Was it Something I Read?

29/09/2023

We're delighted to announce our final episode of this first season: an interview with the authors of "Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric?", Bill Webb and Gord Oeste.

Plans for season two have been coming slowly. It'll be several months yet before we're ready to launch. But we thank you for listening, and for your patience as we found our feet. We're excited for what will come next.

SummaryWe were delighted and honoured that Bill Webb and Gord Oeste, the authors of this excellent work, were willing to take a substantial amount of time to sit down and chat with us about many of the questions that have occurred to us in our stu...

01/09/2023

We're pleased to present our last regular episode of the season . . . but stayed tuned for an end-of-season special interview, dropping in a couple of weeks!

SummaryIn this final episode, we look at Webb and Oeste’s insightful final chapter. Here, they look at how the death, resurrection, and final victory of Jesus forever changes – and in fact undoes – the place of warfare and violence in God’s kingdo...

17/08/2023

After a pause resulting from the chaos of summer, we're pleased to return with our last few episodes walking through "Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric?" We really enjoyed this conversation about God's association with war and with peace and mercy in scripture.

SummaryIn this episode, we look at a number of the texts that describe God in the Old Testament as a warrior, and then at many of the texts that suggest that God is uncomfortable being associated with physical violence. We also delve deeply into a...

01/06/2023

This was a really sobering chapter to cover, but we think it was really helpful to understand what war tended to look like in the ancient world, and how God's commands to Israel moved the ethical ball forward.

Perhaps, as we look at our modern context, what was even more helpful -- and disturbing -- was thinking about to what extent cruelty and terror continue to be realities in situations of conflict today.

While "enjoy" might not be the right word, we hope this conversation is as beneficial to you as it was to us.

SummaryIn this difficult and sobering episode, we look at a range of ancient – and not-so-ancient – war practices that were common in the Ancient Near East. But though we talk about what these horrific practices entailed (we hope, in ways that are...

18/05/2023

And we're back, with an episode a good deal more fun than the title might indicate! It was a great conversation about reading well, mercy, and some of our personal approaches to grappling with hard texts. We hope you enjoy it.

SummaryIn this episode, we dive into how Webb and Oeste explain the relationship between the "drive out" and "total kill" instructions in Scripture. We see that it doesn’t make sense for them to be two words for the same thing, but they are relate...

11/05/2023

We've done some exciting work lately, but due to scheduling conflicts, we don't have an episode to release today. Thank you for your interest and support, and most especially your kindness and patience as we try to figure out what makes for a helpful podcast.

See you soon!

27/04/2023

Our latest episode has dropped!

Join us for a very different conversation than we have had in this book. As we studied for last episode's investigation of Saul and the Amalekites, it made us think about unfit leadership and abuse of power, and we saw a lot of parallels with current conversations the church is having around these issues.

SummaryWhile Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric? is about the Canaanite conquest, as we read the chapter on Saul and the Amalekites, we couldn’t help but notice how strongly it is highlighted that Saul is an unfit leader, who cares about his own glory a...

17/04/2023

Episode 7 launched on Thursday! This is a bit of a shorter (and more light-hearted) episode as we prepare to dig deeper into 1 Samuel 15 in our next episode!

Listen (and find us on your favourite podcast platform) here:
https://wasitsomethingiread.buzzsprout.com/2111971/12626123-bloody-brutal-and-barbaric-ep-7-1-samuel-15-and-hyperbole

15/04/2023

Newest episode has dropped (on Thursday, actually). Follow us on your favourite podcast listening app, so you don't miss an episode!

SummaryIn a slightly short episode, we talk about 1 Samuel 15, and some of the ways in which it seems, at first glance, to be a challenge to Webb and Oeste’s suggestion that hyperbole is an extensive part of how war instructions are given and carr...

30/03/2023

It seems amazing to be releasing our sixth episode already! A much lighter -- in fact, slightly amusing at moments -- topic this week, as we look at hyperbole (purposeful exaggeration) and its use in the ancient world.

SummaryIn this episode, we talk through chapters 8-10 of Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric?, which address the use of hyperbole in the conquest narratives, and addresses some of the arguments against hyperbole. We talk about reading the bible seriously...

19/03/2023

Part two of our difficult and uncomfortable conversation on war r**e and captive brides is available now. Again, please listen with caution.

This was a really tough conversation. It's perhaps one of the hardest places to see the goodness of God in the law. We hope we succeeded, without minimizing the terrible suffering that women have experienced in every war, in history and modern times.

SummaryIn an equally difficult second part to our conversation on war r**e, we begin to unpack what Ancient Near Eastern war practices looked like with regards to enemy women, in order to understand how the law in Deuteronomy 21:10-14 makes improv...

04/03/2023

Check out our latest episode. Please do so with caution, as the topic is not suitable for young or sensitive listeners.

SummaryIn part one of this very uncomfortable episode, we try to think through the issue of forced marriage and war r**e as addressed in Deuteronomy 21:10-14. We wrestle with our disgust for the practice, trying to see it through both our modern u...

17/02/2023

Our third episode has dropped! Join us as continue to work through the foundational chapters of "Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric?"

SummaryCarrying on from the prior episode, we continue to talk about divine purpose and human failings, messy toddlers, and the sometimes painful results and moral grey areas wrought by the actions of humans who are in process. An interesting conv...

02/02/2023

Second episode out now!

SummaryWith less awkwardness and a little more laughter, we talk about chapters 2-4 of Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric. We think about the trouble with traditional answers to the Canaanite conquest and the importance of perspective. Patterns in scrip...

02/02/2023

Next episode drops later today! Find answers to questions like: what is God's plan in the conquest? Is everyone a Canaanite? And can Alex, Kate, and Ashley have less stilted conversations?

Listen and learn!

20/01/2023

First episode just dropped! Join us as we read and discuss "Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric?" by William Webb and Gordon Oeste.

With many thanks to our producer and administrative support, Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence!

SummaryIn our inaugural episode, we give an overview of some of the biblical texts that talk about the slaughter of innocents and war r**e that rightly cause us such ethical discomfort. Pushing through the awkwardness of never having done this bef...

20/01/2023

Welcome to our new podcast, "Was it Something I Read?", produced by the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence, where three evangelicals discuss excellent books that examine the issues and scriptures that make so many of us uncomfortable and leave us with a lot of questions. We want to break down troubling texts and hard concepts and make them useful in our life and faith.