Who is our guest?

Dr. Scott Callaham (PhD, SWBTS) is a lecturer at Baptist Theological Seminary in Singapore, where he teaches Hebrew and Old Testament. He formerly served as a submarine officer, a Navy chaplain, and often composes Chinese worship songs.

What do we talk about?

We too quickly trust in human wisdom and cast aside the Word of God. Studying the Old Testament and other cultures can help us to question our assumptions and learn how to communicate more effectively.

Dr. Callaham explains why the Old Testament should anchor our teachings as we approach cross-cultural ministry. We can’t understand the New Testament fully until we appreciate the background music of the Old Testament. It informs everything. He also addresses how the early church, with only the Hebrew/Aramaic Bible lived out their Christian faith.

So many parts of the world gravitate to the Old Testament. The unfolding of how God interacts with the world becomes dependable truth. As these cultures begin to study biblical languages, they learn for themselves straight from the original texts, rather than filtered through translated sources coming from foreign cultures.

A few questions that Dr. Callaham answers include:

• Why study languages as a cross-cultural worker and how those apply to studying biblical languages?
• Why should we listen to the Old Testament in our churches and cross-cultural work?
• What’s “transmission loss” in missions?
• If I’m going to an oral people, why study biblical languages?

Some Resources Mentioned

World Mission: Theology, Strategy, and Current Issues

Modality and the Biblical Hebrew Infinitive Absolute

Daily Dose of Aramaic

Tyndale article on Ruth

Listen Now!