Brian LePort interviewed me on the topic of the ascension<\/a>. I\u2019m happy to be able to share the video with you below.<\/p>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>These are the questions Brian posed to me:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Explain to my\u00a0students why I\u2019m talking to you about this subject. In other words, what\u2019s the focus of your research and academic\u00a0career?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>This week my students will be reading the Resurrection Narratives in the (canonical) Gospels. They\u2019ll notice that only the Gospel of Luke mentions Jesus\u2019 ascension directly (though there\u2019s a sense that Jesus will be departing soon in the others). Why is this?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>If I were living in the first century, and I was told that the Messiah had gone to be with the Father but would return, and that when he had gone to be with the Father he ascended into the sky, how\u00a0would I\u00a0have understood this? Would I have thought he went into the sky, literally? Would I\u00a0have understood this to be a metaphor?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What purpose did the doctrine of the Ascension serve for early Christians and their proclamation of the Gospel? In other words, what\u2019 the point of the doctrine?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>As modern people, our cosmology is different from that of the ancients. In your opinion, how should modern Christians understand the doctrine of the Ascension? Does it have worth\u00a0today?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The Ascension seems to be connected closely to another doctrine that my students will encounter soon: the Parousia or \u2018Second Coming\/Appearing\u2019 of Jesus. What\u2019s the connection between the Ascension and the Parousia?\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>While many of my students identify as Christian, many others don\u2019t. In your opinion, why is studying ancient texts like the Gospels of the Book of Acts, and thinking about Christian doctrines like the Ascension, valuable exercises? Are they valuable for Christians only or is there a reason that non-Christians should have at least an\u00a0<em>academic<\/em>\u00a0interest in these topics?\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Here are some earlier blog posts of mine on this topic:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"jBHgojBCvT\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/06\/quotes-for-ascension-day.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Quotes for Ascension Day<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cQuotes for Ascension Day\u201d \u2014 Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" src=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/06\/quotes-for-ascension-day.html\/embed#?secret=qK8uTYQBPu#?secret=jBHgojBCvT\" data-secret=\"jBHgojBCvT\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Ap4qQD2Xmm\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/05\/ascension-deficit-disorder.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Ascension Deficit Disorder<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cAscension Deficit Disorder\u201d \u2014 Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" src=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/05\/ascension-deficit-disorder.html\/embed#?secret=9MnDJxGCtM#?secret=Ap4qQD2Xmm\" data-secret=\"Ap4qQD2Xmm\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"1WwxY2tozI\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/05\/warp-speed-jesus-ascension-day-limerick.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Warp Speed Jesus (Ascension Day Limerick)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cWarp Speed Jesus (Ascension Day Limerick)\u201d \u2014 Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" src=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/05\/warp-speed-jesus-ascension-day-limerick.html\/embed#?secret=UVDKyPNDCT#?secret=1WwxY2tozI\" data-secret=\"1WwxY2tozI\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"bnkXu7mAbk\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2010\/05\/from-the-archives-iron-man-and-the-ascension.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">From The Archives: Iron Man and the Ascension<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cFrom The Archives: Iron Man and the Ascension\u201d \u2014 Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" src=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2010\/05\/from-the-archives-iron-man-and-the-ascension.html\/embed#?secret=pe9mYdXmc3#?secret=bnkXu7mAbk\" data-secret=\"bnkXu7mAbk\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And here\u2019s that meme I said ought to be made\u2026<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-77195\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/719\/2020\/04\/Cube-New-Jerusalem-Meme.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"646\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-77197\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/719\/2020\/04\/New-Jerusalem-Irresistable-Grace-Meme.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"572\" height=\"427\"><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brian LePort interviewed me on the topic of the ascension. I\u2019m happy to be able to share the video with you below. These are the questions Brian posed to me: Explain to my\u00a0students why I\u2019m talking to you about this subject. In other words, what\u2019s the focus of your research and academic\u00a0career? This week my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":77197,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,135],"tags":[823,1377,6768],"class_list":["post-77177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acts-of-the-apostles","category-eschatology-theology","tag-ascension","tag-brian-leport","tag-luke-acts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ascension Interview<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Brian LePort interviewed me on the topic of the ascension. I'm happy to be able to share the video with you below. https:\/\/youtu.be\/h-O2Oi3fkJU These are\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/04\/ascension-interview.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ascension Interview\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Brian LePort interviewed me on the topic of the ascension. I'm happy to be able to share the video with you below. https:\/\/youtu.be\/h-O2Oi3fkJU These are\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/04\/ascension-interview.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>These are the questions Brian posed to me:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Explain to my\u00a0students why I\u2019m talking to you about this subject. In other words, what\u2019s the focus of your research and academic\u00a0career?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>This week my students will be reading the Resurrection Narratives in the (canonical) Gospels. They\u2019ll notice that only the Gospel of Luke mentions Jesus\u2019 ascension directly (though there\u2019s a sense that Jesus will be departing soon in the others). Why is this?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>If I were living in the first century, and I was told that the Messiah had gone to be with the Father but would return, and that when he had gone to be with the Father he ascended into the sky, how\u00a0would I\u00a0have understood this? Would I have thought he went into the sky, literally? Would I\u00a0have understood this to be a metaphor?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What purpose did the doctrine of the Ascension serve for early Christians and their proclamation of the Gospel? In other words, what\u2019 the point of the doctrine?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>As modern people, our cosmology is different from that of the ancients. In your opinion, how should modern Christians understand the doctrine of the Ascension? Does it have worth\u00a0today?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The Ascension seems to be connected closely to another doctrine that my students will encounter soon: the Parousia or \u2018Second Coming\/Appearing\u2019 of Jesus. What\u2019s the connection between the Ascension and the Parousia?\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>While many of my students identify as Christian, many others don\u2019t. In your opinion, why is studying ancient texts like the Gospels of the Book of Acts, and thinking about Christian doctrines like the Ascension, valuable exercises? Are they valuable for Christians only or is there a reason that non-Christians should have at least an\u00a0<em>academic<\/em>\u00a0interest in these topics?\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Here are some earlier blog posts of mine on this topic:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"jBHgojBCvT\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/06\/quotes-for-ascension-day.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Quotes for Ascension Day<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cQuotes for Ascension Day\u201d \u2014 Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" src=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/06\/quotes-for-ascension-day.html\/embed#?secret=qK8uTYQBPu#?secret=jBHgojBCvT\" data-secret=\"jBHgojBCvT\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Ap4qQD2Xmm\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/05\/ascension-deficit-disorder.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Ascension Deficit Disorder<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cAscension Deficit Disorder\u201d \u2014 Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" src=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/05\/ascension-deficit-disorder.html\/embed#?secret=9MnDJxGCtM#?secret=Ap4qQD2Xmm\" data-secret=\"Ap4qQD2Xmm\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"1WwxY2tozI\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/05\/warp-speed-jesus-ascension-day-limerick.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">Warp Speed Jesus (Ascension Day Limerick)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cWarp Speed Jesus (Ascension Day Limerick)\u201d \u2014 Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" src=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/05\/warp-speed-jesus-ascension-day-limerick.html\/embed#?secret=UVDKyPNDCT#?secret=1WwxY2tozI\" data-secret=\"1WwxY2tozI\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"bnkXu7mAbk\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2010\/05\/from-the-archives-iron-man-and-the-ascension.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">From The Archives: Iron Man and the Ascension<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cFrom The Archives: Iron Man and the Ascension\u201d \u2014 Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" src=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2010\/05\/from-the-archives-iron-man-and-the-ascension.html\/embed#?secret=pe9mYdXmc3#?secret=bnkXu7mAbk\" data-secret=\"bnkXu7mAbk\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And here\u2019s that meme I said ought to be made\u2026<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-77195\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/719\/2020\/04\/Cube-New-Jerusalem-Meme.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"646\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-77197\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/719\/2020\/04\/New-Jerusalem-Irresistable-Grace-Meme.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"572\" height=\"427\"><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brian LePort interviewed me on the topic of the ascension. I\u2019m happy to be able to share the video with you below. These are the questions Brian posed to me: Explain to my\u00a0students why I\u2019m talking to you about this subject. In other words, what\u2019s the focus of your research and academic\u00a0career? This week my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":77197,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120,135],"tags":[823,1377,6768],"class_list":["post-77177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acts-of-the-apostles","category-eschatology-theology","tag-ascension","tag-brian-leport","tag-luke-acts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ascension Interview<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Brian LePort interviewed me on the topic of the ascension. I'm happy to be able to share the video with you below. https:\/\/youtu.be\/h-O2Oi3fkJU These are\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/04\/ascension-interview.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ascension Interview\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Brian LePort interviewed me on the topic of the ascension. I'm happy to be able to share the video with you below. https:\/\/youtu.be\/h-O2Oi3fkJU These are\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2020\/04\/ascension-interview.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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