6.129: As a Christian, am I Supporting a Book (the Bible) and an Organization (the church) that Hurts People?

In episode 129 of the Enter the Bible podcast, co-hosts Kathryn Schifferdecker and Katie Langston discuss the audience-submitted question, "As a Christian, am I supporting a book (the Bible) and an organization (the church) that hurts people?" with guest, Dr. Jennifer Kaalund.

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In episode 129 of the Enter the Bible podcast, co-hosts Kathryn Schifferdecker and Katie Langston discuss the audience-submitted question, “As a Christian, am I supporting a book (the Bible) and an organization (the church) that hurts people?” with guest, Dr. Jennifer Kaalund.

Jennifer T. Kaalund is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York. She received her Ph.D. from The Theological School at Drew University in New Testament and Early Christianity. Her dissertation, “Dislocating Diaspora: Reading Hebrews and 1 Peter with the African American Great Migration,” explores the constructed and contested Christian/Jewish identities in Hebrews and 1 Peter through the lens of the “New Negro,” a similarly vulnerable identity formed during the Great Migration in the early twentieth century. Her research interests include Christian Scriptures, African American history and culture, the Bible in popular culture, and the study of early Christianity in its Roman imperial context with a focus on womanist hermeneutics and postcolonial and cultural studies.

Show notes

Biblical books and passages mentioned

  • Deuteronomy 6
  • Psalms
  • Song of Solomon
  • Revelation

Topics, themes, and figures mentioned

  • Lived experience
  • Toni Morrison
  • The Eucharist
  • Greatest Commandment
  • James Cone
  • Martin Luther and Lutheranism
  • LGBTQ Communities

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Jennifer Kaalund

Dr. Jennifer T. Kaalund is associate professor of New Testament, a position she has held since 2021. She is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, where she serves as an editorial board member for the Bible Odyssey and co-chair of the steering committee for “Space, Place, and Lived Experience in Antiquity.” She is also a member of the American Academy of Religion, the North American Patristic Society, and the Catholic Biblical Association, and she is an editorial board member for the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. Her numerous publications and lectures include the monograph Reading Hebrews and 1 Peter with the Great Migration: Diaspora, Identity, and Place (Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2018), part of the Library of New Testament Studies series. She previously served as assistant professor of religious studies at Iona College, where she received the Junior Faculty Award in 2020. Kaalund received her Ph.D. in New Testament and early Christianity from The Theological School at Drew University. Her current research interests include contextual biblical hermeneutics, contemporary uses of the New Testament, and material culture.

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Kathryn M. Schifferdecker

Kathryn M Schifferdecker came to Luther Seminary as an assistant professor of Old Testament in 2006. Ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 2001, Schifferdecker was associate pastor for five years at Trinity Lutheran Church, Arkdale, Wisc., before coming to Luther. Schifferdecker is a frequent contributor to workingpreacher.org, Word & World and the author of Out of the Whirlwind: Creation Theology in the Book of Job (Harvard University Press, 2008). She is currently writing a commentary on the book of Esther.

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Katie Langston

Katie Langston is a doubter by nature and a believer by grace. She grew up Mormon in a small Utah town and still isn't sure she fits in anywhere sophisticated enough to have a Target. She's the author of Sealed: An Unexpected Journey into the Heart of Grace, an acclaimed spiritual memoir about her conversion to orthodox Christianity. Katie works as the director of digital strategy for Luther Seminary's innovation team, where she oversees digital projects aimed at cultivating vibrant Christian spirituality in a post-modern, post-Christian cultural context.

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