What do we do with a God who commands violence, permits slavery, and seems to change his mind? Tremper Longman III — one of the most prolific and trusted Old Testament scholars of his generation — joins John for a conversation about the parts of Scripture that trouble us most, and why sitting with that trouble might be more formative than explaining it away.

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About Tremper Longman III:

Tremper Longman III is Distinguished Scholar and Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at Westmont College, and one of the most widely read Old Testament scholars in the evangelical world. He holds a PhD from Yale University and has written or edited more than 35 books — on Genesis, the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, and the theology of God as warrior, among much else. He has served as a consultant on major Bible translation projects and scholarly initiatives including BioLogos, which explores the relationship between science and faith.

What this conversation explores:

• Why the New Testament is nearly incomprehensible without the Old, and what we lose by skipping the first two-thirds of the story
• How genre shapes the way we read Genesis: what it means that it is history, and what it doesn't mean, and why Augustine and Origen were already asking these questions long before Darwin
• The five phases of God as divine warrior from the conquest narratives through the cross to the final judgment, and why that arc matters for how we hold the violence in Joshua
• What honest scholarship looks like when the text still troubles you: Tremper names what he cannot yet resolve about the commanded destruction of women and children, without flinching and without fixing it
• How the Psalms of lament (and Psalm 77 in particular) gave Tremper language for his own seasons of grief, confusion, and anger toward God
• What the Old Testament actually says about Israel, chosenness, and the current conflict in the Middle East and why "Israel right or wrong" is a hermeneutical error

Resources Mentioned:

• Confronting Old Testament Controversies — Tremper Longman III
• Breaking the Idols of Your Heart — Dan Allender & Tremper Longman III
• Bold Love — Dan Allender & Tremper Longman III
• Cry of the Soul — Dan Allender & Tremper Longman III
• Is God a Moral Monster? — Paul Copan
• Jacob I Loved — Joel Kaminsky
• The Late Great Planet Earth — Hal Lindsey
• The Story of God Bible Commentary Series — Tremper Longman III & Scot McKnight
• Texts in Context: The Old Testament (forthcoming) — Tremper Longman III
• The Book of Job

About Formation:

Formation is a podcast produced by Become New that explores the science and soul of spiritual formation. John Ortberg sits down with some of the most rigorous and honest thinkers working at the intersection of faith and human flourishing for extended, unhurried conversations about how we are being shaped. New episodes every other week, wherever you listen to podcasts.

Connect with Formation:

Website: [www.formationpodcast.com]

Newsletter: [www.formationpodcast.com/subscribe]

Socials: [@formationjohn]

The conversation doesn't have to stop here. Formation is produced by Become New, a community dedicated to helping you grow spiritually... one day at a time. Subscribe for daily teaching from John Ortberg at becomenew.com/subscribe.

What does it mean to know God, not as a doctrine held, but as a presence inhabited? Tyler Staton joins John for the first conversation in Formation's history: an unhurried exploration of how the Holy Spirit forms us, why prayer is less about technique than attention, and what it looks like to discover God not only in the sanctuary but in the chaos of a basketball sideline, a marriage, and a cancer diagnosis. This is a conversation about the ancient and the empirical, and how sometimes we may look for formation in all the wrong places.

AMA Opportunity

Leave us a review ahead of our launch for a chance to ask John a question on an upcoming episode. Here's how: follow the podcast, leave a review, take a screenshot, and email it with your question to connect@becomenew.com. We'll answer selected questions in a future episode. One question per person; screenshot required.

About Tyler Staton:

Tyler Staton is the lead pastor of Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon, and the national director of 24-7 Prayer USA. He is the author of two books — Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools and The Familiar Stranger — both of which take seriously the gap between what Christians say they believe about God and what they actually experience in daily life. Tyler studied at Southeastern University and has spent much of his ministry in New York and Portland, two cities that have sharpened his theology as much as any classroom.

What this conversation explores:

• Why the Holy Spirit is the most neglected and most contested person of the Trinity and what a more integrated pneumatology might actually look like in ordinary life
• Dallas Willard's "golden triangle" of spiritual formation: practices, movements of the Spirit, and suffering, and why removing any one of the three is detrimental
• The difference between discernment and miracle-seeking, and why Tyler believes the deeper invitation of the Spirit is often hidden inside what we're most eager to escape
• What it means to "find yourself in the story" — Tyler's practice of praying through Scripture in seasons of doubt, loss, and confusion
• How family life and marriage in particular function as formation's most honest classroom

Resources mentioned:

• Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools — Tyler Staton
• The Familiar Stranger — Tyler Staton
• Renovation of the Heart — Dallas Willard
• Fresh Air: The Holy Spirit for an Inspired and Empowered Life — Jack Levison
• Miracles — C.S. Lewis
• Ministry and the Miraculous — Lewis Smedes
• The Protestant Spiritual Formation Movement — Todd Keesler
• The Examen

Connect with Tyler Staton:

Website: bridgetown.church
Instagram: @tylerstaton
Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools, available wherever books are sold
The Familiar Stranger, available wherever books are sold

About Formation:

Formation is a podcast produced by Become New that explores the science and soul of spiritual formation. Each episode brings together the ancient wisdom of the contemplative tradition and the best of modern research. New episodes every other week, wherever you listen to podcasts.

Connect with Formation:
Website: [www.formationpodcast.com]
Newsletter: [www.formationpodcast.com/subscribe]
Socials: [@formationjohn]

The conversation doesn't have to stop here. Formation is produced by Become New, a community dedicated to helping you grow spiritually... one day at a time. Subscribe for daily teaching from John Ortberg at becomenew.com/subscribe.

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The conversation doesn't have to stop here. Formation is produced by Become New, a community dedicated to helping you grow spiritually... one day at a time. Subscribe for daily teaching from John Ortberg at becomenew.com/subscribe.