Footnote Famous

In this interview, I sit down with biblical scholar Laura Nasrallah to discuss her book Archaeology and the Letters of Paul. We explore how archaeological evidence — from manumission inscriptions to ancient toilets — complicates our understanding of slavery, hospitality, grief, and ethnicity in Paul's world, while challenging popular misconceptions about "biblical archaeology." The c...

What if one of early Christianity's most mysterious documents has been hiding two completely different texts — side by side — for nearly 2,000 years? WATCH INTERVIEW LIVE HERE That's exactly what New Testament scholar Alan Garrow argues in his groundbreaking new book The Didache Discoveries. In this interview, we dig into his stunning findings: buried inside the Didache is what he believes...

Fake Bible Scholars Are Going Viral. Real Scholars Need to Step Up Child sacrifice, God's wife, & how Bible editors "fixed" them WATCH INTERVIEW HERE I sat down with Dan McClellan — one of the most followed actual biblical scholars online — to talk about how we got here, why it matters, and what real scholarship looks like when it finally shows up to the fight. We cover: → Why &q...

In this interview, I had the pleasure of speaking with Professor Teresa Morgan (Oxford) about her landmark book Roman Faith and Christian Faith: Pistis and Fides in the Early Roman Empire and Early Churches (2015). ⁠WATCH INTERVIEW HERE⁠ We explore how the Greek word pistis and Latin fides — both rooted in the concept of trust — were used across the ancient Mediterranean world, and how early Chris...

For John, Jesus divine. And makes his followers divineWhat does the Gospel of John actually claim about Jesus — and about everyone else? WATCH INTERVIEW HERE In this conversation, I sit down with Dr. Hugo Mendez (UNC Chapel Hill) to talk about his new book The Gospel of John: A New History (Oxford University Press), and the result is one of the most genuinely surprising readings of John I've e...

Bart Ehrman — one of the world's leading New Testament scholars and a self-described agnostic — makes a surprising argument: the West owes more to Jesus than it realizes. Not for salvation. Not for atonement. For something hiding in plain sight. ⁠Watch This Instead⁠ 📖 Love Thy Stranger by Bart Ehrman : (Affiliate Link)🎙️ Bart Ehrman's channel : In this conversation we explore Ehrman's...

What if the resurrection wasn't the foundation of early Christianity — and most early Christians never even heard of it? Watch This Instead! That's exactly what New Testament scholar and historian Professor Marcus Vinzent argues in his groundbreaking research on Christ's resurrection in early Christianity. And in this conversation, he changed my mind. In this interview, Professor Vinze...

Did Jesus actually predict his own second coming — or did the early church invent it? I sat down with Dr. Tucker Ferda (Pittsburgh Theological Seminary) to talk about his book "Jesus and His Promised Second Coming: Jewish Eschatology and Christian Origins" — and what I found was one of the most honest and challenging historical arguments I've encountered. Watch this interview instead...

Why don't the Gospels describe what Jesus looked like? Every ancient biographer described their subject's physical appearance — except the Gospel writers. Want to watch this instead? In this interview, we explore:- Why the silence on Jesus' appearance is MORE surprising than you think- What ancient "physiognomy" reveals about how Greeks and Romans read bodies- The suffering s...

Are the Gospels historically accurate? In this conversation with Dr. Richard C. Miller (author of "Resurrection and Reception in Early Christianity"), we examine the evidence that biblical scholars use to evaluate Gospel reliability—and why most historians don't treat them as eyewitness accounts. WATCH THIS INTERVIEW ON YOUTUBE Dr. Miller's Book: Resurrection and Reception in Ear...

WATCH ON YOUTUBE Kipp's Book - (affiliate link) Dr. Kipp's YouTube IN THIS EPISODE - How private collectors paid millions for forged fragments -The telltale signs of Dead Sea Scrolls forgeries - Table salt crystals as smoking gun evidence- How Museum of the Bible acquired forged Dead Sea Scrolls- The Daniel Wallace "first century Mark" debacle (turned out to be 3rd century)- Josh...

Who was Josephus? What does he say about Jesus? And did the author of Luke-Acts copy from Josephus? I sat down with Steve Mason, one of the world's leading Josephus scholars, to investigate the evidence. Watch this interview instead What we uncover is remarkable: the same unusual Greek terminology, the same historical figures mentioned in the same configurations, and historical "mistakes" in Luke...

Paula Fredriksen joins me to discuss her new book "Ancient Christianity: The First 500 Years" - a masterful overview of how diverse early Christian movements evolved into the institutional church. Watch the interview on YouTube instead. Professor Fredriksen (Boston University) is one of the world's leading scholars of early Christianity, Paul, and Jewish-Christian relations. Her prev...

Why do biblical scholars say Paul didn't write half the letters attributed to him? I sat down with Dr. Harry Maier, from Vancouver School of Theology, to understand exactly how scholars determine authorship of ancient letters—and why some of Paul's letters are considered "disputed." Want to watch this instead? Find the video here! Dr. Maier's Academia page - https://vst.acade...

Anders Petersen (University of Aarhus) bridges evolutionary biology and New Testament studies to argue that religion functions as emotional investment in shared symbolic systems rather than abstract belief. We discuss why humans aren't naturally social (unlike bees or ants), how pistis means "faithfulness" not "faith," why the Gospel texts are myths rather than historical r...

What can 2,000-year-old letters tell us about how Paul actually lived? I sat down with papyrologist Peter Arzt-Grabner to find out what ancient papyri reveal about Paul's real life - and the answers shocked me. Peter's Academia Page Peter's book, " Letters and Letter Writing " - (Sponsored Link) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━  📱 FOLLOW FOR MORE  - YouT...

Markus Vinzent reveals how the New Testament was actually compiled - and why the Paul's letters we're reading are "third-hand" at best. Want to watch the video instead? - https://youtu.be/dj4_lfRghZo 📚 RESOURCES:- Vinzent's book: " Resetting the Origins of Christianity " (Affiliate Link) - Reconstructed Marcionite Paul - - based on Vinzent's initial reconstruct...

Prof. Mark Goodacre argues that John knew the synoptics... and it's the key to reading it! Mark Goodacre is Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Duke University and author of "The Case Against Q." His research focuses on the synoptic problem, Gospel of Thomas, and Gospel of John. Want to watch this instead? - https://youtu.be/pzm5C1nAM04 🔗 Mark's YouTube Channel:...

I interview Prof. James McGrath, the Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University. Watch this episode on YouTube instead James' Books (sponsored links) "John of History, Baptist of Faith" - https://amzn.to/41O9WCA "Christmaker" - https://amzn.to/4gkAuRW Link to the Protoevangeliun of James - https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0847.htm James McGrath's Recon...

In this episode, I talked with Dr. Robyn Faith Walsh about her book, The Origins of Early Christian Literature. Watch This Episode on YouTube Instead Get the book on Amazon Sponsored Link Dr. Walsh's Academia.edu page SUPPORT THE CHANNEL Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/FootnoteFamous   YouTube Memberships - C. J. Cornthwaite - YouTube About: Robyn Faith Walsh is an Associate Professor of New...

📚 The First Biography of Jesus: What Mark's Gospel Really Is (with Prof. Helen Bond)Prof. Bond's Links 👇👇👇 👉 Biblical Time Machine (Helen's Podcast) - https://www.biblicaltimemachine.com/ 👉 The First Biography of Jesus (Book) https://amzn.to/4m4phqh (Sponsored Link) Professor Helen Bond from Edinburgh University reveals groundbreaking insights about the Gospel of Mark that challenge traditio...

Footnote Famous - Conversations with the world's top scholars of the Bible and Christian origins.