In this episode, we talk to Dr. Jennifer Noonan about her book "A Handbook of Second Language Acquisition for Biblical Studies." She talks about the relationship between explicit and implicit language knowledge, the raw materials of language acquisition, the importance of reading fluency, and the nature of vocabulary acquisition. Jennifer Noonan gr…

In this episode, Dr. Kevin Grasso takes us through four key texts surrounding Jesus' death and resurrection. We examine how the messianic prophesy of Isaiah 53:7 should be properly translated (hint: every English translation is missing something). We look at the significance of Jesus' response before the high priestly court in Matthew 26:63-65: "Yo…

In this episode, we talk to Dr. Max Botner about his book "Beyond the Greek New Testament."Max Botner has served as a lecturer and researcher in the US, UK, and Germany. His primary research interests include Jewish exegetical practices, ancient messianism and early Christology, and early Jewish and Christian sacrificial theologies. Above all, he i…

In this episode, we talk to Mark Jeong about his book "A Greek Reader." This volume is a companion resource for use with N. Clayton Croy’s Primer of Biblical Greek, featuring dozens of simple, enjoyable narratives to reinforce the content and skills introduced by Croy. Mark Jeong was born in South Korea but grew up in the states. After becoming a C…

This is a republished episode with Dr. Jason Staples. Staples recently published a new book called "Paul and the Resurrection of Israel: Jews, Former Gentiles, Israelites" (Cambridge University Press, 2023). In this episode, Jason shared many of the ideas that appear in the new book before it was published. Jason Staples is Assistant Teaching Profe…

In this episode, we talk to Dr. Maryanne Wolf about 'the reading brain' - that is, what happens in our brains when we read. She offers a definition of reading fluency, explains the various cognitive processes involved in fluent reading, and describes the key benefit of reading fluency: deep reading. Maryanne Wolf is a scholar, a teacher, and an adv…

In this episode, Dr. Kevin Grasso concludes our series on New Testament Bible Translation by bring together the many insights shared on previous episodes and explaining the practical implications. Kevin discusses the goal of Bible translation, summarizes the main translation philosophies, highlights key problems in translation, and explains how to …

Doug Moo is the chair of the translation committee of the NIV, consistently one of the most popular English translations in the world. In this episode, host Kevin Grasso discusses Moo's role as chair of the Committee for Bible Translation as well as Moo's particular translation philosophy. They also discuss how to translate some key terms in Paul, …

Dr. Lynn Cohick was recently appointed to be on the translation committee for the popular New Living Translation. In this episode, host Kevin Grasso discusses Lynn's translation philosophy and how she handles certain exegetical and translational issues in Ephesians, on which she has written the commentary in the NICNT series. Particular attention i…

William Varner was on the translation committee for the Legacy Standard Bible, an updated version of the NASB published in 2021. In this episode, host Kevin Grasso discusses Varner's involvement in the project, including some of the distinctives of the translation. They cover some of the exegetical decisions made by the committee as well as the tra…

Scot McKnight recently released a new translation of the New Testament called The Second Testament: A New Translation (published by IVP Academic). In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, host Kevin Grasso interviews Scot on his new translation. They discuss Scot's translation philosophy as well as some of his exegetical decisions. Scot a…

Anthony Pym's book "Exploring Translation Theories" is now in its third edition. In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, host Kevin Grasso interviews Anthony on different translation theories and how they work themselves out in real translations of texts. They focus on the idea of "equivalence" and the different ways two texts can equiva…

Ben Kantor has recently published two books on the pronunciation of NT Greek with Eerdmans: A Short Guide to the Pronunciation of New Testament Greek The Pronunciation of New Testament Greek: Judeo-Palestinian Greek Phonology and Orthography from Alexander to Islam In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, host Kevin Grasso interviews Ben …

This is a republished interview with Matthew Bates on his book “Gospel Allegiance: What Faith in Jesus Misses for Salvation in Christ” (Brazos Press, 2019). Bates recently published a new book called “Why the Gospel? Living the Good News of King Jesus with Purpose” (Eerdmans, 2023). Whereas Bates new book focuses on *why* the gospel was given, this…

Deuteronomy 6:5 is typically translated, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength." But what does it really mean to love the Lord with your "heart"? The word translated "heart" here is לֵבָב, which is a word that does, in fact, refer to the organ that we call "heart". Here, the word i…

Deuteronomy 6:4 is quite possibly the most well-known verse in Israel today. It is often referred to as "the Shema" because of the first Hebrew word: שְׁמַע However, this verse is also notoriously difficult to understand, and consequently, translate. A lot of the difficulty centers on the Hebrew word אֶחָד, which often just refers to the number "on…

Matthew Thomas read through the entire Septuagint and New Testament in 2022. In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso interviews Matthew about his experience and why others should consider doing it. *Note: in the episode, we repeatedly reference reading through the Septuagint, when in fact, Thomas' experience was reading thro…

This is a recording of a live discussion and Q&A with Dr. Kevin Grasso about our series on Key Terms in Pauline Theology. Kevin offers a summary and synthesis of what was covered in the series, offers more of his own analyses of Greek terms and key texts, and answers questions from the live viewers. In this series, we interviewed expert guests on t…

Who is truly a "Jew" in Romans 2:28-29? Does Paul essentially redefine what it means to be Jewish? And what do ellipsis and constituent negation have to do with circumcision? In order to better understand and translate these verses, Dr. Kevin Grasso unpacks three key characteristics of biblical Greek syntax: ellipsis, negated constituents, and cont…

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso talks with Dr. Jason Staples about the meaning of Ισραήλ (Israel) in Paul. Jason Staples is Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at NC State University. He’s the author of two books, The Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism, published wi…

How should we understand φύσει in Romans 2:14? Does it mean that the Gentiles "naturally" do what the Law requires, as suggested by most translations (e.g. ESV)? Or does it mean that Gentiles do not "naturally" have the Law, as suggested in translations like the CSB? And how does this distinction change what Paul is trying to communicate about Gent…

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso talks with Dr. John Collins about the meaning of νόμος (Law or Torah) in Paul. A native of Ireland, Professor Collins was a professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Chicago from 1991 until his arrival at Yale Divinity School in 2000. He previously taught at the University of Notr…

How should we understand the word δικαιούμενοι in Romans 3:24? It's often translated as "justified", but here we argue for the translation "made righteous." In this short discussion, we first look at recent proposals for what this word means. We then present some linguistic tools that you can use to think through what words mean and how to interpre…

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso talks with Dr. James Prothro about the meaning of language related to justification and righteousness in Paul. James B. Prothro earned masters degrees in theology and in classical philology, and completed a PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2017. He has worked in churches and paris…

Almost every verse in Romans is hotly debated, but Romans 1:17 is one of the few where just about every word is contested. The phrase ‘righteousness of God’ has, of course, received a lot of airtime. Then there is the very condense ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν, usually woodenly translated ‘from faith for faith’ (ESV) or opaquely translated ‘by faith from …

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso talks with Dr. Teresa Morgan about the meaning of πίστις (faith, trust, faithfulness, allegience, etc.) in Paul. Teresa Morgan studied Classics at Cambridge, Theology at Oxford, and violin and viola in Cologne and London. After many years teaching Greek and Roman history at Oxford Univ…

Galatians 3:22 in Greek reads: ἀλλὰ συνέκλεισεν ἡ γραφὴ τὰ πάντα ὑπὸ ἁμαρτίαν, ἵνα ἡ ἐπαγγελία ἐκ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δοθῇ τοῖς πιστεύουσιν. We can translate this as 'But the Scriptures shut up everything under sin, so that the promise from πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ might be given to those who are faithful.' The only phrase left untranslated in this …

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Dr. Kevin Grasso talks with Dr. Matthew Novenson about the meaning of Χριστός (Christ or Messiah) in Paul. Matthew Novenson is Senior Lecturer in New Testament and Director of the Centre for the Study of Christian Origins at the University of Edinburgh. A scholar of religion in antiquity, in partic…

This is a bonus episode for our series on Key Terms in Pauline Theology. As we release the main episodes for this series where we interview top scholars in the field regarding their research on key terms, we're also going to release these shorter episodes where we dive into a specific biblical text that deals with that term. So in our previous epis…

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso talks with Dr. Joshua Jipp about the significance of Jesus as Messiah in Pauline Theology. Dr. Jipp has taught New Testament in a variety of settings, including as a Teaching Fellow at TEDS, before joining the faculty at Trinity. He has published essays in Themelios, Journal of Theolog…

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso discusses how to analyze word order in biblical Greek and biblical Hebrew. Show notes at: https://biblingo.org/blog/how-to-analyze-word-order-in-the-biblical-languages/

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso talks with Dr. Chiara Gianollo about the syntax of negation in biblical Greek. Show notes here: https://biblingo.org/blog/the-syntax-of-negation-in-biblical-greek-with-chiara-gianollo/

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso discusses topic, focus and question words in biblical Greek, and how each of these affects word order. Show notes available here: https://biblingo.org/blog/topic-focus-and-questions-in-biblical-greek/

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso discusses the basic word order of biblical Greek. Show notes: https://biblingo.org/blog/basic-word-order-in-biblical-greek/

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Nick Messmer talks with Alan Cossey about his experience learning biblical Greek and Hebrew, including how he has managed to practice 30 minutes nearly every day for 2 years. Show notes at: https://biblingo.org/practicing-the-biblical-languages-30-minutes-every-day-with-alan-cossey…

This episode is a recording of a livestream event hosted by the Ancient Language Institute. They invited Nick Messmer, co-founder of Biblingo and co-host of the Biblical Languages Podcast, to be a part of their roundtable discussion about how to learn ancient languages, specifically in light of modern second language acquisition research. The conve…

This episode is a recording of a livestream event hosted by the Ancient Language Institute. They invited Nick Messmer, co-founder of Biblingo and co-host of the Biblical Languages Podcast, to be a part of their roundtable discussion about how to learn ancient languages, specifically in light of modern second language acquisition research. The conve…

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso and Nick Messmer discuss the VS vs. SV debate in biblical Hebrew. Show notes at: biblingo.org/blog/the-vs-sv-debate-in-biblical-hebrew

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Nick Messmer talks with Teresa Kovac about her experience learning biblical Hebrew, including self-studying to pass a Hebrew competency exam and place out of first semester Hebrew. Show notes at: https://biblingo.org/blog/how-to-pass-a-hebrew-or-greek-competency-exam-with-teresa-kovac/…

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso talks with Dr. Daniel Wilson about some special clauses in biblical Hebrew: copula clauses and existential clauses. Show notes available at: https://biblingo.org/blog/copula-and-existential-clauses-in-biblical-hebrew/

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso talks with Dr. Vince DeCaen about basic word order in biblical Hebrew. Show notes at biblingo.org/blog/basic-word-order-in-biblical-hebrew

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso talks with Dr. Paul Kroeger about the basics of word order. Find show notes at: https://biblingo.org/blog/introduction-to-word-order/

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso shares core concepts that are essential for doing the task of pragmatics. Find show notes and a full blog post at: https://biblingo.org/blog/basic-pragmatics-concepts/

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso shares core concepts that are essential for doing the task of syntax. Find show notes and a full blog post at: https://biblingo.org/blog/basic-syntax-concepts/

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso shares core concepts that are essential for understanding morphology. Find show notes and a full blog post at: https://biblingo.org/blog/basic-morphology-concepts/

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso shares six core concepts that are essential for doing the task of semantics. Find show notes and a full blog post at: https://biblingo.org/blog/basic-semantic-concepts/

In this episode, we share some personal updates from Nick and Kevin, as well as what we have planned for the podcast for the rest of 2022. Show notes: Kevin's dissertation: "Verbs of Judgment in Biblical Hebrew. A Lexical Semantic Analysis" (free download) Sign up for Biblingo's monthly newsletter

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso and Nick Messmer discuss the role of exegesis in studying biblical Greek and Hebrew, and how different pedagogical approaches do or do not prepare us for exegesis. Find show notes at: https://biblingo.org/blog/do-we-really-need-exegesis/ Get 30% off Biblingo through December 31, 2021. …

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso and Nick Messmer discuss the role of the biblical text in learning biblical Greek and Hebrew, and why you shouldn't get into it too soon. Find show notes at: https://biblingo.org/blog/the-role-of-the-biblical-text-in-language-learning/ Get 30% off Biblingo through December 31, 2021. Le…

In this episode of the Biblical Languages Podcast, Kevin Grasso and Nick Messmer discuss how to group biblical Hebrew verbs into classes and why that matters for our understanding of those verbs and the language as a whole. Find show notes at https://biblingo.org/blog/biblical-hebrew-verb-classes-and-alternations/…