Biblical Time Machine

The modern Bible on your bookshelf is the product of centuries of human engagement with really (really!) old texts. Some of the oldest Greek manuscripts of individual books of the New Testament contain "scribbles" in the margins — commentaries, corrections and the occasional doodle.  Garrick Allen is fascinated by these "paratexts," all of the extra stuff in  manuscripts that s...

The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament is nearly silent on the lives of ordinary women in the ancient world. Thankfully, we have intriguing clues from archeology and ethnography that help piece together  women's lives more than 3,000 years ago.  Special guest Carol Meyers doesn't think that Ancient Israelite society was a strict patriarchy — despite troublesome verses like the so-called " c...

Return guest Matthew Novenson drops some absolute bombs in this eye-opening episode about messiahs.  Pretty much everything you've been told about ancient beliefs about the messiah is wrong (in varying degrees). As Matt patiently explains, many things got lost in translation (and transliteration) from the Hebrew mashiach to the Greek khristos to the English messiah/Christ. But a close reading...

It's easy to read the New Testament and think that Jesus's ministry and message ("grace, forgiveness, love") was somehow in stark opposition to Judaism ("the law, justice, purity"). In today's episode, guest Amy-Jill Levine explains how Jesus's teachings, actions and miracles fit squarely within 1st-century Jewish beliefs and practice, and why understanding...

Discovered in 1946 in abandoned caves in Israel, the Dead Sea Scrolls are by far the oldest copies we have of books from the Hebrew Bible. The ancient horde of scrolls — more than 1,000 — also sheds light on the mysterious community called the Essenes who retreated to the Dead Sea wilderness around the time of Jesus. Helen and Dave are joined by Dead Sea Scroll expert Charlotte Hempel , who challe...

Everybody knows what Jesus looked like—the beard, the flowing locks, the tunic, and of course, the sandals! But incredibly, the Bible doesn't include a single physical description of Jesus... So where did the standard Western image come from, and is any of it historically accurate? Dave and Helen welcome back guest Joan Taylor, who makes a strong case that Western art painted a distorted pict...

The Book of Genesis is packed with iconic stories: the Creation, Adam & Eve, Noah's Ark... but where did those ancient tales come from? Yale Assyriologist Eckart Frahm joins Helen and Dave as they set the time machine all the way back to the "Beginning" to explore the intriguing connections between ancient Mesopotamian myth and the "Primeval History" recorded in Genesi...

Magi and mangers and murderous kings — it must be Christmas! The New Testament tells two very different stories of Jesus's birth, but why? Helen and Dave set the Biblical Time Machine to December 25, Year 1 to discuss why the authors of Matthew and Luke chose to write their own particular versions of the Nativity story, each with important theological and political undertones. And was Jesus e...

With Christmas just around the corner, Helen and Dave piece together a  picture of the woman who was there from the start — Mary, the mother of Jesus. Betrothed at 12 or 13 to a much older man, what would life have been like for a Galilean peasant woman and mother (and widow, perhaps?) in the 1st century? And what did Mary make of her unusual son and his radical mission?  Support the show Theme mu...

In the Bible, Herod is a power-hungry, paranoid King who orders the execution of all boy babies in Judea. But did any of that really happen? Join Helen and Dave as they discuss Herod's historic legacy and catalog the people that he definitely did kill (including his favorite wife).  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 pro...

According to the Bible, Paul was once Saul, a Christian-persecuting zealot who "converted" to Christianity. But did Paul, the earliest author in the New Testament, see himself as anything other than Jewish? Special guest Matthew Novenson joins Helen and Dave to discuss which of Paul's letters are legit, and what life would have been like for a diaspora Jew like Paul in the 1st centu...

Did you know there's not a single mention of God, prayer, or prophets in the Book of Esther? So how did this entertaining tale of beauty contests, banquets, and impaled bad guys make it into the Hebrew Bible? Special guest Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones joins Helen and Dave to discuss the ancient Persian origins of the Book of Esther.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, c...

The Second Temple in Jerusalem was a wonder of the ancient world and the center of Jewish life. In this episode, Dave and Helen describe the grandeur of the Temple complex after a major upgrade under Herod the Great, how Temple sacrifices worked, and why money changers played an important role (even if Jesus wasn't a fan).  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, crea...

What were the Jewish origins of baptism? Did people really wear camel hair and eat bugs? According to Josephus, was John the Baptist a "bigger deal" than Jesus? Special guest Joan Taylor joins Helen and Dave to discuss how John the Baptist fits into the 1st-century world of the New Testament.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machi...

Women played a hugely important role in Jesus’s inner circle and in early Christianity, but the New Testament only gives us a few tantalizing clues. In this episode, Helen and Dave fill in the forgotten stories of Jesus’s female disciples.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 produced by John Nelson. 

The New Testament wasn't handed down from on high as a complete and fully formed text. The books of the NT were written by different individuals at different times to meet the spiritual needs of different communities. Join Dave and Helen as they explore the historical roots of the "Good Book" and the people who wrote it.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Ro...

Dave and Helen dive into the biggest Bible history question of them all — who was the real Jesus? Lucky for us, Helen wrote a whole book about it, so there's plenty of fascinating clues to discuss.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 produced by John Nelson.