The "Understanding Sin" Recap Episode: How Far We've Come!

In this episode, I recap everything we have discussed so far, before I begin a new chapter of the podcast. This is a great place to start if you are new to the podcast, and you can then cherry-pick the past episodes you would like to delve into further.

As you know, this podcast began as a way of presenting the ideas in my book (Evil Within and Without: The Source of Sin and Its Nature as Portrayed in Second Temple Literature) to a more general audience. Of course, I also added discussions regarding the biblical texts on which Second Temple ideas were based.

As I am now finished with the ideas in my book, I am looking forward to exploring other ideas regarding sin, including atonement, sin’s consequences and punishment, and other related ideas as they appear in the Hebrew Bible, Second Temple literature, and, sometimes, later in Rabbinic texts.

So not only is this the recap episode, it is your opportunity to tell me what you would like to learn next! I would love to hear from you. Just comment on this episode to let me know!

Leighton Irvin says:

October 25, 2017 at 7:47 pm

Would love to hear love to hear about gospels vs other second temple literature and what the similarities and differences are! Because it seems to me the common then they all share is some form of demonology where there is one bad guy and his minion demons that are responsible for evil and sin and then good side on the other end of the spectrum. Also I can’t wait to hear the episode on atonement because some say vicarious atonement is a something that can be seen in 4 Maccabees and Talmudic writings so can’t wait to hear your work on all of that! Love you work and what you do!

J Hamrick says:

February 1, 2018 at 1:24 am

I agree more discussion involving Christianity would be great!
Love to listen to you Dr.
Shalom
1. Miryam Brand says:
  
  July 13, 2018 at 4:17 pm
  
  Thank you! I am not an expert on Christianity, or even close to one, but I’ll continue to mention it when it is appropriate in the context of my findings, etc. Note that Christianity, and the New Testament, generates a HUGE amount of scholarship that I cannot pretend to be a master of.

James Seward says:

October 31, 2017 at 6:44 pm

Hi there, what an informative series thus far! Regarding the identity of the DSS caves, Dr. Stephen Pfann has proposed that only a select number of them are Essene, namely Cave 1 containing documents from the priestly Essenes and Cave 6 containing documents from the laity with the Damascus Document. However Cave 3 he assigned to the Zealots as the copper scroll was found there, and Cave 11 with its Temple Scroll contained a “non-Essene collection of a priestly character.” I first learned of his identifications while listening to a lecture from the Missouri State University, and his developed case can be found here from pages 10-12: http://www.uhl.ac/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/EncJudQUMRAN.pdf

Also, related to the study of sin and evil is chronology, as in when it began. Informing this question is the interpretation of the Genesis 5, 11 genealogies. That is, can they be interpreted as being a chronological construct? Even though raised to embrace the affirmative, I now after much research believe their proper intent was credential, not chronological. Your thoughts on this are most welcome.

Ronald says:

November 8, 2017 at 5:59 pm

Loving the podcast and everything you’ve covered! Because of how well read you are in the DSS and Second Temple literature, I would love to hear you explore the Odes of Solomon within a Jewish theological matrix. Their similarities to the Hodayot seem apparent to me, and hearing your treatment of petitionary prayers especially has allowed me to read the Odes in a new way.

Beyond that, since you have such a unique angle for exploring these texts, please keep plugging away at the Pseudepigrapha and other non-canonical writings. These are woefully underrepresented in podcasts! Thank you for everything!

Miryam Brand says:

July 5, 2018 at 10:54 pm

Hi Ronald, I’ll try to get back to Pseudepigrapha soon!

David Fischer says:

January 10, 2019 at 11:04 pm

Very nice episode. I would like to disagree slightly about gospel interpretation of demon possession. Particularly, the demons that went into the swine did not take over the swine. The demons wanted to inhabit the swine to avoid going into the deep, into hell. The swine themselves chose suicide rather than have demons within them. I don’t see anything in the gospels that indicates that demons take over someone’s body? At most, a demon might be able to cause an epileptic fit such as throwing someone into the fire.

I very much enjoy listening to second temple thoughts concerning Sin and other scriptural concepts.

#25: The “Understanding Sin” Recap Episode — How Far We’ve Come!

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