This morning I was filmed for an interview on FOX about my book. The live stream on satellite did not work, so all we have is a still and the transcript. Enjoy.

LAUREN GREEN:

Timothy Michael Law has never been a Hellenistic Jew but has always followed the faith of his family heritage: Modern Christianity. He has now written a book about the Septuagint. The book has become controversial, as it calls into question some of the core tenets of post-Reformation Christian Hebraism, and even has the audacity to claim that the Septuagint was once used in the Christian Church. The book is called When God Spoke Greek: The Septuagint and the Making of the Christian Bible. And Michael joins me now from Germany. Welcome.

TIMOTHY MICHAEL LAW:

Thank you for having me.

LAUREN GREEN:

Well, this is an interesting book. Now, I want to clarify, you’re a Christian. So why did you write a book about the scriptures of Hellenistic Judaism?

TIMOTHY MICHAEL LAW:

Well, to be clear, I am a scholar of the Bible with four degrees, all of which are in the study of the Bible, and a mastery of Biblical Hebrew and Greek, who has been studying the Bible and Hellenistic Judaism for a decade, who just happens to be a Christian. So, it’s not that I’m just some Christian writing about the Septuagint. I am an expert with a PhD in the study of the Bible. But I have been obsessed with the Septuagint–

LAUREN GREEN:

But it still begs the question, though, it still begs the question, “Why would you be interested in the scriptures of Hellenistic Judaism?”

TIMOTHY MICHAEL LAW:

Because it’s my job as an academic. I am a scholar of religion, including the Old Testament. That’s what I do for a living, actually. So, I mean– it would be like asking a Jewish scholar why they would write a book about– Christianity; I’m not sure about that. But– and honestly, I’ve been obsessed with the Septuagint for really 10 years. I’ve been studying the context of Second Temple Judaism and the origins of Christianity both in an academic environment and on a personal level for about a decade. And, just to be clear, this is not some attack on the Bible. My mother and father are Christians. My wife is a Christian. My father is an evangelical pastor. Anyone who thinks that this book is an attack on the Bible has not read it yet.

LAUREN GREEN:

But I want to read you some quotes from some people who are criticizing you, one from Seth Sanders who has written his strong opinion on Charles Halton’s Facebook page. He says, “You’re not a Hellenistic Jew. Why did you write this book? Do you have an agenda?” And, you know, Dr. Sanders is a real bona fide scholar of the Bible. He writes monographs and articles almost on a daily basis, and if I’m not mistaken, you have a mere one monograph to your name, a dozen or so articles, and now this popular drivel.

TIMOTHY MICHAEL LAW:

Well, that’s true. Dr. Sanders is what we’d call trilla, you know, borrowing from Rick Ross. But his point is really irrelevant. And, to be clear, I just want to emphasize this one more time: I am a historian. I am a PhD in the Oriental Studies from Oxford. I specialize in the formation and reception of the Bible. This isn’t a Christian opinion. This is an academic work of history.

LAUREN GREEN:

And I just want to go further, because the second part of your book examines the Septuagint in the early Church. And I think it’s important that you come clean here and admit that you are also not a Christian of the Roman Empire. So really, you have no authority to talk about the Septuagint in Hellenistic Judaism because you are not a Hellenistic Jew, and you have no authority to talk about the Septuagint in early Christianity because you are not a Christian of the Roman Empire.

TIMOTHY MICHAEL LAW:

But again, I just want to repeat: I have a PhD and I’m not sure that you could find one living today who was alive in the time of Greco-Roman Christianity, so essentially you’re saying no one can write this book.

LAUREN GREEN:

How are your findings different from what Christianity actually believes about the Septuagint?

TIMOTHY MICHAEL LAW:

Well, modern Christianity in the West doesn’t use the Septuagint as their Old Testament, first of all. After the Reformation, the new “Protestantism” would follow the Hebrew Bible of Judaism. I mean—the Hebrew Bible is most definitely a very valuable form of the scriptures of Judaism, and my book does question the whether they are the only form that Christians ought to pay attention to. So, again, I mean– I know that we have mentioned this three times now, I’m not sure what my faith has to do with my 10 years of academic study of the Bible.

LAUREN GREEN:

I’m just trying to bring out what some others are claiming at this point, and I want you to answer to those claims, which is–

TIMOTHY MICHAEL LAW:

Well, it’s pretty clear that there are those who actually do not like the book, who are– you know, unhappy with its general arguments. And if you knew how much persecution I’m getting for using bloody endnotes, you’d have a bit more sympathy on me. That’s perfectly fine. I am more than willing to talk about the arguments of the book itself. But I do think it’s perhaps a little bit strange that rather than debating the arguments of the book, we are debating the right of the scholar to actually write it.

LAUREN GREEN:

Well, let me give you some other quotes from Dr. William Lane Craig, who is a Christian philosopher and theologian. And trust me, I went searching for the best authority on this question, and of all the scholars in the world out there who write on the Bible and on this heretical version called the Septuagint, he’s the first choice. He has written a lot of books and done a lot of debates about science and religion, which are obviously relevant here. He said, ” Law merely repeats bygone claims about the Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint that have since been abandoned and refuted.” What do you say to that?

TIMOTHY MICHAEL LAW:

Well, I would disagree. I have many pages of notes and about a half a thousand books that I use in my discussions. Of course, in any scholarly discussion of the Old Testament, as with any scholarly discussion about any ancient text, there are going to be widespread differences. But my dozens of pages of endnotes cite many scholars who disagree with me, and many scholars who agree with me. And I would suggest that anyone who wants to actually comment on the argument of the book, read not just the book, but the endnotes, to figure out where my scholarly argument about Jesus comes from. And I’m sure you could find people who disagree with me.

LAUREN GREEN:

Right, exactly. What are your– we’re not talking about just people who disagree with you. Scholars, many scholars disagree with you, as well. But I wanted to get to the heart of–

TIMOTHY MICHAEL LAW:

Absolutely. And many scholars do agree with me. And–

LAUREN GREEN:

Okay, but my question–

TIMOTHY MICHAEL LAW:

I’m writing about the place of the Septuagint in early Christianity and what questions modern Christians might ask about it today.

LAUREN GREEN:

Yeah, I wanted to ask– actually, there’s another guest coming, and I want to get this on before we end this interview. The SBL Committee on the Preservation of the Centrality of the Hebrew Bible and Defeat of the Septuagint in the Academic Teaching of the Old Testament says, “So, your book is written with clear bias and you’re trying to say that’s academic. That’s like having a New Testament scholar write a book about why James Barr wasn’t a good Old Testament scholar. It just doesn’t work.” What do you say to that?

TIMOTHY MICHAEL LAW:

Well, it would be like a New Testament scholar with a PhD. in Old Testament who has been studying the Old Testament for a decade writing a book about the Old Testament. Again, I think that it’s unfair-

LAUREN GREEN:

But then why would a New Testament scholar want to promote the Old Testament by writing about James Barr? I mean– I see that your point is–

TIMOTHY MICHAEL LAW:

You’re assuming– Ma’am, may I just finish my sentence for a moment please? I think the fundamental problem here is that you’re assuming that I have some sort of faith-based bias in this work that I write. I write about the Bible, I write about Judaism, I write about Christianity, I write about hip hop music and SEC football. My job as a scholar of the Bible with a PhD in the subject is to write about the formation and reception of the Bible, and one of the topics I have written about is the overlooked Septuagint.

LAUREN GREEN:

But Michael, you’re not just writing about the Septuagint from the point of view of an observer. I mean the thing about it is–

TIMOTHY MICHAEL LAW:

Why would you say that?

LAUREN GREEN:

You’re pointing yourself as a scholar, and I’ve interviewed scholars who have written books on the Masoretic Text, on– you know, the real Bible, and– who are looking at the same information that you’re saying. To say that your information is somehow different from theirs is really not being honest here.

TIMOTHY MICHAEL LAW:

I think my interpretation–Ma’am, my information is not different from theirs at all. I’m afraid that– it sounds like you haven’t actually read my book, or seen what I’ve said about the Septuagint, or about the Hebrew Bible, or about the complex formation of the Bible. I think you might be surprised in what I say. And there have been thousands of scholars who have written about this very same topic, many who disagree with me, many who agree with me. That’s the thing about scholarship: is that it’s a debate over ancient history. And I am one of those people making that debate. I think it’s unfair to just simply assume because of my particular faith background that there is some agenda on this book. That would be like saying that a Jewish scholar who writes about early Christianity is, by definition– you know, not able to do so because he has some bias against it. And frankly, every book that’s– almost every book that’s out there is by Hebrew Bible scholars.

LAUREN GREEN:

No, he can do so. He can do so, but I believe that you’ve been on several programs, have never disclosed that you were a Modern Christian, and I think that’s an interest of full disclosure.

TIMOTHY MICHAEL LAW:

Ma’am, I think it’s clear by the focus of the book, by some of the writing on my blog, and because of the fact I live in 2013 that I’m probably a Modern Christian. You may not be familiar with me, but I’m actually quite a prominent Christian thinker in the United States, with at least 5 people that regularly read my blog. That’s not a small number. I’ve written a number of books about the Bible. It’s just simply incorrect…

LAUREN GREEN:

All right, Michael. I want to thank you very much for coming on. The book is called When God Spoke Greek: The Septuagint and the Making of the Christian Bible. I want to thank you for coming on and spurring a debate. Thank you.