How Chronicles Points to Christ | Scott Hahn w/ Shane Owens

No, no, I mean, those convergences were super evident, especially as you articulate them in your book.

And it brings out some of, I think, the most distinct features of the chronicler, especially when you contrast him to the books of Samuel or the books of Kings.

That's right.

And what he decides to identify, you know, some... as you note in your book, modern commentators say, oh, this is like the whitewashed history.

Like, where are the sins of David? Where are the sins of Solomon? But when you're doing a kind of theological approach to history, Augustine admits this is exactly what he does in the city of God.

He says at one point, I'm leaving behind the city of man to tell the story of the city of God, and that I'll circle back around to the story of the city of man later.

But it's like you then understand that some of the relief isn't to tell it and kind of as it happened, as a journalist there with a camera running around, but as instead a kind of very deliberate, selective history.

I also think what's interesting to me about the Chronicler in this case is, you know, there's all these attempts with source criticism, et cetera, to kind of posit you know, in the Pentateuch to take apart these first five books of the Bible, the different sources and all these attentions of post-Exilic authors and what were they trying to get after.

I'm like, why don't they just study the Chronicler? Because we can all admit the Chronicler is telling these things retrospectively.

That's right, and that he knows the Pentateuch.

and that he takes it as not only reliable history, but as a sort of divine source for

understanding God's purpose and plan.

And so what we get in his case is we get the chronicler actually doing precisely the sort of thing that they always hypothesize, that this is a person who's in a post-exilic reality, who's trying to motivate the people in a time where they've been trying for decades to rebuild the temple, to complete the task that they've undertaken.

And this is what actually happens when you read the Bible theologically.

When you look at history and you begin to try to see God's handiwork, and especially that theme of worship, which of course in Augustine, this is the main thing that distinguishes the cities of man and God from one another is whom they worship.

So they use that as a kind of central lens.

You know, I recall from our conversations in past episodes that both of us have a tendency to dive in and to dive deep and to sometimes challenge our viewers, our audience.

So what I want to do in this case, since it's my most recent book and it's the least likely topic, the least likely book of the Bible for me to have tackled, I want to step back and just kind of explain this because, you know, Kingdom Come, Unveiling the Mystery of Salvation History, is just out in the summer of 2026.

But I love the endorsement that Bishop Fernandez, the Bishop of Columbus, Ohio, said.

People often claim to have read the whole Bible.

I ask, well, what did you think of 1 and 2 Chronicles? Usually a blank stare or an admission of guilt follows.

With Hahn's new volume, these books of the Bible come to life, drawing the reader into the rich liturgical patrimony of the Old Testament while offering practical applications for life today.

And I'll be honest, I used to avoid Chronicles, like everybody else, because it just seemed to be, as you said, covering the same old material as a kind of rehash of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, only a whitewash of David's battles, David's sins, and Solomon's sins.

And so what's the point? And then I was asked to write something on Chronicles.

And so years ago, I wrote an article for our journal, Letter and Spirit, a journal of Catholic biblical theology here at the St. Paul Center entitled Liturgy and Empire, which was an in-depth study of 1 and 2 Chronicles and this theology of history that struck me then as now as being profoundly Augustinian.

No, no, I mean, those convergences were super evident, especially as you articulate them in your book.

And it brings out some of, I think, the most distinct features of the chronicler, especially when you contrast him to the books of Samuel or the books of Kings.

That's right.

And what he decides to identify, you know, some... as you note in your book, modern commentators say, oh, this is like the whitewashed history.

Like, where are the sins of David? Where are the sins of Solomon? But when you're doing a kind of theological approach to history, Augustine admits this is exactly what he does in the city of God.

He says at one point, I'm leaving behind the city of man to tell the story of the city of God, and that I'll circle back around to the story of the city of man later.

But it's like you then understand that some of the relief isn't to tell it and kind of as it happened, as a journalist there with a camera running around, but as instead a kind of very deliberate, selective history.

I also think what's interesting to me about the Chronicler in this case is, you know, there's all these attempts with source criticism, et cetera, to kind of posit you know, in the Pentateuch to take apart these first five books of the Bible, the different sources and all these attentions of post-Exilic authors and what were they trying to get after.

I'm like, why don't they just study the Chronicler? Because we can all admit the Chronicler is telling these things retrospectively.

That's right, and that he knows the Pentateuch.

and that he takes it as not only reliable history, but as a sort of divine source for

understanding God's purpose and plan.

And so what we get in his case is we get the chronicler actually doing precisely the sort of thing that they always hypothesize, that this is a person who's in a post-exilic reality, who's trying to motivate the people in a time where they've been trying for decades to rebuild the temple, to complete the task that they've undertaken.

And this is what actually happens when you read the Bible theologically.

When you look at history and you begin to try to see God's handiwork, and especially that theme of worship, which of course in Augustine, this is the main thing that distinguishes the cities of man and God from one another is whom they worship.

So they use that as a kind of central lens.

You know, I recall from our conversations in past episodes that both of us have a tendency to dive in and to dive deep and to sometimes challenge our viewers, our audience.

So what I want to do in this case, since it's my most recent book and it's the least likely topic, the least likely book of the Bible for me to have tackled, I want to step back and just kind of explain this because, you know, Kingdom Come, Unveiling the Mystery of Salvation History, is just out in the summer of 2026.

But I love the endorsement that Bishop Fernandez, the Bishop of Columbus, Ohio, said.

People often claim to have read the whole Bible.

I ask, well, what did you think of 1 and 2 Chronicles? Usually a blank stare or an admission of guilt follows.

With Hahn's new volume, these books of the Bible come to life, drawing the reader into the rich liturgical patrimony of the Old Testament while offering practical applications for life today.

And I'll be honest, I used to avoid Chronicles, like everybody else, because it just seemed to be, as you said, covering the same old material as a kind of rehash of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, only a whitewash of David's battles, David's sins, and Solomon's sins.

And so what's the point? And then I was asked to write something on Chronicles.

And so years ago, I wrote an article for our journal, Letter and Spirit, a journal of Catholic biblical theology here at the St. Paul Center entitled Liturgy and Empire, which was an in-depth study of 1 and 2 Chronicles and this theology of history that struck me then as now as being profoundly Augustinian.