Articles by Charlie Trimm

Charlie Trimm

Charlie Trimm is an associate professor and chair of the Old Testament program at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. Trimm loves to inspire students to recognize the beauty of the Old Testament and its relevance for the life of the church today. Having served for several years in pastoral ministry, he strives to encourage the spiritual growth of his students in all his classes. He received his Ph.D. from Wheaton College in 2012, writing his dissertation on God acting as a divine warrior in the exodus. His research interests include warfare in the ancient Near East, the family in the Old Testament, and difficult topics relating to the ethics of God in the Old Testament. He is married to Mariah, has four children, Eily, Kellen, Brynne and Deklan. When he is not teaching, he can often be found watching soccer.

View full profile

Think Biblically
[Bonus] Is the Christian God a Genocidal Bully?
with Charlie Trimm
Sean McDowell, Charlie Trimm — December 29, 2020
One of the toughest challenges to the Christian faith is the claim that God is unnecessarily violent. How could God command "genocide" in the Old...
The Good Book Blog
Experiences in Co-Authoring
Charlie Trimm — December 28, 2020
My recent book on Old Testament theology was an experiment in co-authoring. While articles in the sciences almost always have multiple authors, in...
The Good Book Blog
Book Announcement: "Understanding Old Testament Theology"
Charlie Trimm — December 18, 2020
I recently published the book Understanding Old Testament Theology: Mapping the Terrain of Recent Approaches (Zondervan, 2020). Unlike most books...
The Good Book Blog
Where is Ruth?
Locating Ruth in the Old Testament Canon
Charlie Trimm — December 14, 2020
Many Christians who have grown in the church had the experience of memorizing the names of the books of the Bible while they were children. What...
Talbot Magazine
Best of the Blog: Fall 2020
Should We Take Communion Remotely?
Uche Anizor, Darian Lockett, Charlie Trimm — December 08, 2020
While seminary graduates frequently express gratitude for their education, most also have a list of items colloquially entitled “Things Seminary...
The Good Book Blog
Black Old Testament Scholarship: A Bibliography
Charlie Trimm — December 07, 2020
During the many conversations revolving around race during the summer of 2020, I began to think about the scholarship of Black scholars in my...
Think Biblically
Does God Command That We Curse Our Enemies?
with Charlie Trimm
Sean McDowell, Scott Rae, Charlie Trimm — November 19, 2020
The imprecatory psalms--some of the most difficult parts of the Bible, are the places in which the psalmist asks God to bring judgment on one's...
The Good Book Blog
God’s Divine Weapons in the Old Testament
Charlie Trimm — November 11, 2020
Last year my colleague Ken Way and I had the chance to tour Egypt and see the many impressive remains from Pharaonic times that still awe...
The Good Book Blog
The Long Process of Writing an Academic Journal Article
Charlie Trimm — November 02, 2020
In biblical studies, one key way to advance scholarship is to publish a journal article in a respected journal. Journals publish cutting edge...
The Good Book Blog
A Classroom Game: War and Peace in Canaan
Charlie Trimm — October 19, 2020
One of the topics I love to teach to my students is the geography of Israel. I have been to Israel many times and lived there for extended periods...
The Good Book Blog
A Question I Didn't Get Answered in Seminary: Should We Take Communion Remotely?
Uche Anizor, Darian Lockett, Charlie Trimm — April 24, 2020
A few thoughts on virtual communion from different perspectives.
The Good Book Blog
The (Ir)Resistible Old Testament
A Review of Andy Stanley’s "Irresistible"
Charlie Trimm — February 11, 2019
In recent decades the church has seen droves of people leave for a variety of reasons (for more on this trend, see the book A Recipe for Disaster...
Talbot Magazine
Shelf Life
Recent publications from our very own Talbot faculty.
Gary McIntosh, J P Moreland, Charlie Trimm, Michael Wilkins — November 14, 2018
"Scientism and Secularism"; "Fighting for the King and the Gods"; "Building the Body"; "In His Image"
The Good Book Blog
Warfare in the Ancient Near East and the Old Testament 5: Pictures From Old Books
Charlie Trimm — January 17, 2018
My recently published book on warfare in the ancient Near East and the Old Testament includes about 150 pictures. Besides the pictures from friends...
The Good Book Blog
Warfare in the Ancient Near East and the Old Testament 4: Pictures From Friends
Charlie Trimm — August 29, 2017
My forthcoming book on warfare in the Ancient Near East and the Old Testament not only has many words, but also about 150 pictures. While ancient Near Eastern texts are somewhat familiar, visual imagery remains unknown for the most part. This is partly due to the difficulties of acquiring permission to print the pictures. Some pictures I was required to buy directly from museums or professional photographers (and so I will not be able to post these pictures online). However, I was also able to acquire pictures for free from three other sources. First, I will show some pictures that were taken by friends ...
Talbot Magazine
YHWH & Genocide
Reflections on an Unpleasant Topic in the Old Testament
Charlie Trimm — June 15, 2017
While the old testament contains multiple “unpleasant” topics for modern readers of the Bible, most likely none are as serious as the question of YHWH’s commanded destruction of the Canaanites. To say the point bluntly, YHWH’s commands to Israel in Deuteronomy 7:1–2 sound suspiciously like genocide: “You must devote them to complete destruction” (Deut. 7:1–2, ESV). The people of Israel followed those instructions when they conquered Jericho (Josh. 6:20–21).
The Good Book Blog
Warfare in the Ancient Near East and the Old Testament 3: Fighting Chaos
Charlie Trimm — June 14, 2017
The second chapter of my book on warfare in the ancient Near East (see an overview to the book in a previous post) studies the casus belli of the ancient kings. Although presumably kings often went to war to gain plunder, this was not frequently stated in such bald terms. Instead, the most commonly stated reason for warfare was that the king fought to defeat chaos and preserve order in the world. In this post we will look at the Egyptian and Assyrian claims for preserving order as their goal for war and how these claims help us understand Scripture ...
The Good Book Blog
Warfare in the Ancient Near East and the Old Testament 2: Going to the Bathroom in Battle
Charlie Trimm — May 10, 2017
In my previous post, I introduced my book on warfare in the ancient Near East and the Old Testament. Before we look at more serious topics, we will begin our survey of the book by looking at a very practical matter: going to the bathroom in battle. Unfortunately, the ancient kings did not often refer to the topic in their martial accounts. However, a few details have come down to us!
The Good Book Blog
Warfare in the Ancient Near East and the Old Testament 1: An Overview
Charlie Trimm — April 25, 2017
I have recently finished the manuscript of a book tentatively entitled Fighting for God and King: A Topical Survey of Warfare in the Ancient Near East, which will be published by SBL Press at some point in the future. The book is designed to be a sourcebook on all topics related to warfare in the ancient Near East to enable those studying Scripture to know more of the cultural background of the Old Testament. Over the next few months as the book goes through copy editing and page proofs, I am planning on highlighting a few texts and pictures from the book to illustrate some aspects of Old Testament texts (this post will have one text and one picture along with an overview of the book). I hope you enjoy the journey! ...
The Good Book Blog
Biola and Talbot Professors and Students Speak at 2016 Annual Scholarly Conferences
Charlie Trimm — November 03, 2016
Every year, the week before Thanksgiving brings the annual scholarly conferences for biblical and theological studies. Like most years, Biola and Talbot professors and students are well represented at these meetings in a variety of ways. See a full list of speakers and topics in this post.
The Good Book Blog
The Long Defeat and an Unfinished Sequel to "The Lord of the Rings"
Charlie Trimm — June 27, 2016
As we saw in the previous two posts in this series, the long defeat was an important theme for Tolkien that continued even after the defeat of Sauron. As is well-known, Tolkien did not intend his fiction to be an allegory; unlike C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings was not designed to correlate to the Christ event. Given the lack of attention to a central act of atonement in the book, it is not surprising that Tolkien continued the theme of the long defeat even after the defeat of Sauron.
The Good Book Blog
Reflections on Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Part Two: The Long Defeat and the Old Testament of Middle-Earth
Charlie Trimm — May 03, 2016
This post continues the study of the long defeat of Tolkien by looking at the foundational work for the Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion. As noted in the previous post, the long defeat was Tolkien’s phrase for the idea that no matter how many times one defeated evil, it continued to (apparently effortlessly) return to full strength. The motif is connected with the elves primarily, who are immortal and experience the long defeat over the long millennia of their lives. Since we are talking about the long defeat, it is good to slow down and look at more history!
The Good Book Blog
Reflections on Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Part One: The Long Defeat
Charlie Trimm — March 21, 2016
J. R. R. Tolkien produced a masterpiece of fiction with his Lord of the Rings, one of the best-selling novels of all time. This post will begin a series of reflections based on Tolkien’s work, not only surrounding the 600,000 word Lord of the Rings but the entire world of Middle Earth (as recounted to us in great depth in the Silmarillion and other posthumously published work by Tolkien) and Tolkien’s thoughts about what he was trying to achieve through his world (largely recorded in The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien) ...
The Good Book Blog
When the Old Testament Was More Popular Than the New Testament
Charlie Trimm — March 14, 2016
Most agree that knowledge about the Bible in the United States is very low today (our own Ken Berding’s helpful Bible Fluency Program seeks to rectify this). What little Bible knowledge is present usually is focused on the New Testament, leaving the Old Testament as a scary foreign land that few visit. However, this was not always the case. A recent book by Eran Shalev, American Zion: The Old Testament as a Political Text from the Revolution to the Civil War, gives us a glimpse of a somewhat different world as he shows how important the Old Testament was in political discussions in the United States before the Civil War ...
The Good Book Blog
2015 Biola/Talbot Speakers At The Annual Scholarly Conferences
Charlie Trimm — November 10, 2015
Every year, the week before Thanksgiving brings the annual scholarly conferences for biblical and theological studies. Like most years, Biola and Talbot professors and students are well represented at these meetings in a variety of ways ... The following list (mostly compiled by David Roberts) includes all those at Biola and Talbot participating in the meetings this year. As always, Biola professors and students are doing fascinating work in many different areas! ...

Articles by Charlie Trimm

Charlie Trimm

with Charlie Trimm

Locating Ruth in the Old Testament Canon

Should We Take Communion Remotely?

with Charlie Trimm

A Review of Andy Stanley’s "Irresistible"

Recent publications from our very own Talbot faculty.

Reflections on an Unpleasant Topic in the Old Testament