Mike Crudge is the Communications Director at the Baptist National Support Centre and, as part of this role, oversees The Baptist NZ Podcast Network – a growing collection of podcast shows with the aim to encourage, inspire, inform, and bring into focus a wide range of topics and discussions across the breath of Baptist expression in Aotearoa New Zealand.
This week, we've dropped a new podcast show by one of our New Zealand Baptist biblical scholars, Philip Church, and podcast host Lauren Domigan. They are both members of Royal Oak Baptist Church in Auckland.
In this podcast, Lauren and Philip discuss the political situation in the Middle East following the unconscionable events of 23 October 2023, when Hamas broke into Israel and killed numerous people and took many hostages. These events and their aftermath have been in the news media and our social media feeds almost daily over the last seventeen months. In this podcast, Philip sets these events into their historical context and suggests what he believes to be an appropriate theological and biblical response.
Philip Church is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Theology at Laidlaw College in Auckland. He has a PhD in New Testament and has taught Biblical Languages and Old and New Testament courses at Laidlaw for 15 years. In his retirement, he has taught block courses in several countries in the majority world. He has a longstanding interest in the Middle East and has travelled there several times. His particular interest is in what he calls “temple theology,” thinking about the dwelling place of God in the past (in a building in Jerusalem), the present (in the “heavenly Jerusalem” – the church, see Hebrews 12:22-24), and in the future (in the new heaven and earth, Rev 20:22). In 2024, Philip published a series of articles: Israel and Palestine – Twenty-one questions that were based on questions submitted by people in New Zealand Baptist churches.
Episode overview
The following seven episodes have all been published and are available now on:
- Spotify,
- Apple Podcasts,
- YouTube,
- Baptist NZ website,
- and on the Baptist NZ app:
Episode 1: Biblical insights: Introduction
The presenters introduce themselves and the background of this podcast series.
Episode 2: 4000 years in 40 minutes
A brief potted history of the promised land from the promises to Abraham of Genesis 12 to the present day.
Episode 3: Life in the land of the Holy One: It's complicated
We take a no-holds-barred look at what it is like to live in the West Bank and Gaza today and some Christian responses to that.
Episode 4: Jewish and Palestinian perspectives of the land
We go back to the Old Testament and consider the importance of the land of the Bible for ancient Israel and why Jewish people today consider the land important. We end with a brief look at what some Palestinians say about the land.
Episode 5: Restorationism and Zionism
This episode defines restorationism, political Zionism, and Christian Zionism, and it gives a history of the development of Zionism since it emerged at the end of the nineteenth century.
Episode 6: Living in God’s land
We go back to the Old Testament and look at how God's people are to live in God's land, the exile as the consequence of disobedience, followed by the promises of the return from exile.
Episode 7: The land of Jerusalem and the temple in the New Testament
We remind ourselves of the importance of the land, Jerusalem and temple in ancient Israel and what the New Testament says about that. At the end of the episode, we consider what Paul the Apostle meant when he said, "In this way all Israel will be saved" (Romans 11:26).
How to listen
Find this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Baptist NZ website, and on the Baptist NZ app.
Engage with the hosts
Philip Church and Lauren Domigan have an email address for this podcast and may produce future episodes. Get in touch via [email protected]
More from Philip Church
You can read written articles by Philip Church at baptist.nz/philip-church.
Image credit: podcast artwork, Charis Fotheringham
