Sharing God's Word in the Age of Social Media: What I Have Learned from Bringing Hebraic Thought to Digital Audiences

New energy has gone into translating biblical scholarship for lay audiences through social media, especially podcasts and YouTube. There is now no shortage of voices presenting themselves as experts and demythologizing biblical literature—to mixed effect.

The first problem concerns the current situation: laypeople are starving in a supermarket stocked with good biblical scholarship. Quality explanation and training fill their algorithms, yet they often do not know whom to trust or how to sort through the morass—a predicament anticipated by philosophers who described the emerging condition as "hypermodernism" two decades ago. Meanwhile, the most salacious Bible YouTubers wield the ever-vague "scholarly consensus" as a blunt instrument for correcting amateurs and attracting a monetizable audience.

A second problem concerns those who are curious and have wisely sifted through these competing voices. Even when they have the relevant data and approaches before them, they lack the pedagogue over their shoulder—someone to guide and correct them as they attempt various disciplined exercises. They have access to much, but their understanding remains blunt.

What, then, does responsible public engagement look like in this jungle of social media? I will discuss the use of interviews, articles, and videos—as practiced by OnScript and the Center for Hebraic Thought—to help a wider audience understand academic biblical studies, navigate its competing voices, and discern its fruits.

Revd Dr Dru Johnson is Templeton Senior Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford, where he directs the Abrahamic Theistic Origins Project. He is also the founder and director of the Center for Hebraic Thought, a visiting professor of religion at Hope College and series editor of Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Biblical Criticism.

His research examines the intellectual world of biblical literature, with particular attention to the Hebrew Bible, biblical philosophy, epistemology, ritual theory, biblical law, ancient Near Eastern thought and the relationship between biblical texts and scientific or philosophical inquiry. His work argues that biblical literature should be studied not only for its religious and historical significance but also for its distinctive ways of reasoning about knowledge, reality, ethics and human action.

Dru Johnson hosts The Biblical Mind podcast and co-hosts the OnScript podcast, through which he has interviewed scholars and theologians about biblical studies, theology, philosophy and newly published research. His wider digital work includes articles, videos, online teaching and public-facing educational projects intended to connect serious scholarship with audiences beyond the university classroom.

Before joining Wycliffe Hall, he taught Biblical and Theological Studies at The King's College in New York City. His previous research affiliations have included the Logos Institute of Analytic and Exegetical Theology at the University of St Andrews, the Henry Center for Theological Understanding and the Institute for Advanced Studies–Shalem Institute in Jerusalem.

He holds a PhD from the University of St Andrews and graduate degrees in philosophy and theology. He is also an ordained Teaching Elder in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in the United States.