Episode 157 - Dr. Pam Eisenbaum - Antisemitism, Racism and Xenophobia - Part 1

“Anti-Semitism, Racism, and Xenophobia – Biblical Interpreters Aren’t Helping”

Listen in on our Zoom conversation with Pam Eisenbaum. Part 1 will be her presentation, Part 2 will have our question and answer session. 
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Although these contemporary issues challenging our world today seem far removed from the world of the Bible, there are many today who read the Bible—or at least revere it as a source of authority—with the belief that it offers them guidance on how they live their lives. Most Bible readers do not read Greek and Hebrew and thus depend upon scholars and preachers who do the work of translation and interpretation. Unfortunately, much of the Bible in translation perpetuates stereotypes that contribute to the plagues of Anti-Semitism, Racism, and Xenophobia, and in many cases, contemporary translations make them worse. Moreover, long-held destructive traditions of interpretation accompany the minds of unwitting readers or reciters of favorite scriptural passages.

In this podcast we will consider a few illustrative examples of misread, mistranslated, misused, and misunderstood snippets from the Bible—little phrases and sentences that have had enormously bad effects, even though, in most cases, such effects were not inevitable. But, before we look at texts, I first want us to look at a few recent incidents. I hope not only to show ways in which the Bible—at least certain texts—inform and inflame hatred, but I also want to show the ways in which Anti-Semitism and racism—particularly anti-Black racism are linked. They are not merely two examples of negative stereotyping or bias against marginalized groups; the two are often linked in ways that need explaining.

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Pamela Eisenbaum is professor of Biblical studies and Christian origins at Iliff, and is associate faculty of the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Denver. One of four Jewish New Testament scholars teaching in Christian theological schools, she is the author of The Jewish Heroes of Christian History: Hebrews 11 in Literary Context, Invitations to Romans, and most recently, Paul Was Not a Christian: The Original Message of a Misunderstood Apostle. She has published many essays on the Bible, ancient Judaism and the origins of Christianity, and is an active member of the Society of Biblical Literature.

A passion for working with ancient manuscripts has increasingly informed her research. Professor Eisenbaum has experience working with the Dead Sea Scrolls and spent time at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin studying the oldest surviving manuscript of Paul’s Letters (dated c. 200 C.E.). She appeared in the ABC documentary, “Jesus and Paul: The Word and the Witness.”

 

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