Episode 112: On Having a Body with Jennie Grillo

Jennie Grillo, an Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, discusses her insights on divine embodiment in the Hebrew Bible, particularly in relation to the work of Benjamin Sommer. The conversation explores the complexities of how God is represented in biblical texts, the significance of embodiment, and the implications of time in understanding these representations. Grillo emphasizes the fluidity of divine embodiment and the distinctions between human and divine experiences of having a body, drawing on examples from the Book of Job and other biblical narratives. Recommendations in this conversation include The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel; historian Caroline Bynum; Mark S Smith; “When Gods Were Men”: The Embodied God in Biblical and Near Eastern Literature; The Prophetic Body: Embodiment and Mediation in Biblical Prophetic Literature; The Betrothed: A Novel; and Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times.