Hey friend, welcome to Java with Julie, hosted by me, Julie Slattery.

This podcast is supported by listeners like you, and it's an outreach of authentic

an OEC, which is a ministry that's dedicated to helping people make sense of God and sexuality.

And we're going to try to make sense of some things in our conversation today.

So let me start by asking you,

how comfortable are you with reading the Old Testament? How do you feel about the things you've read

in the Old Testament? You may have heard or said yourself things like, why was God so mean

in the Old Testament? Where does this thought come from? And is it accurate? My guest today is author and Old Testament scholar Dr. Sandra Richter.

As the Gundry Chair of Biblical Studies at Westmont College and a graduate of Harvard University,

Sandy has spent a lot of time researching and reading the Old Testament.

What you're going to learn from her as you listen today

is that there's a lot more we can understand about God and our faith when we're willing to dive

deeply into the Old Testament. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those conversations

you're going to want to listen to more than once. So let's go ahead and jump into my conversation

with Dr. Sandra Richter.

All right, Sandy, I have been looking forward to this conversation for a while. You probably

didn't know that, but I'm like, oh, I need to interview Sandy and pick her brain on some things.

And then you had this new study on judges coming out, which was a

perfect opportunity. So thank you for saying yes. And I look forward to what's going to unfold as

we talk. Yeah, absolutely. Hey, we had so much fun at exiles. I'm really glad we get to reconnect.

Yeah, I know. Yeah, it's great to pick up the conversation right where we left off.

So your passion, if I get this correctly, and I think this is right, is really the Old Testament.

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