The Bible Bar

Dr. Gary Rendsburg, a scholar of biblical studies and ancient Judaism at Rutgers, explores Genesis 7 alongside Mesopotamian flood tales. He maps striking parallels and crucial contrasts. Short, sharp comparisons highlight why the biblical flood reads differently theologically and literarily. Conversations cover covenant themes, cultural familiarity with Gilgamesh, and how the story’s shape endures.

Richard Elliott Friedman, eminent biblical scholar known for source-critical work on the Torah, offers a concise mini-bio before diving in. He outlines his two-story division of the flood narrative and contrasts Priestly and Yahwist features. Discussions cover sacrificial differences, flood mechanics, editorial merging of traditions, and whether modern ideas of literary unity fit ancient composition.

Eric Lawee, a scholar of medieval rabbinic exegesis at Bar-Ilan University, discusses how readers have wrestled with Genesis 5's centuries-long lifespans. He traces medieval and Christian approaches, from literal long lives to symbolic, dynastic, or numerological readings. The conversation also compares ancient Near Eastern parallels and explores why the genealogy may serve theological or literary aims.

Karolien Vermeulen, a biblical scholar and classicist who studies Genesis and narrative ambiguity, offers a close-reading take on Cain and Abel. She probes why Abel’s offering is preferred, the layered meanings of the brothers’ names, and how omissions shape motives. Short, sharp analysis uncovers textual gaps about anger, ownership, and birthright that make the story intriguingly evasive.

Dr. Carol Meyers, Emerita Professor of Religious Studies at Duke and expert on ancient Israelite social history, offers a fresh read of Genesis 3:16. She situates the verse in agrarian, household economics. Short, focused takes explore pregnancy language, toil as household labor, meanings of desire and rule, and whether the line describes consequence or social reality.

With Bill Arnold, Asbury Theological Seminary - In this episode, we explore two major themes in Genesis 2: Sabbath and the creation of woman. We examine the parallels between creation and the Tabernacle, how Israel’s Sabbath differs from other ancient seven-day cycles, and how Sabbath functions as liberation from the economic order — restoring people to one another in covenant.We also unpack the meaning of ezer kenegdo (“a helper opposite him”) and why the phrase signals strength and correspondence, not subordination, and explore why the account of Creation uniquely appears in Scripture in two tellings side by side. podcast website: ⁠https://sites.biu.ac.il/en/bible-bar

Guest: K. Lawson Younger Jr., Assyriologist.  In this episode of The Bible Bar, we read Genesis 1 alongside ancient Near Eastern creation stories with K. Lawson Younger Jr., a leading Assyriologist. Drawing on texts from Mesopotamia and the wider ancient Near East, the conversation sets Genesis 1 in its ancient world and explores what makes the biblical account distinctive.  Along the way, we talk about the Enuma Elish, why Genesis lacks divine conflict, how creation happens through speech and order, what it means to be human in these texts, and how ancient audiences may have understood these stories. podcast website: https://sites.biu.ac.il/en/bible-bar