Shows / The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
A weekly podcast examining what the Bible says about the oneness and unity of God and about the humanity of Jesus Christ. By Dustin R. Smith, PhD.
Episodes
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
338: Avoiding the Appeal to Authority Fallacy
The logical fallacy "Appeal to Authority" occurs when someone points to the opinion of an expert, scholar, or institution without considering the merits of…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
337: Avoiding the Bandwagon Fallacy
This episode explores the Bandwagon Fallacy, which occurs when someone points to the popularity of a belief, issue, or person to the exclusion of evidence…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
336: Avoiding the Special Pleading Fallacy
In debates and discussions about the Trinity and the identity of God, the fallacy of special pleading (or "moving the goalposts") often occurs. This fallacy…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
335: Avoiding the Straw Man Fallacy
This week's episode begins a new series that examines common logical fallacies used in debates about God and Christ. The Straw Man fallacy occurs when one…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
334: John the Baptist, Agent from God
Having given sufficient attention to the Jewish Principle of Agency in the previous seven episodes, we can now turn and examine the role of agent that John the…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
333: The Agent Can Appoint Other Agents
As we bring our study of the Jewish Principle of Agency to a close, we take the opportunity to examine the sixth and final tenet, a commissioned agent can…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
332: The Agent Returns to the Sender after Completing the Mission
According to the Jewish Principle of Agency, upon completion of his or her mission, the agent needed to return to the sender. This episode explores how Jesus…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
331: The Agent Obeys the Sender
As we examine the fourth tenet of the Jewish Principle of Agency, we discover that the relationship between the principal and the agent requires an obedient…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
330: The Agent is Subordinate to the Sender
This week's episode explores the tenet in the Jewish Principle of Agency that recognizes the subordinate status of the agent (shaliach) of the sender…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
329: The Agent Bore the Judicial Role of the Sender
As we continue our series on the Jewish Principle of Agency, we explore in this episode the ways in which the commissioned agent carried out the judicial roles…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
328: The Agent Fully Represents the Sender
The first tenet of the Jewish Principle of Agency is that the agent fully represents the sender. This episode examines the evidence for this concept within the…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
327: The Jewish Principle of Agency
Scholars have long noted the similarities between the regular depiction of God sending prophets, messengers, and even the Messiah, with the Jewish principle of…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
326: Discussing My New Book, Wisdom Christology in the Gospel of John
My book, Wisdom Christology in the Gospel of John, is now available. In this week's episode, I talk about why I wrote it, how I organized the material, and…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
325: Does John’s Gospel Teach Two Powers in Heaven?
As we continue working through Alan Segal's arguments in favor of early Christian views of the Two Powers in Heaven heresy, we come to the Gospel of John. We…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
324: Did Paul Teach Two Powers in Heaven?
Did the Apostle Paul teach something resembling the heresy of Two Powers in Heaven that the later Jewish rabbis rejected? This episode interacts with Alan…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
323: Was Philo a Two-Powers-in-Heaven Heretic?
Did Philo, the first-century Jew, believe and teach that there were actually two Gods in heaven? What does Philo mean when he talks about the "two powers" of…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
322: What Is the Two Powers in Heaven Heresy?
The seminal work by Alan Segal, Two Powers in Heaven, has made a demonstrable impact on how interpreters understand Jewish monotheism and early Christian views…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
321: Jesus’ Solidarity with Human Mortality in Hebrews
This episode interacts with a recently published article in the journal Novum Testamentum 66 (2024) entitled "Jesus’s Solidarity with Human Mortality and…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
320: John’s Use of Deuteronomy 18:22b
Deuteronomy 18:22 indicates that a presumptuous prophet is not to be feared. How does the theme of fear relate to those who hear Jesus’ prophetic preaching in…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
319: John’s Use of Deuteronomy 18:21-22a
If Deut. 18:21-22 gives a litmus test to determine the legitimacy of a prophet's status, how does the Gospel of John frame the portrayal of Jesus in a manner…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
318: John’s Use of Deuteronomy 18:20
Although the Gospel of John paints a thorough picture of Jesus as the prophet like Moses (Deut. 18:15-19), many of those who rejected Jesus regarded him as a…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
317: John’s Use of Deuteronomy 18:19
In our ongoing series that seeks to understand how Deut. 18:15-22 has shaped the depiction of Jesus in the Gospel of John, we focus this week on 18:19. This…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
316: John’s Use of Deuteronomy 18:18b
As we continue our deep dive into the many ways that the Gospel of John displays Jesus as the prophet like Moses from Deut. 18:15-22, we focus this week on how…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
315: John’s Use of Deuteronomy 18:18a
As we continue our exploration into the many ways that Deut. 18:15-22 has shaped the christological portrayal of Jesus in the Gospel of John, we focus this…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
314: John’s Use of Deuteronomy 18:15b
This week's episode continues exploring how the Gospel of John portrays Jesus as the prophet mentioned in Deut 18:15-22. Having already observed how Moses…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
313: John’s Use of Deuteronomy 18:15a
This week’s episode begins our exploration of the many ways in which the Gospel of John draws upon Deut. 18:15-22 in order to portray Jesus as the prophet like…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
312: Is The Didache Trinitarian?
The Didache is an early collection of the teachings of Jesus, aimed at making disciples. This week's episode will explore what the Didachist--the author of the…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
311: Is Clement of Rome a Trinitarian?
Clement of Rome is a very important witness to the character of early Christianity, particularly because he is the earliest extrabiblical Christian author…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
310: Is Jesus the Root or Shoot of David?
Most translations describe the Lamb of God as the "Root of David" in the Book of Revelation. A root, however, is something that comes before the tree. Does the…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
309: Did Jesus Have to Be God to Atone for Sins?
Did Jesus have to be Yahweh, the God of Israel, in order for his death to completely deal with the sins of all humanity? Many have been led to believe so, but…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
308: Is Jesus the Son of Man in 1 Enoch?
Is the figure described as "Son of Man" in the extra-biblical book of 1 Enoch the same Son of Man we read about in the New Testament gospels? This episode…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
307: 5 Things Your Pastor Is Not Telling You About Jesus’ Birth
What truths about the birth of Jesus Christ are most commonly left out of nativity scenes, Christmas plays, and Advent sermons? This week's episode explores…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
306: The Incarnation of Wisdom in Pre-Christian Judaism
In this week's episode, we listen to the recent paper I presented on the origins of the doctrine of incarnation within the forms of Judaisms that predated…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
305: Were the Opponents of 1 John Jews?
Were the opponents of 1 John Jews who gave up their confession of Jesus being the Jewish messiah, perhaps to rejoin the local synagogue? This week's episode…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
304: Did the Opponents of 1 John Downplay Jesus’ Humanity?
Was the significance of Jesus' humanity under attack by the opponents in 1 John? This episode looks at the arguments of two prominent scholars who make this…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
303: Are the Opponents of 1 John Cerinthians?
Is 1 John written to combat the heresies of Cerinthus, the heretic of the late first century CE? This week's episode examines the arguments in favor of 1 John…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
302: Are the Opponents of 1 John Docetists?
Are the opponents of 1 John docetic Christians, namely, those who taught that Jesus only seemed to be a human being who suffered and died? This week's episode…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
301: Are the Opponents of 1 John Gnostics?
Were the secessionists in 1 John Gnostics? This episode looks at the arguments in favor of identifying the opponents in 1 John as adherents to Gnosticism. We…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
300: Who Are the Opponents in 1 John?
What is the identity of the opponents mentioned in 1 John? Answer: we are not entirely sure. This week's episode introduces 1 John and the ways in which the…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
299: Defining Gnosticism
What is Gnosticism and who were the Gnostic Christians? While some listeners might have a vague idea of what beliefs define Gnostics, this episode dives deep…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
298: 10 Human Beings Who Said ‘I Am He’
Could human beings in Judaism and early Christianity say the phrase "I am he" and mean something other than "I am Yahweh, the only true God of Israel?" This…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
297: The Johannine Jesus’ Use of ‘I Am He’ (Part 3 of 3)
This episode examines the meaning of the phrase "I am He" (Greek: "ego eimi") in John chapters 9-21. Within these five instances, four belong to Jesus and one…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
296: The Johannine Jesus’ Use of ‘I Am He’ (Part 2)
In John chapter 8, Jesus makes the claim "I am He" four times, with the final claim resulting in the Jews attempting to stone him to death. This week's episode…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
295: The Johannine Jesus’ Use of ‘I Am He’ (Part 1)
This week's episode begins looking through all the occurrences of "ego eimi" ("I am He") within the Fourth Gospel, the Gospel according to John. After noting…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
294: The Lukan Jesus’ Use of ‘I Am He’
In this week's episode, we explore every single occurrence of the phrase "I am he" (Greek: "ego eimi") in the Gospel of Luke in order to see if any of the…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
293: The Matthaean Jesus’ Use of ‘I Am He’
This week's episode examines all the instances of people saying "I am He" in the Gospel according to Matthew. We note that Jesus makes this self-declaration…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
292: The Markan Jesus’ Use of ‘I Am He’
This week's episode examines all the occurrences within the Gospel of Mark where Jesus says "I am he" (Greek: "ego eimi"). We begin by examining whether the…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
291: The Self-Declaration ‘I am He’ in Common Jewish Life
What did Jews think of the phrase “I am he” and how was it used in normal, everyday life? This episode lays out the context for upcoming studies of the four NT…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
290: The Self-Declaration ‘I am He’ in Isaiah
As we continue our study of Yahweh's famous self-declaration "I am He," we turn to examine the phrase in the Book of Isaiah. This episode will look closely at…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
289: Examining Yahweh’s Self-Declaration ‘I am He’
What does Yahweh mean when he claims the self-designation "I am he" within the Hebrew Bible? This episode begins a series that aims to explore what the phrase…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
288: Exploring the Triad in Revelation 1:4-5
In Revelation 1:4-5, we encounter our last attempt at the supposedly-biblical Triune God being referenced in the Bible. However, there is a problem with the…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
287: Exploring the Triad in Jude 1:20-21
Within the small Epistle of Jude, there exists another triadic passage (Jude 1:20-21). However, this passage actually speaks about God, Jesus, and the…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
286: Exploring the Triad in 1 Peter 1:1-2
The opening sentence of 1 Peter mentions the Father, Son, and Spirit together. Is this an implicit declaration of the doctrine of the Trinity or is the Father…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
285: Exploring the Triad in Hebrews 9:14
Hebrews 9:14 contains another triadic reference to God, Jesus, and the Spirit. Is this evidence of the doctrine of the Trinity? We examine this passage and…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
284: Exploring the Triad in Eph. 3:14-17
In this week's episode, we explore the prayer language in Ephesians involving the Father, Son, and Spirit. Is this prayer a subtle reference to the triune God…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
283: Exploring the Triad in Gal. 4:4-6
In this week's episode, we explore what Paul means in the triadic mention of God, the Son, and the Spirit in Gal. 4:4-6. Is this a reference to the triune God…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
282: Exploring the Triad in 2 Cor 13:14
This week's episode explores the triad present in the final verse of 2 Corinthians. Since the triad does not fit the Trinity's own definition of God and the…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
281: Exploring the Triad in 1 Cor 12:4-6
Our study of the triad passages within the New Testament leads us to 1 Cor. 12:4-6, where the Apostle Paul speaks of the same Spirit, the same Lord, and the…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
280: Exploring the Triad in Rom. 15:30
As we continue to explore the various "triads" in the New Testament, we come across Romans 15:30 in this week's episode. What does Paul mean with this call to…
- The Biblical Unitarian Podcast
279: Exploring the Triad in Matt. 28:19
Instead of explaining away or casting doubt on the reference to the Father, Son, and Spirit in Matt. 28:19, why not strive to understand what it does mean?…