Episodes

  • Episode #317 - The Apostle to the Foreskin with Dr. Ryan Collman

    Episode #317 - The Apostle to the Foreskin with Dr. Ryan Collman
    Feb 18 2026
    In this episode, we're joined by Dr. Ryan Collman, who is Associate Supervisor at Westcott House, Cambridge, and tutor in New Testament at the University of London, as well as the author of The Apostle to the Foreskin: Circumcision in the Letters of Paul (De Gruyter), which won the Lautenschlaeger Award in 2023. In our conversation, we talk about circumcision in the letters of Paul with reference to ancient practices and perspectives, as well as modern pseudoscientific views about the contemporary practice in America. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Rev. Dr. Madison Pierce.

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    58 mins
  • Episode #316 - Negotiating Jewishness with Dr. Ruben Bühner

    Episode #316 - Negotiating Jewishness with Dr. Ruben Bühner
    Feb 11 2026
    In this episode, we're joined by Dr. Ruben Bühner, who is a postdoctoral researcher for New Testament Studies at the University of Zurich and the University of Bonn, and the author of Negotiating Jewishness: Paul’s Ethnicity Between Continuity and Discontinuity (Baylor University Press). Over the course of our conversation, we talk about key passages in the interpretation of Paul that relate to matters of continuity and discontinuity with respect to Paul's Jewish identity and observance of the Torah. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne.

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    44 mins
  • Episode #315 - The Hypothesis of the Gospels with Dr. Ian Mills

    Episode #315 - The Hypothesis of the Gospels with Dr. Ian Mills
    Feb 4 2026
    In this episode, we're joined by Dr. Ian Mills, who is Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics and Religious Studies at Hamilton College and the author of The Hypothesis of the Gospels: Narrative Traditions in Hellenistic Reading Culture (Fortress Press). Over the course of our conversation, we talk about how ancient readers understood the variation in Gospel production as writing on a common hypothesis (or the "gist") about Jesus. Dr. Mills explains to us what the ancient conception of a hypothesis is, and we talk about the various implications that this has for thinking about the relationship of the canonical four Gospels to each other as well as to other non-canonical Gospels. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Dr. Logan Williams.

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    56 mins
  • Episode #314 - A Christian Response to I.C.E. in Minnesota with Pastor Stephanie Williams O'Brien

    Episode #314 - A Christian Response to I.C.E. in Minnesota with Pastor Stephanie Williams O'Brien
    Jan 28 2026
    In this episode, we're joined by Pastor Stephanie Williams O'Brien to talk about the realities of what's happening in Minnesota with the immigration enforcement agency known as I.C.E., and how Christians should respond to the situation. Pastor Steph is Lead Pastor of Mill City Church in Northeast Minneapolis, the co-host with Jo Saxton of the Lead Stories podcast, and author of two books, Stay Curious (Fortress) and Make A Move (Broadleaf). Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Adishian, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Dr. Brandon Hurlbert, and Dr. Grace Sangalang Ng.

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    51 mins
  • Episode #313 - Theology, Religion, and Twin Peaks with Dr. Trevor Babcock, Dana Abu Dbay, Joel Santos, Dr. Zachary Sheldon, and Andrew Waller

    Episode #313 - Theology, Religion, and Twin Peaks with Dr. Trevor Babcock, Dana Abu Dbay, Joel Santos, Dr. Zachary Sheldon, and Andrew Waller
    Jan 21 2026

    In this episode, Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Dr. Kris Song of The Two Cities team introduce their new book for the pop culture and theology series published by Bloomsbury on the TV show, Twin Peaks. The volume is called Theology, Religion, and Twin Peaks (w/ Bloomsbury). In the episode, we're joined by five of the contributors to the volume, and we each talk about our respective essays. The guests on the episode include:


    Trevor Babcock, who is an Assistant Professor of English at Williams Baptist University (Walnut Ridge, AR).


    Dana Abu Dbay, who is an independent scholar based in Nazareth, who received her masters from the University of Edinburgh and specializes in the intersection of theater and film with literature.


    Joel Santos, who is a PhD Candidate in archeology at the University of Leicester (UK).


    Zachary Sheldon, who is a lecturer in the Department of Film and Digital Media at Baylor University (Waco, TX).


    Andrew H. Waller, who is a PhD Candidate in New Testament at Ridley College in Melbourne, Australia.

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    51 mins
  • Episode #312 - Debriefing Stranger Things Season 5

    Episode #312 - Debriefing Stranger Things Season 5
    Jan 14 2026
    In this episode, we debrief Stranger Things Season 5 with Rev. Dr. Andy Byers, who is Tutor in New Testament at Ridley Hall of the University of Cambridge and the co-editor (with Adam J. Powell) of the volume, Religion, Theology, and Stranger Things: Studies from the Upside Down on Evil, Ethics, Horror, and Hope (published by Bloomsbury). Over the course of the conversation, we talk about our favorite parts of the final season and the finale itself, some of the things that we wished were different about the writing, and some of the key themes that the final season leaves with viewers. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Adishian, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Dr. Brandon Hurlbert, and Rev. Dr. Chris Porter.

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    1 hr and 34 mins
  • Episode #311 - Gender Mobility with Prof. Susan Hylen

    Episode #311 - Gender Mobility with Prof. Susan Hylen
    Jan 7 2026
    In this episode, we're joined again by Professor Hylen for part two of our conversation on gender. Prof. Hylen is Almar H. Shatford Professor of New Testament and the Director of the Women, Theology, and Ministry Program at Candler School of Theology of Emory University. She is the most recent volume, Gender Mobility: Seven Ideas about Gender in the New Testament Period (published by Oxford University Press). In this conversation, Prof. Hylen explains how interconnected class and status was with gender, which creates the dynamic of there being at least ten genders in the New Testament period, as she argues. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Dr. Sydney Tooth.

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    49 mins
  • Episode #310 - Women in the New Testament with Prof. Susan Hylen

    Episode #310 - Women in the New Testament with Prof. Susan Hylen
    Dec 31 2025
    In this episode, we're joined by Professor Susan Hylen, who is Almar H. Shatford Professor of New Testament and the Director of the Women, Theology, and Ministry Program at Candler School of Theology of Emory University. She is the author of Women in the New Testament World (Oxford University Press) and Finding Phoebe: What New Testament Women Were Really Like (published by Eerdmans), which we discuss and overview in our conversation about the role of women in the NT period as Prof. Hylen highlights implications for several named women in the NT. This is part one of two of our conversation about gender with Prof. Hylen (next week we'll discuss her newest book, Gender Mobility with Oxford University Press). Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Dr. Sydney Tooth.

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    47 mins