Disarming Leviathan Podcast

Many Christians wrestle with violence in the Old Testament and assume that once we reach Jesus and the early church, the problem goes away. Then we get to Acts 5, where Ananias and Sapphira lie about the proceeds from a property sale and both suddenly die. In this episode, New Testament scholar and pastor James Petitfils helps us understand this disturbing story within the larger biblical narrative and the social world of the early church. James argues that this is not a warning that God routinely kills people for lying. Instead, it occurs at a pivotal moment in salvation history when the Holy Spirit is forming a radically different kind of community.The key may be understanding what Ananias and Sapphira were actually doing. In the Roman world, wealthy benefactors often gave publicly in exchange for honor, influence, and social status. But the early church was supposed to operate differently. It was a family where resources were shared for the good of brothers and sisters without demanding status in return. James shows how Ananias and Sapphira attempted to import the world's systems of status and power into this new community, and why the Holy Spirit's severe response reveals something important about God's concern for the integrity of the church.For James’ slide deck, click here.About JamesJames Petitfils is a professor at Biola University and a pastor in Southern California. His scholarship focuses on the social world of early Christianity, ancient Roman history, and the early Christian martyrs. His forthcoming book, Dying in Style: Spectacle Appearance and Dress in Ancient Christian Martyr Texts, explores how early Christians facing oppression and violence understood and presented their martyrdom within the world of the Roman Empire. Get full access to Disarming Leviathan at disarmingleviathan.substack.com/subscribe

The Bible contains disturbing stories of conquest, judgment, and violence. How should Christians make sense of these passages, especially when biblical texts are being paired with images of missiles, military campaigns, and calls to destroy contemporary enemies? In this episode, biblical scholar Dru Johnson helps us approach these texts within the world of the Bible itself. Dru argues that Scripture’s violence cannot be separated from its concern for oppression, exploitation, and the protection of vulnerable people. And he invites comfortable American Christians to listen to believers around the world whose experiences with violence and injustice may help us hear these texts differently.The conversation then turns to what these texts mean for Christians today. Dru cautions against moving too quickly from ancient Israel to confident declarations about whom America should bomb, invade, or destroy. Instead, biblical wisdom should produce humility about the limits of our knowledge, greater caution about state violence, and deeper attention to the people and places where we actually have responsibility. Rather than assuming Scripture gives us easy answers to every geopolitical conflict, Dru invites us to become people capable of discerning what is wise and loving in the places God has actually put us. About Dru JohnsonDru Johnson is a biblical scholar and professor at Hope College who studies the intellectual world of Scripture and how biblical authors understood knowledge, wisdom, ritual, and human flourishing. He is the author of Biblical Philosophy: A Hebraic Approach to the Old and New Testaments, Scripture’s Knowing, Knowledge by Ritual, and What Hath Darwin to Do with Scripture? He also directs the Center for Hebraic Thought and hosts The Biblical Mind podcast, where he explores how the biblical authors approach complex questions about human life and society. Get full access to Disarming Leviathan at disarmingleviathan.substack.com/subscribe

What does it mean to follow Jesus when political leaders invoke Christianity to justify power, domination, and violence? In this episode, Matthew D. Taylor returns to the podcast to discuss his new book, Defying Tyrants. Matthew argues that Jesus was neither politically disengaged nor interested in seizing Caesar’s power for himself. Instead, Jesus modeled a radically different politics, one that rejected domination, cared for people suffering under empire, and confronted political and religious authorities without adopting their methods.We trace what happened when Christianity moved from the margins of the Roman Empire to the halls of power under Constantine and how the logic of Christendom continues to shape Christian Nationalism today. Matthew also explores the biblical language of “antichrists,” arguing that it can help Christians recognize forms of Christianity that invoke Jesus while pursuing power in ways contrary to Jesus. And we consider what faithful Christian resistance might look like today: caring for those harmed by political power, challenging the misuse of Jesus’ name, and resisting authoritarianism without becoming authoritarian ourselves.Matthew D. Taylor is a scholar of religion whose work focuses on Christian Nationalism, political theology, and the relationship between Christianity and political power. He is the author of The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy and the new book Defying Tyrants, which examines Jesus' response to authoritarian power and what it means for Christians today. He also writes contemporary analysis at Matthew D. Taylor's Reckonings and is a frequent commentator on religion, politics, and Christian Nationalism. Get full access to Disarming Leviathan at disarmingleviathan.substack.com/subscribe

What do we do with the Psalms that ask God to judge, punish, and even destroy enemies? And what happens when Christians take those prayers and use them to justify violence against political opponents, other nations, or people they believe threaten America? In this episode, biblical theologian Trevor Laurence helps us understand the imprecatory Psalms within the larger story of Scripture. Rather than dismissing these difficult prayers, Trevor shows how they give voice to people suffering under violence and oppression who are crying out for God to intervene and make things right. But these Psalms cannot simply be taken from ancient Israel and turned into prayers against our contemporary political enemies. Trevor explains how Jesus transforms our understanding of conquest, judgment, and God’s kingdom. The church advances God’s kingdom not through military power or state coercion, but through witness, baptism, discipleship, perseverance, and peace. And when Christians pray for justice, these Psalms should turn our attention toward Jesus, confront our own sin, and challenge the temptation to assume that God is always on our political side.Trevor Laurence is a biblical theologian, author, and Executive Director of the Cateclesia Institute. His work focuses especially on biblical theology, the Psalms, prayer, justice, and the church's worship. He is the author of Cursing with God: The Imprecatory Psalms and the Ethics of Christian Prayer and Reading the Psalms Theologically. His work helps Christians wrestle faithfully with some of Scripture's most difficult prayers while locating them within the larger biblical story centered on Jesus. Get full access to Disarming Leviathan at disarmingleviathan.substack.com/subscribe

The Bible contains a lot of violence. But what are Christians supposed to do with stories of conquest, divine judgment, and commands to destroy Israel’s enemies, especially when those texts are used to justify American military power or Christian Nationalist politics? In this episode, Old Testament scholar Matthew Lynch helps us slow down and read these difficult passages more carefully. He argues that Joshua is far more complicated than a simple blueprint for holy war. In fact, the book repeatedly disrupts easy categories of who is “us” and who is “them,” turns Israel’s attention toward the idols within its own community, and challenges attempts to enlist God in our political causes.Together, we explore how ancient Israel understood warfare, why commands of conquest cannot simply be copied and pasted into the modern world, and what these difficult texts might actually be trying to form in God’s people. Matt offers a reading of Joshua that calls Christians toward deeper discipleship, self-examination, and exclusive loyalty to God rather than providing religious cover for nationalism, military expansion, or political violence.About Matthew LynchMatthew Lynch is an Old Testament scholar at Regent College whose work focuses on biblical theology, violence in Scripture, and the Old Testament’s vision of God and humanity. He is the author of Flood and Fury: Old Testament Violence and the Shalom of God and hosts the OnScript podcast. Get full access to Disarming Leviathan at disarmingleviathan.substack.com/subscribe