{"podcast":{"title":"The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture","slug":"the-word-on-fire-show-catholic-faith-and-culture-522797","podcast_index_feed_id":522797,"rss_url":"https://wordonfire.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"http://wordonfireshow.com","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/4/5/5/7/45572c803260f9f25f2e77a3093c12a1/2203_WOF_show_podcast_copy.jpg","author":"Brandon Vogt","episode_count":529,"summary":"Join Bishop Robert Barron for a weekly podcast on faith and culture. Find more episodes at http://WordOnFireShow.com and submit your questions at http://AskBishopBarron.com.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-word-on-fire-show-catholic-faith-and-culture-522797"},"episode":{"title":"WOF 534: The Evangelical Power of the Old Testament","slug":"wof-534-the-evangelical-power-of-the-old-testament","published_at":"2026-04-27T09:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-word-on-fire-show-catholic-faith-and-culture-522797/wof-534-the-evangelical-power-of-the-old-testament","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-word-on-fire-show-catholic-faith-and-culture-522797","url":"https://wordonfire.libsyn.com/wof-534-the-evangelical-power-of-the-old-testament","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/wordonfire/Word_on_Fire_Show_-_534_-_v4_-_Mixed_English_Audio_Master.mp3?dest-id=302449","summary":"Welcome back to the Word on Fire Show . I'm Matthew Petrusek, senior director of the Word on Fire Institute and the host of the Word on Fire Show. Thank you for joining us. The Old Testament is about three-quarters of the Bible. It is theologically and morally impossible for Christians to understand God's relationship with the world, the nature and purpose of human beings, original sin, salvation history, the person of Jesus Christ, and the foundation of the Church without it. Indeed, as far back as the second century AD, the Church condemned the heresy of Marcionism, which sought to distinguish the God of the Old Testament from the God of the New Testament and to lop off the Old Testament from the biblical canon. There is and never has been, in short, Christianity without the Old Testament. Nevertheless, much of the text remains difficult for the faithful to understand and, even more so, to explain to others, especially to those who know nothing about it. To make matters more complicated, secular critics of the faith often try to use the Old Testament against it, arguing—like the Marcionites of the past—that belief in the Old Testament is both irrational and immoral. So how should Catholics respond? What are some strategies we can employ not only to make the Old Testament accessible but also evangelically compelling? Here to help us understand the Old Testament and its enduring evangelical power, especially in a highly secularized culture, is Bishop Robert Barron. Topics Covered 00:00 | Introduction 01:33 | Bishop Barron visits Washington 03:38 | How many Catholics read the Bible 09:37 | Understanding the Bible through the interpretive tradition of the Church 11:13 | The historical critical method of the Old Testament 13:10 | The influence of Joseph Ratzinger on Bisho…","meta_description":"Welcome back to the Word on Fire Show . I'm Matthew Petrusek, senior director of the Word on Fire Institute and the host of the Word on Fire Show. Thank y…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2477,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-word-on-fire-show-catholic-faith-and-culture-522797/episodes/wof-534-the-evangelical-power-of-the-old-testament/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-word-on-fire-show-catholic-faith-and-culture-522797/wof-534-the-evangelical-power-of-the-old-testament.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}