. Other than just I'm still here.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Okay.

[Josh Bosse]

That's about it.

[Marty Solomon]

Unless you're against it.

[Brent Billings]

I would have you at least say that because I get this question multiple.

[Marty Solomon]

Times a day, every time I'm out.

[Brent Billings]

So anytime that you can give an update in this kind of a space.

[Marty Solomon]

I'm not asking you to do anything more than just here. I am.

[Josh Bosse]

Yeah. Yeah. Works for me.

[Marty Solomon]

Everybody wants to know if they're caught up.

[Brent Billings]

That's how I know they're caught up. They're like, how's Josh? I'm like, oh, you're listening to the real time stuff.

[Josh Bosse]

Yeah.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

They could be somewhere early in session six.

[Marty Solomon]

Those people are usually afraid to ask.

[Brent Billings]

So.

[Josh Bosse]

Josh, you know, did he.

[Emily]

Did it.

[Josh Bosse]

Did it happen?

[Marty Solomon]

I won't say whether or not I've.

[Brent Billings]

Had fun with a few people or not. I can't remember.

[Marty Solomon]

Oh, that's great.

[Josh Bosse]

I'm glad to hear that.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

This is the bamaw podcast with Marty Solomon. I'm his co host, Brent Billings. Today we are closing out session nine with Reed Dent.

[Reid Dent]

Oh, hi.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Elle. Grover Fricks.

[Emily]

Hi.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

And Josh Bosse.

[Josh Bosse]

Shalom.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

We're on top of it already, guys. This is great.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

Nailing it.

[Reid Dent]

Of course. I'm the one that missed my cue. I didn't realize we were doing it that way.

[Marty Solomon]

Well, nobody wants to listen to this mess, right? We should just, like, get right into this and just set the agenda. Get in and out. Nice, short, sweet episode.

[Brent Billings]

I think people know what to expect when we get together like this, right?

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah, people know.

[Reid Dent]

I think it'd be awesome if this was our shortest episode ever.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

I don't think that's going to happen.

[Marty Solomon]

Maybe for some of you, I'm not going to name names, but for some.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Of you, maybe what does make this special is that we do have a secret audience. We have three other team members because what are we doing here, Marty? What's going on?

[Marty Solomon]

Well, I mean, we've got. I love that setup, Brent. That setup was so good. You caught me off guard. We're getting ready after this recording session. We're going to roll right into a meeting and plan out session 10. So session 10 is coming and we don't even know yet what exactly is all going to be on session 10, because that is the meeting that we have. That's why there are extra faces on the Zoom call that nobody else can see because they're listening to this and we're going to roll right into a planning sesh. So there you go. Session 10 is on its way. You're going to hear about that in the next episode that we post. Right, Brent? That's going to be the Intro to session 10. They're going to find out everything they need, tell you everything, and next week, next week's episode. So there you go. That's that. What we're going to look do today is we're going to look back on session nine. I think we did this. Did we do a similar thing in session eight? We all got together. We talked about the last session, right?

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Yeah. And it was so beautiful that we had to do it again.

[Brent Billings]

We didn't get enough. We didn't learn our lesson.

[Marty Solomon]

So we're back. We're going to look at session nine, just kind of review some of that. I'm sure that at least some of us are going to want to share some words about Mr. Walter, Dr. Walter Brueggemann and his passing, which happened during our recording of session nine. He's meant a lot to a lot of us and been a part of the Bama world in a lot of different ways. So maybe you'll have some comments about that. I feel like maybe have we kind of found our way, Brent, do you suppose we've found our way? Do we have a rhythm that we've worked ourselves into now? Session eight, session nine. Is it a thing? Should I ask the team about that?

[Elle Grover Fricks]

It feels like it to me. I feel like we have a pretty good rhythm going.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah. So I think what you could expect probably is session 10 in the future.

[Brent Billings]

As far as we can see for.

[Marty Solomon]

Now, every one of our teachers brings a series. They plan a series out. They kind of lead it. We all jump in and join. So each session is basically four different series. We plan those out together mixed in with a bunch of interviews. We always try to make sure that a couple of those series are kind of like straight exegetical Bible stuff. You know, Bama's the Bible stuff. And then a couple other series are like a little outside the box. Maybe more topical, maybe something something. But whatever Reid's gonna do, Whatever Reid's.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

Gonna do, maybe some of us are going to abandon the word of our Lord. But, you know, maybe it'll be different next time.

[Marty Solomon]

Maybe we'll have to see.

[Reid Dent]

I just find it in many guises.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

Is all very holy.

[Marty Solomon]

So I do think that we've settled.

[Brent Billings]

Into a rhythm and you'll probably. You can kind of expect more of.

[Marty Solomon]

The same in seasons to come, but never be surprised by a surprise. I don't know if that's even possible.

[Brent Billings]

It's not a very good surprise.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

I don't know what that means.

[Brent Billings]

I lose my mind when the whole team is here. I can't even communicate when I'm having to stare at all those faces making weird looks back at me.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Part of what made this session special, Marty, is that we started doing a dual track recording setup. We had the session one reboot going on while session nine was coming out.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah, we had Mondays where you'd see your reboot episode for session one, and then Thursdays would be our regular episode. And we got all done with that a little while ago as we record this, but months ago as we. When you're hearing this. But that was good. We had some new things. We included Amber's not behind a mic. Nobody can hear her voice. But she helped us put together a companion for the reboot that's been received pretty well. Brent, any commentary you'd give to any of those new additions Just the fact.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

That it invigorated a bunch of people to start new groups or go back and review. And I feel like it's been really good. Had a lot of good feedback.

[Brent Billings]

Yeah, a lot of really great feedback.

[Marty Solomon]

The occasional email letting us know just how bad it is, but other than that. Yeah, absolutely.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

But then those people are delighted to find that the old versions are still available in the show notes.

[Marty Solomon]

I'm not sure some of those emails are delighted by anything, but nevertheless, I.

[Reid Dent]

Mean, it's just the. It's the same old good stuff with just a little bit more goodness into it. I mean, it's. That's like saying that the family size of Honey Grahams is, like, somehow worse than the regular size of Honey Grahams. It's just more. It's more good stuff. Why would anybody hate that?

[Marty Solomon]

I mean, I agree.

[Brent Billings]

I agree.

[Marty Solomon]

No argument from me.

[Josh Bosse]

Yeah.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

I just get. That's the food.

[Marty Solomon]

Honey grams.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

That's our example Food.

[Reid Dent]

I was trying to think of a cereal on the spot. I should have said Count Chocula, because it's the season for Count Chocula and Boo Berry.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

When we're recording, not when this goes out.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

I told you. I told you the published date. Dang it.

[Reid Dent]

I don't do this time travel thing very well, but it's October in my world right now. It's time for spooky things.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

By the time this episode comes out, people will know that the Chiefs aren't in the Super Bowl.

[Brent Billings]

Oh, no.

[Josh Bosse]

Oh, no.

[Marty Solomon]

Oh, no. Later.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

I shouldn't have said that. Right now.

[Marty Solomon]

Brett knows what he's done.

[Reid Dent]

Well, and actually, that's not true then, right?

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Who knows?

[Reid Dent]

When does this episode air?

[Elle Grover Fricks]

January 29th.

[Reid Dent]

Oh, we will. We will know by then. Actually, we'll be finding out that weekend.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Okay. All right.

[Reid Dent]

Well, anyway, we're not here to talk about football.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

One other big update is that I got some help in this session. We have an assistant editor on contract, I guess, technically. But yeah, I have some editing help, so that's great, too.

[Marty Solomon]

You probably.

[Brent Billings]

I mean, you're the one that's going to feel that more than anybody else.

[Marty Solomon]

But that's probably a nice little boost to the production workload.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Yeah, a boost to production, but also a boost to production quality because I just had a limit to the amount of time I could spend on things, and now we get to put a little more TLC into each episode. It's great.

[Reid Dent]

Yeah.

[Marty Solomon]

And this isn't in the. The secret agenda that's in front of us, but I would just probably a Good time just to say thanks for everybody that supports our ministry because that's how we're able to do something like that. Yep. Like, we're able to get Brent help like that. We're able to put somebody under contract because people support our ministry and we don't ever want to forget that or take that for granted, so. Well said. Pointing that out. Brent Billings, what else do we got? We got personal updates. Before we. Before I review our session 9 series recaps, should we give some personal updates here? Elle, what do you got? You got any personal updates?

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Anything?

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

Yeah, I got a baby. You know, just a little things.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Literally a really cute baby from what I've heard.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

Oh, my gosh. She's so cute. We love her so much. Her name's Fia. And all. All four of us are in love with her. And yeah, we are in the midst of newborn life right now when we're recording, and that's a lot. So I have a new thing that I can blame my brain not working well on. If I say something, Sus can just be like, aw, it's because she has a baby.

[Brent Billings]

Yes, I do love that.

[Marty Solomon]

I have not seen Elle actually, until today. This is the first time I've actually talked to El in quite a little while because maternity leave, all the things. So we're back.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

We're back.

[Marty Solomon]

That is wonderful. Reid, you and I have some things. What's going on?

[Reid Dent]

A baby. If I say something crazy, it's because Marty and I had a baby. That's right. That's how I refer to the book that we co authored.

[Marty Solomon]

Well, you'll be hearing more about that.

[Reid Dent]

Never be surprised.

[Brent Billings]

Oh, boy. Never be surprised. Oh, man.

[Marty Solomon]

Okay. Well, there you go. We have a book coming out in April, everybody. That launch will be happening. You'll be hearing more about that in the Baymaw universe, I'm sure. But that's coming up. Those are some. We got it all done. It's out of our hands now.

[Reid Dent]

Are you going to tell the people what it's called?

[Brent Billings]

Marty, why don't you tell people what it's called?

[Josh Bosse]

Read.

[Reid Dent]

It's called the Gospel of Being Human and it's coming out. Wait, hold on. What's the subtitle? How. Oh, yeah. Because, Marty.

[Marty Solomon]

Yes.

[Reid Dent]

This book is a follow up to your first book, Asking Better Questions of the Bible.

[Marty Solomon]

Yes.

[Reid Dent]

So the title is the Gospel of Being Human. And then the subtitle is a nice little play on the first book title, how Asking Better Questions of the Bible Reveals who We Are.

[Marty Solomon]

Absolutely. It is the Second in a three book series for the Asking Better Questions series.

[Brent Billings]

So that will be coming out.

[Reid Dent]

Wait, was that just like a world premiere announcement right there? That it's. That Also there's a third one.

[Brent Billings]

The real fans have heard it in different places already.

[Marty Solomon]

Those that are probably too committed to the Bayma universe.

[Reid Dent]

Those are the ones who are never surprised by a surprise.

[Marty Solomon]

There you go.

[Reid Dent]

As you like to say, Marty.

[Brent Billings]

As I like to say.

[Marty Solomon]

As I always say, you know, so.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

There'Ll be Tolkien and his trilogy and then you guys in your trilogy. Got it, got it, got it.

[Reid Dent]

Pretty much the same thing, same vibe.

[Marty Solomon]

Yes.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

So SEO optimized titles. It's great. And you can pre order it in the show notes right now if you want to.

[Marty Solomon]

I love that. That's coming up this spring. Let's see, Brent, you have an update.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Probably not quite the level of cuteness, Sophia, but still very cute. I have a German shepherd puppy now.

[Marty Solomon]

A furry baby.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Yes, absolutely incredible.

[Brent Billings]

That's fantastic.

[Marty Solomon]

Are we going to put. Are we going to. Well, I'm.

[Brent Billings]

I shouldn't commit people to putting pictures of their babies in the show notes. Maybe I shouldn't say that.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

I'll put a picture of Maple. Maple is the name of the dog. She is a long haired German shepherd.

[Brent Billings]

Excellent.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

And yeah, she has her own Instagram, so that's how it goes.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah, that's very Billings esque.

[Brent Billings]

A dog Instagram.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

If Brent takes photos of my family, then we can put it in the show notes.

[Brent Billings]

Okay.

[Marty Solomon]

I love that.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

It's my way of squeezing a photo shoot out of.

[Brent Billings]

Yeah, nice.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

All right, all right, nice.

[Reid Dent]

I have seen the glam camera shots of Maple, by the way, and they are very professional.

[Brent Billings]

Very good.

[Reid Dent]

Yeah, Dog influencer.

[Marty Solomon]

Ah, so good. I'm sure all of that will be.

[Brent Billings]

In the show notes, the Instagram handle and the whole nine yards. So let's see here.

[Marty Solomon]

Reid, you had more like yours, more things going on in your family.

[Reid Dent]

Yeah, I just continue to be outpaced in every facet of life by my very wonderful and brilliant wife, who is now Dr. Leanne Dent, PhD. So that's our other big family update. She finished all of her everything, dissertation, defense, et cetera, just at the beginning of September. And so she is now even more highly qualified than I am or ever will be. And yet she still seems to be very happy to be married to me. So win, win.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

There you go.

[Marty Solomon]

Absolutely. And then that leaves us with Josh.

[Brent Billings]

Josh.

[Marty Solomon]

I gotta tell you, every time I go somewhere on the road, every meet and greet, I go to the people that are caught up to real time. Want to know how is Josh Bosse doing? Josh, how you doing?

[Josh Bosse]

Well, you know, everyone else has been having babies of various types. I've got twins, two little masses. We actually. My little hodgkinses.

[Reid Dent]

I cannot believe these.

[Josh Bosse]

Yeah, so when we're recording this, I'm just about to finishing up my first round of chemo and no news yet. Although in the near. See, this is what's gonna make it weird. In the near future when we're recording this, which means mid October, I'll be getting a scan that'll tell us more about how effective the chemo has been. So I will have news shortly. And when you're listening to this, the news will already be out.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Maybe we'll do a special little drop in recording or something if we need to share something extra.

[Josh Bosse]

Oh, yeah, you could totally do that. The other thing you could do is get on my newsletter or something like that. We also have a caring bridge set up. I'm sure Brent can throw that in the show notes as well. So you can get all the Josh updates you want in one convenient place.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

I need updates. I text you. It's like a week later you'll be like, yeah, okay. So I'm so glad to know there's a newsletter.

[Josh Bosse]

I have a problem. I have a problem remembering who I have and haven't thought.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

It's tiring. Who needs it? I'm glad that I don't have to bother you about all the things all the time.

[Josh Bosse]

But, yeah, so I'm still here. I'm still alive, still, still doing the thing. And you know, I gotta say to your question earlier, Marty, about, you know, our rhythm, I think the fact that we've been able to. To do all this even in the midst of me battling cancer, is a point in favor of us having figured it out that we can adapt so well and also conversely, that the load is not too heavy. Yeah, so, yeah, I'm feeling as good as you can in these circumstances of mine.

[Brent Billings]

Yeah, I think that's well said, Josh. Part of the reason why you have to hear us doing the whole time warp thing of.

[Marty Solomon]

Well, right now it's October, but we know this isn't released till January, is the rhythm has enabled us to always kind of stay ahead of the ball game and give us the flexibility to take the time we need to have babies and deal with cancer diagnoses and all the things that come at us. And so that's part of why we do it this way. So Sorry for the time warp for people that listen, but it's a good.

[Brent Billings]

Thing for all of us and it really has felt good to have the time and the space without the urgency breathing down our neck demanding that we.

[Marty Solomon]

Produce another episode this Thursday.

[Brent Billings]

And that's been good for all of us. So.

[Josh Bosse]

Yep.

[Marty Solomon]

All right, well, let's do this. Let's just do what we did last time, but maybe a little less in depth. We don't have to have everybody give thoughts on every single series, but just let's call back where we did. We did four series in this Session nine. I kicked it off. Maybe I always kind of will kick off a series. I don't know. Is that going to be my role?

[Brent Billings]

Who knows?

[Marty Solomon]

But Hosea was the first series of Session nine. We did a verse by verse journey through that book. I really enjoyed it. I didn't have a whole bunch that. I had a whole bunch that went with me. I didn't have a whole lot of things circle back for me. I was like, oh, I wish I would have talked about that or oh, what a missed opportunity. But I continue to love all the episodes where I get to share it with some of these co hosts and the things that they bring. I am still thinking about talking about in my grad work with Professors El's opening episode about violence and Judah and the setting and potentially what's going on here with Hosea and man, just those things have gone with me. I continue to pay attention to birds now because of Josh and Hosea and elsewhere. I just love those little tidbits. But I don't know if anybody else had any thoughts when they thought about Hosea or think back to that. Any other things that they would throw at that series here from the other.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

Hosts, I loved your final episode of the Hosea series because, I mean, it's hard to beat Hosea 14. But the way you guys underlined like God's rescue in his healing and his freely loving us with that last call to faithfulness, the last call to so what do you have to do with Idols? I love that. And then it got super nitty gritty into the Hebrew and you know I'll always be a fan of that. But I did discover me singing Tarzan was left on the postscript of that episode. So that was a surprise for me when it came out, but otherwise left it. Thanks, Brent.

[Marty Solomon]

When the mics are rolling, you gotta always be careful.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

Constant vigilance.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Why mine gold if we're not going to share it?

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah. Anything else from Hosea before we Jump to the next series. Well, fine. Hearing none, I'm glad, keeps this thing moving. Talmudic Matthew Elle came back for another round of the collision between the first Gospel and the Talmud and how those things are talking back and forth to each other. El what kind of Any thoughts? Memories, Cycle backs? Anything that comes to mind when you think about your series in this session?

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

No, I'm just stoked to be doing something fresh and new next season that I'm excited to talk to you about. But yeah, it was good time. It was a crunchy time, lots of details and really getting into it. And so next season I'll have a different feel and I'm excited about that, but I think it was time well spent.

[Brent Billings]

Absolutely.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

That was the series where I made the goof up and edited a very long episode and published it and then opened up the next episode only to find out that I was supposed to cut that last episode in half. And so Josh bailed us out and came in and gave us an extra episode to fit in that empty slot.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

That I a champ.

[Josh Bosse]

Oh yes, that's right. That was a lot of fun.

[Brent Billings]

Yeah, it was good.

[Marty Solomon]

Any other thoughts on Talmud and Matthew?

[Reid Dent]

Just Elle, you have a fan club of friends of mine who are especially my really nitty gritty detail bookish kinds of friends. They love all of your stuff. So sweet you got a fan club out there. It's probably way larger than I realized, but it's good stuff.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

Nerdy, bookish, detail oriented people unite. These are my people.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah, I was going to say this at some point. Now's as good of a time as.

[Brent Billings]

Any because I wasn't sure where I was going to fit it in.

[Marty Solomon]

One of the things that I get.

[Brent Billings]

To hear, just having so many conversations.

[Marty Solomon]

And being in so many different places.

[Brent Billings]

And seeing some of the email or whatever it is that comes through.

[Marty Solomon]

And this is probably somewhat cliche, but every single one of our teachers has.

[Brent Billings]

I don't know if I'd call it a fan base. If I do, it's with a smirk on my when I say it.

[Marty Solomon]

But there are people out there that love the tone, the voice, the approach of every single one of the teachers. And that also means that there's sometimes.

[Brent Billings]

People are like, I struggle to connect with that particular teacher.

[Marty Solomon]

But there are people that are like, I love.

[Brent Billings]

Obviously Elle's got a huge fan club for lots of reasons.

[Marty Solomon]

There will be people that are like.

[Brent Billings]

I love Josh, the way his mind works.

[Marty Solomon]

I've had people like the way that Josh will ramble is exactly what my.

[Brent Billings]

Brain needs and I love it and I can follow it and it pulls.

[Marty Solomon]

Me in and I get those messages and I'm getting ahead of myself.

[Brent Billings]

But a lot of great feedback right now. Right now we're listening to the Vice and Virtue series as we record this. And a lot of people. And this is Reed. So I don't mind saying this.

[Marty Solomon]

A lot of people say I'm really surprised, but I really like this series. And I think what they mean is not Reid. I think what they mean is I did not think Vice and Virtue.

[Brent Billings]

And we said this.

[Marty Solomon]

I think Reid. Well, let's just jump ahead to read.

[Brent Billings]

And here I am talking about it. I've screwed it all up, but I've.

[Marty Solomon]

Screwed up the whole order. But Reid, when we started that series, there was like this, okay, we're going to use Thomas Aquinas. Like that's not Bama.

[Brent Billings]

Like Vice and Virtue. That's not Bama.

[Marty Solomon]

But it's been actually so good and.

[Brent Billings]

Refreshing and listeners are like, this is surprisingly right what I need to do.

[Marty Solomon]

I'm studying Thomas Aquinas right now in grad work. Like it's just lined up so well. But any thoughts you have on Vice.

[Reid Dent]

And Virtue, I'm just here to bring the spiritual formation. You know, that's. That's what I'm trying to do. And I, you know, it's not like I'm a giant Aquinas head, but you can, you can find what she was shocked that I used the expression Aquinas head. But you know, you can find good stuff in many places if you will just try to let anybody be your teacher. So I've been getting some good feedback on it too. My mother in law is actually listening to the Vice and Virtue series and she texts me every Thursday when an episode comes out. So I have enjoyed that just in my own little corner of the world. But yeah, I've. I've enjoyed the series and think I might do something with it at CCF while it'll be this semester in January or in the near future, but I always appreciate the overlap between Bama and campus ministry stuff. So probably just ride that horse for as long as I can.

[Marty Solomon]

Well, I've really enjoyed just. I'm having conversations about classical Christian theology that aren't.

[Brent Billings]

They don't feel like.

[Marty Solomon]

They feel like Bama flavored classical Christian.

[Brent Billings]

Theology conversations, which is weird thing to say.

[Josh Bosse]

Yeah.

[Marty Solomon]

But it's so good because usually every.

[Brent Billings]

Time I'll travel around, everybody wants to talk about rabbis this or midrash that or Pardo's or Talmud or whatever, like that Jew.

[Marty Solomon]

All the Jewish stuff, which I'm glad to do.

[Brent Billings]

That's very much what I love and what we do.

[Marty Solomon]

But I'm having new conversations with a.

[Brent Billings]

Whole new kind of people I probably wouldn't even hear from because they're seminary trained Christian, like Christian theology, classical nerds. And that's just been really refreshing.

[Marty Solomon]

And I'm learning. I'm learning a lot.

[Brent Billings]

And people are like gently saying, yeah.

[Marty Solomon]

Marty, like, you're really hard on these classical guys, but there's some really good Baymas stuff here.

[Brent Billings]

And I'm like, well said.

[Marty Solomon]

Well said. So thanks to Reed.

[Reid Dent]

It's that western hand. It's that other hand on the piano, and it's got its job to do. So hopefully we're doing it.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

I mean, wherever it comes from. Working on your character is pretty punk rock, right?

[Brent Billings]

Yeah, totally. Probably should be.

[Josh Bosse]

Yeah.

[Reid Dent]

My middle school self was very into punk rock music, so I feel very seen right now, Elle. And thank you.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

You're welcome.

[Reid Dent]

My insufferable middle school self, as we have talked about many times in the.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

Past, live to serve.

[Marty Solomon]

Any other thoughts on Vice and Virtue? It's probably the one that's fresh in our mind because we're like recording it.

[Brent Billings]

Like right now and listening to it, and it's the one that is Hosea. Feels like an eon like a decade ago.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Yeah, truly.

[Reid Dent]

It is crazy how the season sessions ends up working that way because there's like a full calendar year elapsing, which.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Doesn'T even seem like it should feel that long, but. Yeah, it does.

[Brent Billings]

It does. Yep.

[Marty Solomon]

All right, well, there's no other Vice and Virtue reflections. I skipped one unintentionally. We got the Kohelet series, which again.

[Brent Billings]

Got some really great reviews. People really enjoyed that exegetical dive into Kohele.

[Marty Solomon]

So, Josh, any things that you. That you think about or circle back to or anything on that series, man, that.

[Josh Bosse]

That was probably the real. The real baby I had. That was such a. I. I thought I was in for an easy one because I had. I had dug up Kohelet before and found all this cool stuff and I'm like, I'm just gonna get back in there, gather up those things, put em in a podcast and yeah, it really kept being new layers and just the whole Ramez structure in there really blew me away. And then even the way that that ended up, I think it was when an episode you were on, Marty. We were. I'm not sure if this made it into the episode but we were talking about how, in some ways how Jesus's teaching ST is heavily influenced by wisdom literature, and particularly in his commitment to teaching in parables. And then, you know, we have Qohelet. And this kind of verging on prophetic wisdom voice like it was, has even changed how I'm reading Jesus. So, yeah, a lot of stuff came out of that. That was way more than I bargained for. So thankfully, though, that didn't result in, you know, Mishkan series level, length of episodes. There was a lot there. It was quite an experience.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

I did it with Kohelet and I'm doing it with Vice and Virtue as well, where I'm chapterizing these podcast episodes. So if you have a podcast player that supports chapters, it gives you an easy way to break it up. Because it's like, well, I don't want people to look at the length and be like, well, I just can't even do it and just not even try. It's like, okay, well, if you have 20 minutes, listen to this first part, we give you the clean break. I mean, it's not necessarily clean clean, but I'm like, I'm telling you, this is where you want to stop and then you can come back later. So a little production increase there.

[Brent Billings]

Yeah, I really enjoyed that as I've listened to the episodes. I like how it shows up in my. In my Apple's podcast player.

[Marty Solomon]

I don't know what it does in.

[Josh Bosse]

All your third party nonsense, but, whoa, use the apple.

[Marty Solomon]

How?

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Just shows you the whole list and the length of each chapter, you know.

[Brent Billings]

Well, there you go.

[Marty Solomon]

I was at my most recent event, was it in Minnesota?

[Brent Billings]

Where was I at most recently that I had a large gathering and somebody.

[Marty Solomon]

Shouted out something about, stay in the room. Like, you got to be in the room with the king.

[Josh Bosse]

Oh, yeah.

[Marty Solomon]

And I was just like, bam.

[Brent Billings]

Like, that was one of my favorite.

[Marty Solomon]

Parts of that series. Somebody caught that and I was like, oh, you're. You're caught up to real time. Tell us more for all the people that have it.

[Brent Billings]

And they, I mean, whoever it was just nailed it. They were like, wisdom teaches us the.

[Marty Solomon]

Wisdom of Qohelet, the wisdom of Ecclesiastes. The wisdom literature would tell us that we can't just run sometimes. We gotta stay in the rooms that.

[Brent Billings]

We can influence, that we can have an impact so we can change the situation. And I thought, Josh is killing it. Got it.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

I love that series because so often, like, if you hear Ecclesiastes talked about or Gohella Ever preached, which not very often. It's kind of framed around the big themes, like is life Havel, Is it vapor and meaningless? Not with Jesus, you know, and then that's kind of the end of the conversation, which, like, props. There's certainly something to that and that could be life giving. But the commitment to be like, no, this is a difficult, you know, traditionally considered hard book. And we're going to work our way through it and take each verse like it is the inspired word of God. Good for equipping us and dedicating that time to that is a beautiful thing. So I really loved it.

[Brent Billings]

Yeah, well said.

[Marty Solomon]

Well said. All right, let's keep this train moving. We didn't just have a reboot and we didn't just have these four series. We also did our usual. We talked about some chosen. Brent, you should tell us some about the chosen additions to session nine.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Yeah, season four was right at the beginning of session nine and we're doing session or season five. All these words. Is it confusing enough? Anyway, and then we wrapped up our discussion of season five with an interview with Dallas Jenkins, which we haven't actually recorded yet. We're going to do that in two days, but I'm confident that that will be great. We continue to go through this stuff. I mean, the more I dig into the text, I'm like, oh, that is just right there in the text. I'm like, where did they get that? And it's just plainly written in the text. It's like, ok. Yep. So I appreciate their attention to detail. There's still plenty of room for interpretation, even in these, you know, in this final week stuff where there's a lot of text associated. There's still lots of stuff that you have to like, okay, where are we going to put this? How are we going to do this? How are we going to. What's the tone? There's still a lot of discussion to be had, even though there's a lot of text behind it. But we're having fun with it.

[Marty Solomon]

Absolutely. And we also did a bunch of interviews as well, not just with Dallas Jenkins, but we. Part of the rhythm that we have settled into is trying to sprinkle in interviews with either resources we're trying to share. And that might be because I know them and they're personal friends. It might be because we feel like it's a very bema esque type of a resource. It might be because the thing that they give their life to is about the foreigner, the orphan and the widow or because it's about justice or because it's about hearing a perspective that we ought to think about and consider.

[Brent Billings]

Like, we just try to do that.

[Marty Solomon]

On a regular basis and share our platform in those ways. So, Brent, do you just want to go through the list of interviews and then if there's anything that jumps out to us that any of us. I mean, I think I was the one that did you and I facilitated all these interviews this time on this session. But yeah, tell us.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

So first up, we had AJ Sherrill with Rediscovering Christmas.

[Marty Solomon]

Yes. Personal friend of mine. Love aj. Love his work. We share a lot of the historical.

[Brent Billings]

Contextual, love of the scripture. So being able to dive into the Christmas characters, that was cool. Absolutely.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Then we had Katharine McNeill with fearing bravely.

[Brent Billings]

Absolutely.

[Marty Solomon]

Just sent her a happy birthday message the other day. It was her birthday. Said I enjoyed getting a chance to talk to her. That's just one of my favorite books of the last handful of years.

[Brent Billings]

Her Fearing bravely book was just so good. I think about it often.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Every time I see a tomato plant, I think about her.

[Marty Solomon]

Ah, yes.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Then we had Brant Hanson, which we titled 3D Chiastic Chess. Something he said in the episode. But yeah, probably our single greatest source of people coming to Bama is through Brant Hanson. So it was great to talk to him.

[Marty Solomon]

It was. And his episode was just all over the place, talking. All kinds of good stuff coming in. I've been emailing back and forth with him the last couple of weeks. He's doing some more writing, so he's got to have something else coming out here soon. I'm sure we'll be hearing about. But loved talking to Brent. He was just fun.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Then we had Karen Stiller. Holiness here was the title of her book.

[Brent Billings]

Absolutely.

[Marty Solomon]

Saw I was just over at the Dent's house recently. I saw a copy of that book sitting over there on their coffee table. But love her writing.

[Brent Billings]

She just got a new podcast too, that she just started. I can't remember what it's called now.

[Marty Solomon]

But she just had a new podcast.

[Brent Billings]

She started with NavPress. I think if I understand it correctly.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

Show Notes. Show Notes.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Yeah. Then we had Ashley island. Say Good.

[Marty Solomon]

Yes, absolutely. I can still see in my mind her sitting in her office at her.

[Brent Billings]

School where she works and makes a difference. And actually that was just kind of.

[Marty Solomon]

Fun for me because I kept thinking.

[Brent Billings]

As she was talking about all the things she was sharing about in her resource, just her putting it to like she's in the building where she puts it to work. In some pretty cool ways. And it was just kind of cool to see her in that setting while she talked about it.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Then we had perhaps our most ambitious interview with Bema Kokomo.

[Marty Solomon]

If there's anything that's gotten close to.

[Brent Billings]

Tohu va vohu, that was it. Like, that was wow.

[Marty Solomon]

But they were champs. That was. And it was fun to see how much they cared about so many different things.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

So I hear you saying that the spirit of the Lord was hovering over that since I was to Hoovohu.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah, it was pretty good. It was pretty good. It was a great conversation.

[Brent Billings]

And anytime we get this many people on a call, like we're doing right now, and it goes okay. I feel like the spirit of God was enabling miraculous things. So there you go.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

We titled that one the body of Christ. And Brian, our Bama team leader, strategy director extraordinaire, shares it with everybody who's starting a group. Like, hey, if you want to know what a group looks like, a group of people who have disagreements and struggles and whatever and how do they work together? It's our picture of the body of Christ that we like to share with people as their starting groups.

[Brent Billings]

Yeah, it's great.

[Marty Solomon]

Good idea.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Then we had Ethan Bryan, if you were brave.

[Brent Billings]

I've always been captivated by his story and the way his love for baseball.

[Marty Solomon]

Comes out in particular ways. I thought about him often as the post season has rolled around, but I saw he was doing a catch Vember. Is that what he's calling it? That just went out?

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Yeah, something like that.

[Brent Billings]

By then, it's January when you're listening to this, so it's already happened.

[Marty Solomon]

But that's cool.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Catch you area now. At this point, you can make it work for anyone.

[Brent Billings]

We can make it work, absolutely.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Then we had Annie F Downs. That sounds fun.

[Marty Solomon]

And it was fun. Yeah. I was just gonna say we nailed it. It was fun. Like, that was a great. That was just a fun conversation and.

[Brent Billings]

Getting to hear from her and all the stuff that she's been involved with, which was a lot.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

And then we closed out the session having Sandra Richter back with us, and we haven't actually recorded that yet, but my goodness, the last conversation we had with her was delightful. She has a new book that recently came out, Abigail and the Waterfall. So that's kind of the impetus for our conversation. But boy, got to ask her some fun questions. Got to. I'm going to get to ask her some fun questions about Deuteronomy and. Yeah, lots of. Lots of fun conversations. She's a total Bible nerd, a lover of the land of Israel and studying there, and boy, I love it.

[Marty Solomon]

Her first interview we did probably got.

[Brent Billings]

The most requests I've ever heard of, like, have her back on again. Like, we want to hear her again. Not that people don't feel that way.

[Marty Solomon]

About all of our guests, but that.

[Brent Billings]

One got particularly, like, direct, straight comments of, that was so good. You need to have her back. So we're doing it.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

We're doing it. And then we had one. We had a Christmas special that Reid and I did on It's a Wonderful Life. And Reed Reed is somehow, I cannot tell you how many people I've heard from who are like, I hate that movie. I didn't want to listen to this episode, but I listened anyway. And my goodness, he has a point.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

Did he, though? Did he have a point?

[Reid Dent]

I did have a point. I did have a point. George Bailey is what this world needs.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Oh, my goodness.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

I don't know about that.

[Reid Dent]

And that movie isn't. That movie is. I'm not here to re litigate the whole thing, but that movie is. Is incredible. And more people should watch it if. Or more people should. I think lots of people watch it. More people should love it.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

Just saying, if Brent gets me to do the Christmas episode this year, words will be had, theories will be put out.

[Reid Dent]

Are you just going to do it to Wonderful Life again? Well, but actually. I know what Reid said, but actually.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

It'S a terrible life.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah, it's a not so wonderful life.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

Don't tempt me with a good time.

[Marty Solomon]

My goodness.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

All right, well, I think we should close out with our thoughts, whatever we want to say about the Reverend Dr. Walter Brueggemann, a wonderful source that we have. I mean, I should have counted how many times we've referenced his work, but it is many, many, many times. We owe a great deal to Brueggeman.

[Marty Solomon]

You have some notes here in the. In the document we have. Brent, how about you just read some of the stuff here that you've gotten.

[Brent Billings]

Written down about Walter. Walter.

[Marty Solomon]

As if.

[Brent Billings]

I know him. About Walt.

[Marty Solomon]

Walty, yeah.

[Brent Billings]

Goodness.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

In case you are not aware of the situation, I don't know exactly the details, but apparently he died peacefully on June 5, 2025. He was 92 years old. And I was just kind of like, trying to get some stock on how many things and what he was up to throughout his life, because I know some of his work pretty well. But he had seven doctorates. Wow. Which is crazy. I mean, I think some of them are honorary, but it's like you don't get an honorary doctorate for sitting around in your chair doing nothing.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

What now, Leanne?

[Reid Dent]

I'm definitely going to tell that to her so that I can feel better about myself. You have one and I have zero. And we're basically the same compared to Walt.

[Brent Billings]

Nice.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

So Wikipedia lists 58 books that he has, plus hundreds of articles and commentaries and other stuff. I don't know exactly how they're counting this, but his website has 169 books that he was involved in in some way or another. So just a prolific writer. And I learned about the concept of a fest shrift, which is like a book that other academic people write about a person because they are so prolific in the academic world.

[Brent Billings]

Wow.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

And so his version of that is called God in the A Tribute to Walter Brueggemann and Al, maybe you can speak to this a little bit, being in that world. How many people get these sorts of books? How common is this?

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

You have to be pretty fancy. You have to be pretty special.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

All right, so there you go.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah, I had never heard of that.

[Brent Billings]

Until I saw that link in our notes. And that's really cool. That's really, really cool.

[Marty Solomon]

I probably have some thoughts. Reid, I know you've read a lot.

[Brent Billings]

Of Brueggemann in the past. He's found his way into your.

[Marty Solomon]

Do you have any thoughts or anything on.

[Reid Dent]

I know a lot of people know him for his scholarship and you know, Old Testament surveys and things like that. My personal, most cherished book from him is called Finally Comes the Poet. He wrote about preaching, the act of Preaching. And so this is a book about the act of preaching. And especially the first chapter of that book is like an all time chapter among all books in my mind. I read it frequently, especially before, like when I'm preparing to speak or before I speak it completely. I don't know. I wouldn't say changed, but it did something. It did something transformative and powerful for the way that I think of the preaching act and the way that I approach it. So yeah, finally comes the poet is great. And then there's another kind of related one, but a little different, called the Word Militant, which is also about preaching. So his preaching works especially. I would encourage people to check out if you are a preacher of any kind, because you may not know them as much. Those are like older volumes. They're not a ton in circulation, I don't think. But check those out, his contributions to that. And then, you know, if you just ever. You can just look him up preaching Himself, like, he is a scholar primarily, but is also, like, was also a preacher at times. And he's just. He's got this amazing, really gravelly sort of Southern old man voice, and it is. It's powerful. So props to Bruggs, as I call him, and his preaching. And that's the legacy he has with me, at least.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

Brigham and was one of the first voices that I read when I first encountered Martin in. What was that, 2012. And I was like, who is this guy and what is he talking about? Who are his sources? Seems sketchy to me. And I picked up hopeful imagination, prophetic voices in exile. And, yeah, like, first introduction to thinking about the prophets as different voices talking about the same things with different rooted emotionality. So a good time. The world misses him. But, hey, we'll get to hang out, world to come, have a big party, meet under the fourth root to the left on the tree of life, you know.

[Brent Billings]

That's right. That's right.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah. I moved to Cincinnati just too late. He had been living in Cincy, and then he moved, I believe to Michigan, right as I was moving into town.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

He heard you were coming.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah, I know. He probably did. We reached out and we connected with somebody on his end, and it might even been him, I can't remember. We exchanged some emails and we were asking him to be on the podcast.

[Brent Billings]

As a guest, and he had just gotten to that point where he said.

[Marty Solomon]

I just recently made the decision, I'm.

[Brent Billings]

Not doing guest interviews like that anymore.

[Marty Solomon]

And so we just missed him. And I will forever be frustrated that I didn't reach out sooner, but I stumbled. Somebody gave me a Brueggemann book. I wouldn't have even have.

[Brent Billings]

I probably would have eventually found him, I'm sure.

[Marty Solomon]

But I remember finding him.

[Brent Billings]

Somebody gave me out of Babylon, which is the first book. We just quoted a gazillion times on the podcast.

[Marty Solomon]

And everybody would talk about the prophetic imagination. And I'm one of those people that when I hear a book, like, nobody will shut up about it.

[Brent Billings]

I don't read it. I'm like, I'm just that contrarian that's like, I'm not going to read that. Everybody else likes it. I'm not going to like it.

[Marty Solomon]

And eventually I was like, okay, this is on every bibliography.

[Brent Billings]

And just one of those works that really shifted at least one part of a consciousness of a world that talks about the Bible.

[Marty Solomon]

I have read a fraction of those.

[Brent Billings]

169 books, but just what a great contribution he was.

[Marty Solomon]

The way that we Think about. And we talk about the Bible. I now go to Xavier University for my grad work, where there's a special program in his name and in his honor and the Brueggemann center.

[Brent Billings]

And there are people that are a.

[Marty Solomon]

Part of a program named after him in the grad program that I get to hear from and.

[Brent Billings]

And learn from and call it just. The impact that he's had is huge.

[Marty Solomon]

So very grateful that his gift was.

[Brent Billings]

Shared with the world in the way that it was.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

So.

[Brent Billings]

Absolutely.

[Marty Solomon]

Well, anything else that we need to say before we close this, before we get off this train ride? What's going on? Anybody? I know I can't not ask that.

[Brent Billings]

Question, but I'm always afraid to ask that question at the end of this episode.

[Reid Dent]

Never be surprised by a surprise.

[Brent Billings]

Really, really hope that's the title of this episode.

[Marty Solomon]

Wow.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Well, we don't really do a special title for this, but I'll throw that in the subtitle. Sure.

[Brent Billings]

Oh, wow. Jeepers. Okay.

[Marty Solomon]

Well, I'm going to take that as a no. Brent, I think we did a good job with session nine. I'm pleased. I'm happy with it. I love our team. It's not getting worse, it's getting better.

[Brent Billings]

Every day, every session, every year that we work together. So appreciate what we do.

[Marty Solomon]

But anything you would add to any.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Of that, I'll just reiterate your thank you to our supporters that you mentioned earlier. We are here because people believe in what we're doing and, and want to enable us and support us to continue that work. And we're blessed by that. And I can't. We can't say thank you enough.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah, we'll probably expand on that maybe in the introduction to session 10, and talk a little bit more about where we're at and how people can still give and how that stuff is still needed for different reasons. And talk some about that. So you'll probably hear some in the next episode.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

All right, well, in the meantime, you can go to baymawdiscipleship.com and we have a lot of show notes, a lot of Brueggeman books that you can check out, a lot of other resources that we're sharing, stuff about our personal updates, a lot of notes, so check that out. You can use the contact page there to get in touch with us. But for now, thank you for joining us on the Behemoth podcast. We'll talk to you again soon.

[Reid Dent]

Are you going to link all 169?

[Elle Grover Fricks]

No, I'm just linking the ones that we actually mentioned.

[Reid Dent]

You should link all 169.

[Marty Solomon]

All right. Do I need to hit stop record, or are we.

[Brent Billings]

Is there still more crazy nonsense that's gonna get said?

[Reid Dent]

You never know. Never be surprised.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

I'm now gonna have people asking me to put that on a T shirt. For sure.

[Elle Grover Fricks (alternate or additional speaker)]

Inaugural merch store option.

[Marty Solomon]

I'm really glad I got up this morning.

[Elle Grover Fricks]

Really good.

[Brent Billings]

It's a good decision on my part.

[Reid Dent]

Next time you come to ccf, I will have that shirt for you. And you can wear it while you preach big promises.

[Brent Billings]

Jeepers.