In Scripture, deserts aren’t just dry and desolate landscapes. They’re sacred spaces—where identity is formed, where false gods are stripped away, and where the voice of the Lord breaks through the silence.
In The Desert, historian Matthew Larsen takes you across the rugged terrain of West Texas to unpack what the wilderness meant to the earliest followers of God—and why it still matters for us today.
Drawing on historical insights, biblical narrative, and real landscapes that mirror the ancient world, this series invites you to slow down, wrestle with deeper questions, and discover how God still meets His people in barren places.
Matthew is an Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen, specializing in using archaeology to study the social world of the first Christians. Prior to Copenhagen, Matthew taught at Yale University and Princeton University. He is the author of the award-winning book, Gospels before the Book (Oxford University Press, 2018), which has been translated into Italian (Editrice Queriniana, 2022). His research is published in top academic journals and his scholarship has been featured in The Daily Beast, CHOICE, and Christian Century. He has recently begun leading a research project on the materiality of incarceration in the ancient Mediterranean, generously funded by the Carlsberg Foundation.
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