Tim Mackie on the Bible: the Wrestle to Understand It, Complexity of Teaching It and Power Within It
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In this episode Jason dialogues with Tim Mackie, the co-creator of the popular BibleProject Series.
Their conversation dives into one of Mackie’s favourite all-time topics — the scriptures. Mackie unpacks his prior hang-ups about the Bible, ranging from textual variants in manuscripts, the violent, off-putting nature of many of the sacred stories, and the sometimes strange, unsettling, hard-to-understand God portrayed therein.
Scripture is not a tidy, prepackaged encyclopedia of answers freshly stamped with divine approval. According to Mackie, our sacred texts are more of a venue for wrestling with God. Like Jacob in Genesis, we are invited to tangle with our Creator in hopes of leaving the encounter — perhaps with a limp in our step — but also with a burning love in our hearts that renames us and makes us new by constantly pointing us towards the person of Jesus.
The BibleProject and its videos have received hundreds of millions of views all around the world. Much of their conversation revolves around Mackie’s personal journey and how the Bible Project came to fruition, making this interview a must-listen for anyone who has been impacted by their creative and innovative teaching series.
Tim Mackie
For many years Tim Mackie served as a pastor and part-time professor at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. These days, he spends most of his time researching, writing, and offering creative direction at BibleProject.
Tim’s spiritual journey began with loving parents, who waited patiently for him to discover Jesus in his late teens. He started following Jesus because of an outreach ministry called Skatechurch.
Tim was introduced to the wonderful world of biblical studies and languages during his education at Multnomah University. He fell in love with biblical literature and developed a passion for understanding Jesus in his historical and cultural context.
Tim was so fascinated with Jesus’ Jewish heritage that he went on to pursue a degree in theology from Western Seminary and then gained a Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
His early research and writing interests focused on the manuscript history of the Bible and the formation of the biblical canon. All along, Tim was fascinated with the literary artistry and design of biblical narrative and poetry. But most of all, he loved helping people understand how the overall biblical story works together and leads us to Jesus.
“When you’re having deep questions, the Bible isn’t your enemy. The Bible is actually becoming a venue through which your faith is becoming more nuanced and more mature.”
“The purpose of the Bible is to become one of the venues with which we wrestle and struggle with the living God.”
YouTube Links
We have also posted some of our favourite sections of this interview on our YouTube Channel - here is one of them:
Coming Up Next
Phil Cann
Next week we’ll be sharing Jason’s chat with Pastor Phil Cann. Before Youth Alpha, some of you might have run a resource called Quest to reach your friends who didn’t know Jesus, Phil was one of the hosts of that video series. He is a passionate evangelist and Bible teacher, currently pastoring in Pemberton, British Columbia. We’re so excited to share the conversation he and Jason had this upcoming Monday.