Barney and Austin interview Old Testament Professor Iain Provan, who takes a different view to our previous guests on the historical reliability of the Bible. For him, there is every reason to trust the Bible's authors, and no reason not to trust them. Provan also suggests that: The very idea of history comes from the Old Testament. There is no 'neutral' way of reading the Bible: there are Christian or non-Christian ways of reading. Jesus gave us these texts, and that is why we read them.

Austin and Barney interview Professor Emeritus Hugh Williamson of Oxford University on how his faith relates to historical enquiry about the Old Testament. We discuss questions like: How does Prof. Williamson hold together his identity as a scholar and his faith as a Christian? Does he ever see a conflict between them? What does the historical study of the Bible do for one's faith? What historical events in the Bible does Christian faith depend on?

Is the Old Testament historically reliable? What difference does that question make to our faith? What do we mean by 'historical' and 'reliable' anyway?

In this episode, Barney and Austin interview Professor John Goldingay, a retired Old Testament scholar enormously influential in the Evangelical tradition. Prof. Goldingay shares his thoughts about the relationship between faith and biblical history, and then problematizes the question for us: why are we asking about this and in what way should it, and should it not, matter?

Austin and I will be wrestling with how the Christian faith relates to its own history. We'll be asking questions like: Do Christians have to believe the Bible is historically reliable? Is there evidence to suggest the Bible is historically reliable? How ought Christians to read and interpret the Bible from a historical point of view? How should Christians think about the troubling aspects of their own history after the Bible: crusades, inquisition, colonialism?