In this fourth and final episode in our “scandal of Christmas” series, New Testament scholar Dr. Joey Dodson walks us through parallel birth narratives in the Greco-Roman and Jewish environment of the New Testament. Reading the biblical birth narratives in these contexts helps us read the story in HD, or through a 3D lens, so that we can better understand the author’s intention in how he’s telling the story.

We discuss three issues in this podcast: (1) Imperial critical readings of the New Testament (i.e. how the NT critiques the Roman empire in its language), (2) the benefit of studying first-century philosophy for understanding the New Testament, and (3) why Romans 7:9-25 is not talking about a Christian or Christians.

Joey is Preston’s best friend and the two of them are a recipe for disaster. In this podcast, Joey and Preston talk about the historical context of the Bible, fascinating parallels between Greco-Roman culture and the New Testament, and a botched prank toward some Scottish Jr. High girls while they were (mature?) Ph.D. students.