"Even the Devil Quotes Scripture" w/Dr. Robyn Whitaker

In Even the Devil Quotes Scripture, Robyn J. Whitaker looks to the Bible as a guide to interpreting the Bible, and her findings breathe new life into our understanding and use of Scripture. As it turns out, the uses of Scripture within Scripture are flexible, open to frequent reinterpretation, and rarely literal.

For instance, Ezra and Nehemiah reinterpret laws about whether Jews can marry foreigners in the wake of the Babylonian exile. Their contradiction of earlier traditions found in Deuteronomic law do not invalidate Scripture but rather represent its diverse applications for the prophets’ specific situations. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus presents a more demanding interpretation of Mosaic law in the Sermon on the Mount, while in Mark’s Gospel he all but ignores its prohibition of working on the Sabbath. Yet the common ethos of the two gospels prioritizes compassion over legalism.

Ultimately, Whitaker ascertains one definitive characteristic of inner-biblical interpretation: love. After all, the Old Testament passage most frequently quoted in the New Testament is Leviticus 19:18: “Love thy neighbor.” Thus, Whitaker proposes a hermeneutic of love—a litmus test for the validity of a scriptural interpretation measured in charity. Ideal for any devoted reader of the Bible, Even the Devil Quotes Scripture opens our eyes to the Bible as a living, loving gift of God’s unfolding revelation.

Guest Bio:

Robyn Whitaker is Senior Lecturer in New Testament at Pilgrim Theological College, at the University of Divinity. She specialises in the Book of Revelation.

Robyn holds a PhD in Biblical Studies (New Testament) from the University of Chicago Divinity School where she received the Jewett Prize for NT studies, a Doolittle-Harrison fellowship, and was awarded one of the competitive Martin Marty Junior Fellowships in her final year. Prior to her PhD, Robyn completed a Bachelor of Divinity (hons) and a Masters in Theology from the University of Divinity (then Melbourne College of Divinity) majoring in biblical studies. She also has a Bachelor of Science from Monash University.

In 2009 Robyn was appointed as Lily Teaching Fellow at the University of Chicago Divinity School. She has also taught at Princeton Theological Seminary, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and Union Theological Seminary in New York where she was a post-doctoral fellow. She is experienced in teaching both biblical languages and exegesis as well as online pedagogy. Prior to her current position she taught for two years at Trinity Theological School in Melbourne.

Her research focuses on the apocalyptic literature of the Bible, particularly Revelation, as well as visuality and visual exegesis of the Bible. Her first book was one of the first to analyze Revelation’s visual rhetoric as a form of ekphrasis. She has also published several other articles and chapters on Revelation, Luke’s crucifixion, Mark’s Gospel, Judeo-Christian apocalyptic literature, and the way the visual culture of the Graeco-Roman world informs interpretation of the New Testament. She is currently working on a book on contemporary hermeneutics.

In addition to her scholarly work, Robyn regularly writes popular articles on the Bible, gender and sexuality, apocalypticism, and images of evil. She has been interviewed on television and is a regular guest on various radio shows, such as ABC’s God Forbid, speaking about the Bible and contemporary issues.

Robyn is frequently invited to speak at church gatherings, clergy training, and youth conferences. In 2018-2019 she was invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury to be part of a team of biblical scholars preparing Bible study resources for the global Lambeth Conference. Robyn is also the co-host of By the Well, a podcast for preachers which unpacks the lectionary readings each week.

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