In episode 127 of the Enter the Bible podcast, co-hosts Kathryn Schifferdecker and Katie Langston discuss the question of capital punishment in the time of the Old Testament with guest, Professor Jonathan Paradise.
Dr. Jonathan Paradise received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania where he specialized in Ancient Near Eastern Studies and Biblical Studies. His doctoral research dealt with family law documents, written on clay tablets in the cuneiform script.
Jonathan established the program in Hebrew studies at the University of Minnesota where he taught courses on the Bible in the context of the Ancient Near East, Hebrew language and literature, and occasionally courses on Judaism. He retired from the University of Minnesota in 2003.
From 1989 to 2014 Jonathan traveled once a week to the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire to serve as the L.E. Phillips visiting professor of Jewish Studies in the Philosophy & Religion Department, teaching courses on the Holocaust, the Bible, and Judaism.
During his retirement he spends his time doing voluntary teaching, translating Hebrew poetry, and writing software to support his Hebrew textbook, The Key to Modern Hebrew.
Show notes
Biblical books and passages mentioned
- Exodus 22:25
- Deuteronomy 23:19-20
Topics, themes, and figures mentioned
- Dante’s Divine Comedy
- Mount Sinai
- Moses
- Oral Torah
- A Loan with Interest
- Sabbath Year
- Hillel the Elder
- Medieval Moneylender
