Biblical Time Machine – Details, episodes & analysis

It's time to re-think the Documentary Hypothesis — the prevailing theory about the authorship of the Torah. Guest Angela Erisman has a fresh take on the literary history of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, showing how these creative texts reflect ancient political realities.

Angela's forthcoming book is The Wilderness Narratives in the Hebrew Bible: Religion, Politics, and Biblical Interpretation. Look for it in November 2024.

SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE!

If you like the podcast, please consider supporting the show through the Time Travelers Club, our Patreon. We love making the show, but since we don't run ads we rely on listener contributions to cover our costs. Please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a $5/month subscription. (Think of it as $1.25 an episode!)

BTM BOOK CLUB

We're excited to announce the first meeting of the Biblical Time Machine Book Club! Members of the Time Travelers Club are invited for a live Zoom discussion of Helen and Joan Taylor's book, Women Remembered: Jesus' Female Disciples. Grab your copy of the book and we'll see you on Saturday, September 28 at 12pm EDT and 5pm UK.

DOWNLOAD OUR STUDY GUIDE: MARK AS ANCIENT BIOGRAPHY

Check out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." While you're there, get yourself a handsome Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle.

Support the show

Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos

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 Helen and Dave in the Time Machine to explain the significance of this mysterious Gnostic tribute to Mary Magdalene. 

For more, check out Sarah's book, Eschatology and the Saviour: The Gospel of Mary among Early Christian Dialogue Gospels.

SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE!

If you like the podcast, please consider supporting the show through the Time Travelers Club, our Patreon. We love making the show, but since we don't run ads we rely on listener contributions to cover our costs. Please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a $5/month subscription. (Think of it as $1.25 an episode!)

BTM BOOK CLUB

We're excited to announce the first meeting of the Biblical Time Machine Book Club! Members of the Time Travelers Club are invited for a live Zoom discussion of Helen and Joan Taylor's book, Women Remembered: Jesus' Female Disciples. Grab your copy of the book and we'll see you on Saturday, September 28 at 10am EDT and 5pm UK.

DOWNLOAD OUR STUDY GUIDE: MARK AS ANCIENT BIOGRAPHY

Check out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." While you're there, get yourself a handsome Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle.

Support the show

Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos

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 Data Over Dogma podcast to walk us century by century, book by book through the creation of the Bible. It's like listening to a full season of Biblical Time Machine in one sitting. (In a good way!)

For a deeper dive into the biblical history topics discussed on today's show, check out these past podcast episodes --->

Biblical Time Machine:

• How Yahweh Became God
• Why the Bible Was Written
• Are the 12 Tribes of Israel a Myth?
• How the Babylonian Exile Changed Everything
• Who Wrote the New Testament and Why?
• Who Chose the Books of the New Testament?
• Did the Author of John Know the Other Gospels?
• Ancient Manuscripts — The Bible Before It Was the Bible

Data Over Dogma:

• In the Beginning
• The Genesis of Genesis with Dr. David Carr
• Connecting with Source
• The End(s) of Monotheism w/David Burnett
• Jesus in History with Helen Bond
• Who ACTUALLY Wrote the New Testament?

SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE!

If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support through the Time Travelers Club, our Patreon. We love making the show, but since we don't run ads we rely on listener contributions to cover our costs. Please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a $5/month subscription. (Think of it as $1.25 an episode!) 

GET YOUR BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE MUG

The Biblical Time Machine Store  is open! Check out our 4-part audio study guide called "

Support the show

Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos

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 the evolution of prayer into the New Testament period and Jesus's institution of the "Lord's Prayer"? Guest Judith Newman takes us on a fascinating exploration of the history of prayer in ancient Judaism and early Christianity.

Check out Judy's book, Before the Bible: The Liturgical Body and the Formation of Scriptures in early Judaism. 

SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE!

If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support through the Time Travelers Club, our Patreon. We love making the show, but since we don't run ads we rely on listener contributions to cover our costs. Please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a $5/month subscription. (Think of it as $1.25 an episode!) 

GET YOUR BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE MUG

The Biblical Time Machine Store  is open! Check out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." Or get yourself a handsome Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. 

Support the show

Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos

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 Jacob Damm, an archeologist who specializes in the food and foodways of Ancient Israel. Grab a snack for this one. You're gonna get hungry. 

More from our content partner Bible Odyssey:

• Milk and Honey in Ancient Israel

SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE!

If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support through the Time Travelers Club, our Patreon. We love making the show, but since we don't run ads we rely on listener contributions to cover our costs. Please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a $5/month subscription. (Think of it as $1.25 an episode!) 

GET YOUR BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE MUG

The Biblical Time Machine Store  is open! Check out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." Or get yourself a handsome Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. 

Support the show

Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos

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, but it does inflict its fair share of divine violence. Guest Rachelle Gilmour explains the fascinating history and lore behind the Ark of the Covenant. 

More from our content partner Bible Odyssey:

• The Ark of the Covenant
• Shiloh

SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE!

If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support through the Time Travelers Club, our Patreon. We love making the show, but since we don't run ads we rely on listener contributions to cover our costs. Please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a $5/month subscription. (Think of it as $1.25 an episode!) 

GET YOUR BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE MUG

The Biblical Time Machine Store  is open! Check out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." Or get yourself a handsome Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. 

Support the show

Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos

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 be explained. Was there an even earlier source about Jesus that these gospels were based on? And if so, who wrote it and why was it lost?

Our guest today is Paul Foster, a colleague of Helen's at the University of Edinburgh. Paul is a passionate Q supporter and shares some strong evidence to quiet the Q critics.

SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE!

If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support through the Time Travelers Club, our Patreon. We love making the show, but since we don't run ads we rely on listener contributions to cover our costs. Please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a $5/month subscription. (Think of it as $1.25 an episode!) 

GET YOUR BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE MUG

The Biblical Time Machine Store  is open! Check out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." Or get yourself a handsome Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. 

Support the show

Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos

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 menace to society. Helen and Dave welcome Mahri Leonard-Fleckman to the podcast to try to make sense of the wild (and wildly entertaining) Samson cycle.

SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE!

If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support through the Time Travelers Club, our Patreon. We love making the show, but since we don't run ads we rely on listener contributions to cover our costs. Please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a $5/month subscription. (Think of it as $1.25 an episode!) 

GET YOUR BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE MUG

The Biblical Time Machine Store  is open! Check out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." Or get yourself a handsome Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. 

Support the show

Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos

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 the Hebrew Bible as a demon trickster. All of these texts were labeled "gnostic," but scholars continue to debate what "gnostic" really means and what to make of these curious works from the early centuries of Christianity.

Helen and Dave are joined by Kimberley Fowler, a scholar of early Christianity who spends her days reading cryptic texts like The Second Discourse of the Great Seth. 

Learn more at Bible Odyssey:

• Was the Gospel of Thomas Gnostic?
• The Gospel of Judas 

SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE!

If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support through the Time Travelers Club, our Patreon. We love making the show, but since we don't run ads we rely on listener contributions to cover our costs. Please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a $5/month subscription. (Think of it as $1.25 an episode!) 

GET YOUR BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE MUG

The Biblical Time Machine Store  is open! Check out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." Or get yourself a handsome Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. 

Support the show

Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos

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 welcome historian Jared Secord to discuss what passed for medical care in the ancient Mediterranean and why Jesus fits the profile of a faith healer.

Check out Jared's cool new book, co-authored with Kristi Upson-Saia and Heidi Marx, Medicine, Health, and Healing in the Ancient Mediterranean 500 BCE–600 CE: A Sourcebook.

More from our content partner Bible Odyssey:

• Medicine and the Hebrew Bible
• Magic in the 1st-Century World
• Divine Power in Mark 8
• Barrenness in the Bible

SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE!

If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support through the Time Travelers Club, our Patreon. We love making the show, but since we don't run ads we rely on listener contributions to cover our costs. Please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a $5/month subscription. (Think of it as $1.25 an episode!) 

GET YOUR BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE MUG

The Biblical Time Machine Store  is open! Check out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." Or get yourself a handsome Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. 

Support the show

Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos