Interview with Brad Gray, author of Make Your Mark
In this eighteen minute video, I talk with author and pastor, Brad Gray about his new book Make Your Mark; Getting Right what Samson got Wrong.
His book takes a new look at the character of Samson from the book of Judges. Using all of the archaeological, cultural and linguistic data available to him, Gray, shows how the writers of Judges meant for us to know a Samson very different than the powerful character we known from Sunday school and popular culture.
Apologies for the delayed and overlapping audio. I am not trying to talk over Brad. I am, however, still learning how to do all of this well. The fault is mine, not Brad’s.
Brad is a fantastic teaching pastor at Central Wesleyan Church in Holland Michigan. He holds an M.Div. from Western Theological Seminary and studied with me at Jerusalem University College. Make Your Mark aligns so well with the mission of Biblical Remains. Not only does it focus on what the ancient context of the story can tell us about Samson, It also points us towards how we can live better today because of that knowledge.
Brad was kind enough to discuss the following five questions:
- How does the Samson the biblical writers intended us to know differ from the Samson we know from Sunday school and popular culture?
- Why is the Samson narrative so important for us today?
- What is your favorite lesson from the life of Samson?
- What insight did you gain that was only possible with the use of linguistic, cultural or archaeological data?
- For someone who is not used to studying the text in this way what tools would you suggest they use to get started?
You can get your very own copy of Make Your Mark; Getting Right What Samson Got Wrong here
If your would like to find out more about Brad Gray and his ministry you can find him at Walking the Text.com
Update: Brad is now offering a FREE downloadable study guide for the book along with steep discounts for volume orders for study groups. To learn more and download the free study guide, click here.
Disclosure of Material Connection. I received an Advanced Copy of the book mentioned above for comment and review. Some of the links above are affiliate links. That being said I only promote things which I thoroughly believe my readers will benefit from and that I use myself. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, part 255: “guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
