Marriage is between one man and one woman. Adultery is bad. (Prostitution is worse.) And divorce should be avoided at all costs. The Bible is perfectly clear on these and other moral topics, right? Ha! As our guest Jennifer Knust explains, the ...

Just in time for Halloween, we're talking magic, incantation bowls and a pinch of necromancy with Gideon Bohak, author of

Across the Ancient Near East, it was common to offer food and sacrifices to appease dead ancestors and "hangry" ghosts, but the Hebrew Bible is largely silent on interactions between the living and the dead. Our guest

In the 1st century, very few people "read" the Hebrew scriptures. Instead, they were "heard" — read aloud (or performed) in the synagogue and other spaces. In this episode, Catrin Williams joins Helen and Dave to discuss "ancient media culture,...

From the "Last Temptation" to "Life of Brian," so many filmmakers have tried their hand at portraying the greatest story ever told, with mixed results. Matthew Page — author of

The 3 endings of the Gospel of Mark present a real "choose your own adventure." Scholars think that the original text ended at Mark 16:8 with Mary Magdalene and the other women running in terror from the empty tomb on Easter morning. So why do ...

It's time to re-think the Documentary Hypothesis — the prevailing theory about the authorship of the Torah. Guest

Written in the 2nd Century CE, the non-canonical "Gospel of Mary" gives us a taste of the wild diversity of Early Christianity. Religious historian Sarah Parkhouse joins...

People have lived in Jerusalem for 5,000 years. Archeologist Jodi Magness hops in the Time Machine to give Helen and Dave a tour of Jerusalem's long and fascinating history. Buy Jodi's book — it's ...

The destruction of the 2nd Temple in 70 CE was a cataclysmic event for the people of Judaea and the Galilee. Our guest Nathanael Vette argues that all four New Testament gospels were wr...

Bottoms up! In today's mildly alcoholic episode, we talk with guest Elaine Goodfriend about the role of wine in Ancient Israel, and why the Israelites weren't big...

The authors of the New Testament were playing with genres, philosophies and themes that were well-known in Greco-Roman literature. Guest Robyn Faith Walsh teaches us how to read the Bible for what it was in the 1st and 2nd centuries — part and ...

When did this ancient practice begin? Was it unique to the ancient Israelites? And what did Paul really think about circumcision? Helen and Dave cover it all with guest Ryan Collman, author of

The gospels claim that John the Baptist was just preparing the way for Jesus, but what if his role was much bigger? In this episode, Helen and Dave are joined by James McGrath, wh...

Thank you listeners for another amazing season of Biblical Time Machine! We couldn't do this without you. EXCITING NEWS FOR SEASON 3Season 3 is just a few weeks away and we're unveiling some exciting new perks for members of the...

The Eucharist is such a common part of Christian worship that it's easy to overlook how strange it is — drinking wine that represents Jesus's blood, eating bread that represents His flesh. The ritual would have been even more shocking to Jesus'...

Join Helen and Dave as they attempt the impossible — to cover the entirety of biblical history in one fact-packed episode! To help us, we recruited Dan McClellan from the

The "Song of Miriam" is one of the oldest verses in the Hebrew Bible and it's a prayer. What was the nature and role of prayer in ancient Israelite religion? And how can we trace th...

Finally, Helen and Dave turn to the most important topic of any time period — food! What the heck did regular folks in the Levant eat back in the 12th and 11th centuries BCE? The Hebrew Bible is a lousy recipe book, so we talked to

If Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark is accurate, peering inside the fabled Ark of the Covenant will result in mild to severe face-melting and occasional head exploding. In the Hebrew Bible, the Ark doesn't melt any faces, ...

One of the longest-running debates among biblical scholars is over the existence of a hypothetical "lost gospel" called Q. If you compare the synoptic gospels — Mark, Matthew and Luke — there are similarities and differences that can't easily b...

Of all the problematic heroes in the Hebrew Bible, Samson takes first prize. Samson is hailed as a hero of the Israelites — a "Nazirite" consecrated to God with superhuman strength — but he's also a mass murderer, womanizer and all-around menac...

In 1945, dozens of previously unknown Christian texts were discovered near the Egyptian desert town of Nag Hammadi. Some texts were closely tied to the New Testament, like the Gospel of Thomas, but others were pretty wild, portraying the God of...

Countless things could sicken or injure you in the ancient world, so where did people turn for help? Much like today, there were no shortage of healthcare options: herbs, drugs, surgery, saliva — even a literal hole in the head! Helen and Dave ...

Every Passover, Jewish families gather to recount the miraculous story of Moses leading the Hebrews out of captivity in Egypt. But how much of this age-old tale is true? Helen and Dave welcome Ca...