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Helen Bond & Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Biblical Time Machine

A History , Religion & Spirituality and Christianity podcast

#93 in History · 🇬🇧 #103 in History · 🇺🇸
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About the show

Join Helen and Lloyd as they travel back in time (metaphorically… it’s a podcast) to explore the real history of the people, places and events of the Old Testament, New Testament and everything in between.

Newest episodes

The Women of Acts

34 min

Luke is often presented as one of the most pro-women writers in the New Testament. But is that really the case? To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Biblical Time Machine with Dr Julia Mayo, whose recent work has complicated this view. They discuss the hidden meanings of female names, how Luke characterises women, and how they are often confined to the domestic space.  Julia Mayo earned her PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 2024. Her thesis was entitled, ‘The Women of Acts: The Ancient Characterization of Tabitha, Lydia, Sapphira, and Priscilla’, and her research interests include the Book of Acts, gender studies and New Testament rhetorical criticism. She has also published on a postcolonial reading of Acts 16:6-18 in Horizons of Biblical Theology.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Who were the Amorites?

40 min

The Amorites were once an age-defining people, but today they have been largely forgotten. So who were the Amorites, and how does Bible portray them? To take us back to the early Bronze era and the rise of the Amorite age, Helen and Lloyd are joined by the well-fared Time Traveller, Dr Dylan Johnson.  Dr Dylan R. Johnson is a Lecturer in Ancient Near Eastern History at Cardiff University and an expert on all things Mesopotamian. He is the author of Sovereign Authority and the Elaboration of Law in the Bible and the Ancient Near East (2020, Mohr Siebeck) and is writing Lawgiving in the Ancient Near East for Cambridge University Press.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Noon of the Living Dead

36 min

As All Hallows' Eve fast approaches, Helen and Lloyd turn their attention to the spookiest episode in the gospel tradition – a story in which the dead are raised and enter Jerusalem (Matthew 27:52-53). The little episode has vexed scholars for centuries and raises many questions: what happened to the saints in between the crucifixion and resurrection? Who were these ‘holy ones’ who went into the city? And how do they fit into Matthew’s narrative as a whole?  To find out what this episode really means, Helen and Lloyd are joined by Dr Nathanael Vette, who has a spooky new theory about the 'resurrected saints', and why Matthew includes them in his gospel. In his forthcoming article, 'Noon of the Living Dead' (CBQ), Nathanael proposes that Matthew's saints should be seen against the backdrop of the 'shades of the dead', a Roman omen that preceded several national calamities, including the brutal murder of Julius Caesar.  Dr Nathanael Vette is Lecturer in New Testament, Gender and the Arts at King's College, London. He is the author of Writing with Scripture: Scripturalized Narrative in the Gospel of Mark (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2022) and co-editor of A Theology of Gratitude: Christian and Muslim Perspectives (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023). Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

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All episodes

The newest 50 of 271 episodes

The Women of Acts

34 min

Luke is often presented as one of the most pro-women writers in the New Testament. But is that really the case? To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Biblical Time Machine with Dr Julia Mayo, whose recent work has complicated this view. They discuss the hidden meanings of female names, how Luke characterises women, and how they are often confined to the domestic space.  Julia Mayo earned her PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 2024. Her thesis was entitled, ‘The Women of Acts: The Ancient Characterization of Tabitha, Lydia, Sapphira, and Priscilla’, and her research interests include the Book of Acts, gender studies and New Testament rhetorical criticism. She has also published on a postcolonial reading of Acts 16:6-18 in Horizons of Biblical Theology.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Who were the Amorites?

40 min

The Amorites were once an age-defining people, but today they have been largely forgotten. So who were the Amorites, and how does Bible portray them? To take us back to the early Bronze era and the rise of the Amorite age, Helen and Lloyd are joined by the well-fared Time Traveller, Dr Dylan Johnson.  Dr Dylan R. Johnson is a Lecturer in Ancient Near Eastern History at Cardiff University and an expert on all things Mesopotamian. He is the author of Sovereign Authority and the Elaboration of Law in the Bible and the Ancient Near East (2020, Mohr Siebeck) and is writing Lawgiving in the Ancient Near East for Cambridge University Press.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Noon of the Living Dead

36 min

As All Hallows' Eve fast approaches, Helen and Lloyd turn their attention to the spookiest episode in the gospel tradition – a story in which the dead are raised and enter Jerusalem (Matthew 27:52-53). The little episode has vexed scholars for centuries and raises many questions: what happened to the saints in between the crucifixion and resurrection? Who were these ‘holy ones’ who went into the city? And how do they fit into Matthew’s narrative as a whole?  To find out what this episode really means, Helen and Lloyd are joined by Dr Nathanael Vette, who has a spooky new theory about the 'resurrected saints', and why Matthew includes them in his gospel. In his forthcoming article, 'Noon of the Living Dead' (CBQ), Nathanael proposes that Matthew's saints should be seen against the backdrop of the 'shades of the dead', a Roman omen that preceded several national calamities, including the brutal murder of Julius Caesar.  Dr Nathanael Vette is Lecturer in New Testament, Gender and the Arts at King's College, London. He is the author of Writing with Scripture: Scripturalized Narrative in the Gospel of Mark (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2022) and co-editor of A Theology of Gratitude: Christian and Muslim Perspectives (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023). Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

C.S. Lewis and the Bible

44 min

For many contemporary readers of the Bible, C.S. Lewis is looked to as an inspiration and authority. The 20th century Oxbridge don, Christian essayist and author of The Chronicles of Narnia wove the Bible into all of his works. But was Lewis a good reader of the Bible? How did Lewis respond to the challenges of New Testament scholarship? And in what ways did Lewis put the Bible to use in his legendary chronicles?  To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Time Machine with New Testament Professor, Leslie Baynes, whose recent book, Between Interpretation and Imagination: C.S. Lewis and the Bible (Eerdmans, 2025) is the first full-length treatment of how C.S. Lewis engaged the Bible.  Leslie Baynes is Professor of Religious Studies at Missouri State University and a translator for the Catholic American Bible (CAB, 2027). She earned her PhD at the University of Notre Dame and is the author of The Heavenly Book Motif in Judeo-Christian Apocalypses 200 BCE – 200 CE (Brill, 2012), among many other contributions to New Testament studies.   Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Assyria – The World's First Empire

45 min

'O Assyria, the rod of my anger!' So declared the prophet Isaiah of one of the most feared and imposing empires of the ancient world. But who were the Assyrians, and how did they become the world's first empire?  To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Time Machine with Professor Eckart Frahm of Yale University, the author of Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World’s First Empire (2023, YUP). From warfare and imperial ambition to religion and everyday life, they discover together what made Assyria such a formidable civilisation, and how its history sheds new light on the world of the Hebrew Bible. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

The Bible's Golden Oldies

36 min

1st October marks the UN's International Day of Older Persons. So this week, Helen and Lloyd took a trip in the Time Machine to visit the Bible's 'Golden Oldies' –  some of its oldest, wisest and most memorable characters. They consider what the Bible has to say about growing old, unpack theological readings of old age, and raise the age-old question: how old was Jesus when he began his mission?  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Alexander – The Man Behind the Bible

41 min

It is impossible to study the Bible without crashing into the word 'Hellenism', the spread of Greek culture across the ancient world by Alexander (the Great). But who was Alexander, and what do his successors have to do with the Bible? To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Time Machine with Dr Stephen Harrison, an expert on Alexander the Great.  Dr Stephen Harrison is Senior Lecturer in Classics at Swansea University, and a historian of ancient Greece and the ancient Near East, focusing on the sixth to the second centuries BCE, the era of the Achaemenid Empire, Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic kingdoms. He is the author of Achaemenid Kingship, Alexander the Great, and the Early Seleucids (EUP, 2025) as well as a popular life of Alexander, Alexander the Great: Lives and Legacies (Reaktion Books 2025).  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

The Wisest Book in the Bible

38 min

If there is any biblical book which has something to say about wisdom, it is the Book of Proverbs. But what actually is Proverbs? Who wrote it? And what is its message about what a good life looks like? To get to the bottom of Proverbs, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Time Machine with Dr Ryan O'Dowd. Ryan O'Dowd is Senior Academic Advisor at Chesterton House, Cornell University. He earned his PhD in Old Testament from the University of Liverpool and his many books include The Wisdom of Torah: Epistemology in Deuteronomy and the Wisdom Literature, a commentary on Proverbs, a co-authored volume, Old Testament Wisdom Literature: A Theological Introduction, and The Preacher's Hebrew Companion to Deuteronomy.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

The Biblical Time Machine Returns – Season 5

27 min

Your favourite time travelling podcast is back – for its fifth season!   Join biblical scholar Helen Bond and ancient historian Lloyd Lewellyn-Jones in the Biblical Time Machine as they travel back in time (not very far... to the summer!) and forward for all that lies ahead in Season 5.  Lloyd gives us some hints about what's in store with his upcoming book on the Hittites, and Helen discusses her work on Mary, the mother of Jesus.  If you would like to access our bonus episodes and get the chance to be a backstage guest, consider joining our Time Traveller's Club at patreon.com/biblicaltimemachine for just $5 a month (think of it as $1.25 per episode!) Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Season 4 Celebration

31 min

Helen and Lloyd have been on many adventures in the Biblical Time Machine this academic year. Season 4 has taken them across the ancient world – from the great Empires of Babylon and Persia to the early Church and beyond. They’ve explored what daily life was really like in biblical times, and waded into some of the biggest debates in cutting-edge scholarship with the help of leading academics.  In this special episode, Helen and Lloyd look back on the highlights of the season, revisit some of their favourite conversations – and give a sneak-peak into Season 5! As we take a summer break and prepare for the next season, listen back and share with us your favourite moments from our conversations this year!  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Who wrote Colossians?

47 min

Colossians is chock-full of historical and theological mysteries. Did the apostle Paul really write it? Who were the false teaches troubling the church at Colossae? And was is the meaning of its famous Christological ‘hymn’ – was it truly sung? To get to the bottom of all things Colossians, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Biblical Time Machine with Paul Foster.   Paul Foster is Professor in New Testament Language and Literature at the University of Edinburgh. He has specialised on a range of writings in the New Testament and beyond, in particular the pre-gospel source ‘Q’, the Gospel of Matthew, Thessalonians, the Gospel of Peter and the Apostolic Fathers. His 2016 commentary on Colossoians is part of Black’s New Testament Commentary Series.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Babylon – The Mother of All Cities

41 min

Babylon is one of the most famous cities and empires in human history. To many people, it conjures images of Hanging Gardens, the Tower of Babel, Nebuchadnezzar, and the exile of the Jewish people. But how much of this is historical fact, and how much of it is later mythology?  To get to the bottom of Babylon, Helen takes a trip in the time machine with our resident ancient historian, Professor Lloyd Lewellyn-Jones. Helen asks Lloyd about his highly acclaimed new book, Babylon: The Mother of All Cities(2026), and discuss the theology, law codes, great texts and daily life of the Bible's most famous – or infamous – city.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Who were the Pharisees?

39 min

The Pharisees are among the most villainised groups in Jewish history. For centuries, Christians read them as legalists, religious hypocrites and bitter opponents of Jesus. But have we got the Pharisees all wrong?  To find out, Lloyd takes a trip in the Time Machine with our resident expert, Helen Bond, Professor of Christian Origins at the University of Edinburgh.  Drawing on a range of sources – from Josephus to the Dead Sea Scrolls – they construct a picture of the Pharisees beyond the stereotypes. Where did they come from? What did they believe? And how reliably do the gospels portray them.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Imitation in Early Christianity

35 min

Imitation is a huge part of the human experience, as we imitate role models and loved ones. Oscar Wilde called it the 'highest form of flattery'. But what did imitation – or mimesis – look like in early Christianity? To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the time machine with Professor Cornelis Bennema. They discuss what imitation meant in the ancient world, how the New Testament writers adapted the concept, and why Paul instructs his listeners to 'imitate me'.  Dr Cornelis (‘Cor’) Bennema is Head of Research and Professor of New Testament Studies at the London School of Theology. His main research interests include the Johannine literature, character studies in biblical narrative and early Christian ethics. He is the author of a number of works on mimesis, most recently Imitation in Early Christianity: Mimesis and Religious-Ethical Formation (Eerdmans, 2025).  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

The Bible in Aramaic

35 min

Many of us think of the Bible as a book written in Hebrew and Greek, overlooking the important role of Aramaic—the lingua franca of much of the ancient Near East. In this episode, Helen and Lloyd climb into the Time Machine with Tawny Holm, one of the world's leading experts on Aramaic, to explore the language's history, literature, and cultural significance. Who spoke and wrote Aramaic? What kinds of texts were composed in it? And how can Aramaic literature beyond the Bible help us better understand the Aramaic passages within it? Tawny M. Holm is Professor of Hebrew and Aramaic Studies at Penn State University. Her main research areas are the Hebrew Bible in its Ancient Near Eastern context, early Judaism and Aramaic studies. She is the author of Of Courtiers and Kings: The Biblical Daniel Narratives and Ancient-Story Collections (Eisenbrauns, 2013), and, most recently, Aramaic Literature from Egypt and the Levant, published in May 2026 in SBL’s series, Writings from the Ancient World (Volume 30).  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

The Judges of Ancient Israel

42 min

The book of Judges gives us some of the most intriguing and tragic characters in all of the Hebrew Bible: Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson. But what did it mean to be a 'judge' in ancient Israel? To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Biblical Time Machine with Dr Brandon Hurlbert. Dr Brandon Hurlbert (PhD, Durham University) is a teaching fellow in Hebrew Bible and Ethics at Durham University. His thesis explored the possibilities of reading the book of Judges as Christian Scripture. He is a research associate at the Centre for the Study of Biblical Violence and co-host of The Two Cities Podcast, and his other research interests include the Bible and Film and biblical reception history.  If you would like access to our bonus episode and the chance to be a backstage guest, consider joining our Time Traveller's Club at patreon.com/biblicaltimemachine for just $5 a month (think of it as $1.25 per episode). Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

King David – Hero or Villain?

33 min

King David is one of the most familiar figures in the Bible. Most people know him as the shepherd boy, the Psalmist and the underdog who steps up to defeat Goliath. But is this only one side to a much darker story? To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Biblical Time Machine with Professor David Shepherd, who argues that David is not only a man of war, but a 'man of blood.'  David J. Shepherd is Professor in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at Trinity College Dublin and founding director of the Trinity Centre for Biblical Studies. Among his many academic monographs, he is the author of King David, Innocent Blood, and Bloodguilt (OUP, 2023).  If you would like access to our bonus David episode and the chance to be a backstage guest, consider joining our Time Traveller's Club at patreon.com/biblicaltimemachine for just $5 a month (think of it as $1.25 per episode).  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Reading Luke as a Cultural Elite

47 min

We tend to imagine that the gospels were written by Christians for other Christians. But this week, Helen and Lloyd take a trip with Dr Daniel Glover, who has argued that the figure we now call Luke was writing for a cadre of well-educated, cultural elites. This in turn shapes the way that he presents Jesus, conforming to a range philosophical and mythological tropes.  Daniel B. Glover is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Lee University. His research focuses on early Christianity within its broader Greco-Roman and ancient Mediterranean context, especially Luke–Acts, early Christology, deification, and ancient religion. Glover is the author of Patterns of Deification in the Acts of the Apostles (2022) and Jesus and Other Sons of God ( 2025), where he explores how Luke presents Jesus in dialogue with ancient Mediterranean ideas about divinity.  In this's week bonus episode, Dr Glover discusses the dating of Luke-Acts.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

The Bible in (Ancient) Pop Culture

40 min

When we think of the Bible in the ancient world, we tend to think of bishops, priests and monks. But what did 'ordinary' people make of the Bible – and how did they engage with it? To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Biblical Time Machine with Prof Lucy Grigg, an expert on ancient popular culture.  Lucy Grig is Professor of the History of Late Antiquity at the University of Edinburgh. Among her many publications, she is the editor of ‘Popular Culture in the Ancient World’ (CUP, 2017) and has written on ‘The Bible in popular and non-literary culture’ as part of The New Cambridge History of the Bible (2013).  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Erotica... In the Bible?

39 min

The Song of Songs might be considered the Bible's steamiest book. But where would it sit on an ancient book shelf? Should we call it 'erotica'? And how did the book come to be associated with Solomon? To get to the bottom of this peculiar book, Helen and Lloyd are joined in the Biblical Time Machine by Professor Adele Berlin.  Adele Berlin is the Robin H. Smith Professor of Biblical Studies (Emerita) at the University of Maryland. She is the author of Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative, and the co-editor of The Jewish Study Bible with Marc Brettler. She has also written the Song of Songs commentary in the Hermeneia series.    Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Signs in the Gospel of John

37 min

One of the most distinctive aspects of John's gospel is his presentation of Jesus' miracles as semeia – 'signs'. To get to the bottom of why John is so fond of semeia, Helen and Lloyd enter the time machine with leading Johannine scholar Catrin Williams. They discuss whether there are really seven signs in the gospel, how John's signs relate to scripture, and whether they are history or fiction.   Catrin H. Williams is Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Lampeter. A Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, she has published extensively on the Gospel of John, including a 2025 co-edited volume The Semeia Narratives in the Gospel of John.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

What to Expect When You're Dead

45 min

How did people in biblical times imagine life after death? On this episode, Lloyd is joined in the time machine by Robert Garland for ancient tour of the afterlife. Drawing on a panoply of cultures – from Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia to Greece, Rome, and early Christianity – Robert charts a map of what ancient people believed about death and the world beyond.  Robert Garland is a British historian, philologist and Emeritus Roy D. and Margaret B. Wooster Professor of the Classics at Colgate Universityin New York. He specializes in ancient Greek history, religion, and daily life, and is the author of numerous books including What to Expect When You’re Dead: An Ancient Tour of the Afterlife (2025).  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Who is the Suffering Servant?

29 min

Christians have long read the 'suffering servant' of Isaiah in reference to Jesus. But how did that connection come about? Was the servant originally a messianic figure who dies for sins? And how have Jews read the servant through history, all the way from Isaiah and Daniel to the present day?  To answer these questions, Helen and Lloyd are joined by Amy Jill-Levine, the Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace. Her many works include The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently (with Marc Brettler, 2020).  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

51 min

In this Easter special, Prof Lloyd Lewellyn-Jones interviews our resident expert, Prof Helen Bond, on the evidence for Jesus' resurrection. They discuss the data about the resurrection in early Christian literature, whether there was an empty tomb, and various naturalistic attempts to explain the resurrection belief.  SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. In this week's bonus episode, Professor Helen Bond unpacks a tricky text in 1 Peter which some have read as the biblical basis for the harrowing of hell.   Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Did Jesus go to Hell?

41 min

What happened to Jesus on Easter Saturday? The apostles creed claims that Jesus 'descended into hell', reflecting a wider Christian motif called the 'Harrowing of Hell.' To find out more about this belief, Lloyd Lewellyn-Jones asks our resident expert, Helen Bond, who is currently writing a book on the subject. They explore questions like: Is the 'Harrowing of Hell' alluded to in the gospels? When did Jesus go to hell and what was he doing there? How strong is the biblical foundation of this idea? How is the Harrowing depicted in the Gospel of Nicodemus? SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. In this week's bonus episode, Professor Helen Bond unpacks a tricky text in 1 Peter which some have read as the biblical basis for the harrowing of hell.      Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

The Garden of Eden

39 min

We have all heard the story of Adam and Eve. But what was the Garden of Eden which they inhabited? In this week's episode, Helen and Lloyd travel back to the dawn of time with Dr Dylan Johnson as their guide to this mythical landscape. Together, they get to the bottom of questions like: Was the Garden of Eden meant to be a real place, or a symbolic vision of paradise?Is Genesis borrowing from older Mesopotamian stories about divine gardens? Was Adam imagined as a king placed in God’s garden to rule on his behalf?Is Eve really to blame for “the fall,” or is that a misreading?And who exactly is the serpent, before later tradition identified him with Satan?SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. In this week's bonus episode, Dylan Johnson unpacks whether Eden is a Temple.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Child Sacrifice in Ancient Religion

42 min

We have all heard rumours that ancient religions used children in ritual sacrifice. But did it really happen? To discuss the evidence, Helen and Lloyd are joined in the Time Machine by Dr Eve MacDonald, lecturer at Cardiff University and author of the acclaimed, Carthage: A New History of an Ancient Empire (Penguin, 2025).  Dr MacDonald answers questions like:  Did human sacrifice really occur in the ancient world, and what does the archaeological evidence actually show?What happened in the Great Death Pit at Ur, and what does it reveal about ancient burial rituals?Why do ancient myths and biblical stories so often centre on the sacrifice of young girls?Did the Carthaginians really practise child sacrifice, and what does the evidence from the Tophet suggest?How did Greeks and Romans use accusations of shocking religious practices to demonise their enemies—and even early Christians?SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

The Language Jesus Spoke

46 min

This week in the Biblical Time Machine, Helen and Lloyd travel back in time to hear and read Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. Helping them to uncover the language is world-leading Jesus historian, Bruce Chilton, the Bernard Iddings Bell Profesosr of Religion at Bard College, NY.  Professor Chilton is the author of numerous books, including Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography and most recently, Aramaic Jesus: Tradition, Identity, and Christianity's Mother Tongue. On the show, he answers questions like:  What is Aramaic and why did Jesus speak it?Was Aramaic the only language Jesus spoke?Did Jesus have a 'regional' accent?Can we uncover Aramaic sources behind the gospels?How does Aramaic shed light on Jesus' teaching? SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. In this week's bonus episode, Bruce Chilton unpacks whether some of Jesus' teachings were lost in (Greek) translation.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

God and Israel – A Marriage in Crisis?

42 min

This week in the Biblical Time Machine, Prof Lloyd Lewellyn-Jones sits down with Dr Charlie Hadjiev to discuss Hosea, one of the most evocative, troubling and hopeful books of the Hebrew Bible. They cover questions like:  When and where was Hosea written?How was adultery viewed in the ancient world? How can Paul Ricour’s hermeneutics shed light on the text? Does Hosea present God as an abusive husband? Dr Charlie Hadjievis a lecturer in biblical studies at St Padarn’s Institute, Cardiff, where he teaches and researches Hebrew Bible, especially prophetic literature. His many publications include ‘“(Not) Her Husband”: Hosea’s God and Ricoeur’s Hermeneutics of Suspicion and Trust’ (Religions, 2022) and Joel, Obadiah, Habakkuk and Zephaniah: An Introduction and Study Guide (T&T Clark, 2020).  SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Is Love in the (Biblical) Air?

32 min

Is love in the biblical air this Valentine's Day? To find out, Professors Helen Bond and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones take a trip back to the biblical world. They discuss...  What is ‘love’ in the biblical imagination? Is there romantic love in the ancient world? Is Song of Songs a wedding Song? How are Heriodas and Antipas anticipated by Ahab and Jezebel? How have we misread David and Bathsheba’s relationship? Why is Paul ‘anti-marriage’? Does same-sex love show up in the Bible? SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Roman Faith and Christian Faith

41 min

The early Christian world was awash with the language of 'belief' (pistis in Greek, fides in Latin). But what does it really mean to 'believe'? Today, we often use the word refer to an assent to a set of propositions: someone might believe that Jesus rose from the dead, or that he was born of a virgin. But is this what the language of belief meant to the early Christians, within the wider Roman world? To unpack the lexis of 'belief', Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Time Machine with Teresa Morgan, McDonald Agape Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Yale University. Teresa is the author of Roman Faith and Christian Faith: Pistis and Fides in the Early Roman Empire and Early Churches (OUP, 2015), which suggests that belief is a more relational term than we tend to assume. It refers to a 'loyalty' and 'allegiance', rooted in social practices of trust. SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

From Nazareth to Hollywood

44 min

How are Jesus and early Christianity portrayed on the big screen? To answer this question, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Biblical Time Machine with Dr Monica Cyrino, an expert on the reception of the classical world in film. Together, they explore 1950s classics such as Quo Vadis and The Robe, and see how these ‘epic Rome’ films are later parodied in Monty Python’s The Life of Brian. Monica Silveira Cyrino is Professor of Classics at the University of New Mexico, specialising in classical reception studies. She is particularly well known for Big Screen Rome (Blackwell, 2005), a foundational textbook on Roman epic cinema. SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

What are the Non-Canonical Gospels?

42 min

Many people only know the version of the non-canonical gospels popularised by Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. The Church did away these 'lost' texts, and their recovery promises to reveal a more primitive version of Jesus that Orthodoxy suppressed. But how much truth is there to this narrative? What really are the non-canonical gospels? In this episode, Helen and Lloyd are joined by Simon Gathercole to uncover the true story of the non-canonical or 'apocryphal' gospels.  Simon J. Gathercole is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Fitzwilliam College. He is a world leading authority on the non-canonical gospels, and is the author of The Gospel of Judas (2007), The Gospel of Thomas (OUP, 2007), The Gospel of Thomas: Introduction and Commentary (Brill, 2014) and The Apocryphal Gospels (Penguin, 2021).  SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Who were the Magi, really?

46 min

We all know the story of the Magi: they were three kings who followed a star to Bethlehem. But what if this common nativity narrative gets it all wrong? To uncover who the Magi really were, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Biblical Time Machine with Dr Eric Vanden Ekyel, author of the popular tome, The Magi: Who They Were, How They’ve Been Remembered (2022; Fortress Press).  Eric Vanden Eykel is a New Testament scholar and Associate Professor of Religion at Ferrum College. In addition to his work on the Magi, he is the author But Their Faces Were All Looking Up: Author and Reader in the Protevangelium of James (2016; Bloomsbury), a book which explores another early infancy story of Jesus.  SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle.  Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Jesus' Physical Appearance

44 min

The physical appearance of Jesus is more widely known and distinctive than any other. Yet this familiarity can lead us to overlook a curious fact: in the Gospels, it is never described. This week on the Biblical Time Machine, Helen and Lloyd ask the show's producer John Nelson about this mystery: is it surprising that the Gospels do not describe Jesus' physical appearance, and what might explain this lacuna?  Dr John Nelson is the researcher and producer of Biblical Time Machine. He earned his PhD at the University of Edinburgh and is the author of Jesus' Physical Appearance: Biography, Christology, Philosophy (Bloomsbury, 2025). He teaches Theology & Philosophy at Haberdashers' Boys' School, writes and lectures on his substack Behind the Gospels and hosts conversations for Premier Unbelievable? SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Did the Beloved Disciple Exist?

42 min

The Gospel of John presents itself as rooted in the testimony of 'the disciple whom Jesus loved'. But who was this disciple? Over the centuries, scholars have proposed a baffling range of explanations, from John the son of Zebedee or a 'John the Elder' to Lazarus and Mary Magdalene. Joining Helen and Lloyd in the Time Machine, Dr Hugo Mendez has a different theory: that John is a work of disguised authorship. The beloved disciple was not a real person, but is an idealised literary creation.  Hugo Méndez is Associate Professor of Religious Studies in Ancient Mediterranean Religions, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  with particular focus on Johannine literature. He is the author of The Cult of Stephen in Jerusalem: Inventing a Patron Martyr and, most recently, The Gospel of John: A New History (Oxford University Press, 2025), a provocative reassessment that argues the Gospel is a work of disguised authorship rather than eyewitness testimony. SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Asherah: The Forgotten Wife of God?

35 min

This week in the Biblical Time Machine, Helen and Lloyd travel back to a time when God had a wife named Asherah... or did he? To help them answer decipher the ancient goddess, our co-hosts enlist the help of Dr Steve Wiggins, a world-leading expert on Asherah. Together, they explore how Asherah came to be associated with the God of Israel, discuss inscriptions and figurines associated with the goddess, and consider why the question of God once having a 'wife' remains so controversial today.  Steve Wiggins earned his PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 1992 and taught Hebrew Bible at Nashotah House Episcopal Seminary from 1992-2004. His revised dissertation, A Reassessment of Asherah: With Further Considerations of the Goddess, was expanded in 2007 and came out as a paperback version in 2025. It is the only full-length treatment of the Ugaritic source material on Asherah, and combines that with comprehensive examination of textual sources from the Hebrew Bible, ancient Mesopotamia, Epigraphic South Arabian sources, Hittite sources, as well as Hebrew inscriptions that may mention the goddess.  SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

How Christmas Carols Retell The Nativity

43 min

Every Christmas, Christians sing a nativity story shaped as much by hymnody as by the Gospels themselves. In this Christmas special, Helen and Lloyd take a closer look at four of their favourite Christmas carols to ask the question: how do their depictions of Jesus' birth compare with the gospel accounts? For the first time ever, you will also be able to watch the Biblical Time Machine on YouTube. Subscribe to the Biblical Time Machine channel for upcoming content and conversations, including this conversation between Helen and Lloyd.  For more on the 'Plygain' Christmas tradition, see here.  SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

How Luke Rewrote Matthew's Nativity

39 min

For decades, scholars have thought that Matthew and Luke composed their nativity stories separately, perhaps drawing on some underlying material. Yet in this special advent episode, Lloyd Lewellyn-Jones interviews his co-host Helen Bond about her proposal that Luke shows an awareness of Matthew's infancy narrative. Together, they unpack the reasons Luke had for 're-writing' Matthew's nativity and explore why Luke composed his birth story in the way that he did.  Helen K. Bond is Professor of Christian Origins at the University of Edinburgh. She is a leading scholar of the historical Jesus and early Christianity, with particular expertise in the Roman and Jewish contexts of the Gospels, especially the trial and death of Jesus. Among her many contributions are Pontius Pilate in History and Interpretation, The Historical Jesus: A Guide for the Perplexed and most recently The First Biography of Jesus: Genre and Meaning in Mark's Gospel.  SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Birth Stories in the Ancient World

48 min

How did ancient biographies narrate the births of their subjects? In this episode, Helen and Lloyd are joined in the Time Machine by Dr Caleb Friedeman, who has set out to explore how biographers described their subject’s infancy. Contrary to modern readers, who often read birth account in ancient lives as works of myth and theology rather than history, Friedeman argues that ancient biographers described the births of their heroes with serious historiographic intent. As we approach Christmas, Helen and Lloyd ask Caleb what this might mean for how ancient readers viewed the stories of Jesus’ birth in Matthew and Luke.  Caleb T. Friedeman is David A. Case Chair of Biblical Studies at Ohio Christian University. He is the author of The Revelation of the Messiah: The Christology Mystery of Luke 1-2 and Its Unveiling in Luke-Acts (SNTSMS 181) and his new book is Gospel Birth Narratives: Reopening a Closed Case (Baylor University Press, 2025) which explores historiographical elements in ancient birth stories.   SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

How Mary Was Lost

47 min

At the beginning of advent, Helen and Lloyd sit down with Dr James Tabor to discuss the best-known and least-known woman in history: Mary, the mother of Jesus. They explore how second-century Christians reshaped Mary’s story and obscured the historical woman behind the traditions. They also unpack the rumours surrounding Jesus’ paternity, the emergence of Mary’s perpetual virginity and the long-debated identity of Jesus’ brothers and sisters.  Dr James Tabor is a retired Professor of Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he taught from 1989 until 2022. He is well known for his 2006 book, The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, his Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity and his most recent book, which Helen and Lloyd discuss on this episode, is The Lost Mary: Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus. SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Women's Health in the New Testament World

41 min

In this episode, Helen and Lloyd step into the fascinating world of women’s health in the New Testament world. With help from Professor Laurence Totelin, they explore who provided care, how medicine related to magic, and what medicinal recipes a first-century woman might employ. Along the way, they revisit the woman with chronic bleeding in Mark 5, asking what ancient medical assumptions stand behind her treatments.  Laurence Totelin is Professor of Ancient History in School of History, Archaeology and Religion at the University of Cardiff, specialising in Greek and Roman medicine, particularly women’s health, reproduction, and botanical knowledge. She is the author of Hippocratic Recipes (2009), the co-author of Ancient Botany (2018), and is known for her public scholarship on ancient reproductive and cosmetic practices. SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Manichaeism – An Ancient Faith Rediscovered

41 min

In this episode, Lloyd fires up the Biblical Time Machine with Professor Nicholas Baker-Brian, and they travel back to third-century Persia to meet one of antiquity’s most fascinating and misunderstood figures: Mani, the visionary behind the global religion we now call Manichaeism. They ask: who was Mani, what are the sources for his life, and what do we know about the ancient faith which bears his name?  Nicholas Baker-Brian is Professor of Late Antique Studies in School of History, Archaeology and Religion at the University of Cardiff. He has published widely on religion in late global antiquity, and is one of the world’s leading experts in the study of Manichaeism. Today on the show Lloyd discusses Professor Baker-Brian’s 2011 book, Manichaeism: An Ancient Faith Rediscovered, which is a scholarly yet accessible introduction to Manichaeism, published by T&T Clark in 2011. SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

How the Death Penalty Came to Die

38 min

What happened when the laws of Moses were translated into Greek? In this episode, we journey from Sinai to Alexandria with Dr Joel Korytko, whose book The Death of the Covenant Code uncovers how Jewish translators in the third century BCE re-imagined Israel’s laws for a Greek-speaking world. Together with Helen Bond and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, Joel reveals how death penalties quietly disappeared in the Greek Exodus, and what these changes reveal about Jewish life under Greek rule. This is a story of law, language, and the authority of Scripture in a fast-changing world.  Dr Joel Korytko is Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at Northwest College | Seminary. He completed his DPhil at the University of Oxford, where his research explored how Jewish translators adapted biblical law for a Hellenistic audience. His book, The Death of the Covenant Code (Brill, 2022), examines how the laws of Exodus were reshaped in the Old Greek translation in light of Graeco-Egyptian legal traditions. Joel is also co-authoring a forthcoming commentary on Exodus for the Society of Biblical Literature Commentary on the Septuagint series. SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

The Haunted House of Early Christianity

40 min

What if the earliest Christians believed the world around them was teeming with invisible forces waiting to invade the human body? This Halloween, Biblical Time Machine delves into early Christian ideas of demons with Dr Travis Proctor, Associate Professor of Religion at Wittenberg University. His book, Demonic Bodies and the Dark Ecologies of Early Christian Discourse (OUP, 2022) reveals that demons were not just ghosts or spirits—but embodied, contaminating presences that could bring sickness, impurity, and spiritual ruin. In the Time Machine, they explore how Christians imagined demons, what they believed demons were made of, where demons lurked, and how demonic contamination shaped ancient understandings of purity, health, and the human body. Along the way, Travis reveals why haunted houses aren’t just a modern Halloween invention—and which early Christian writer had the strangest ideas about demons. SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Persian Myth-Making in the Hebrew Bible

46 min

How did Persian mythology seep into the texts of the Hebrew Bible? In this week's Biblical Time Machine, Helen and Lloyd are joined by Professor Mark Leuchter, who has recently argued that the 'dynastic myth-making' of the Persian Achaemenid rulers left its mark on Second Temple Jewish texts. Drawing on cognitive science, postcolonial theory, ancient letters and iconography, Mark guides us through the complex world of Persian myth-making and its effects on the Hebrew Bible.  Mark Leuchter is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism and Director of Jewish Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia. His publications include The Levites and the Boundaries of Israelite Identity (Oxford University Press, 2017) and more recently An Empire Far And Wide: The Achaemenid Dynastic Myth and Jewish Scribes in the Late Persian Period (Oxford University Press, 2024). He is one of the editors of the New Oxford Bible Commentary and is an executive board member of the Canadian Society for Biblical Studies.  If you would like to gain a sense of the ancient Persian empire – the largest of its time – check out this map from our friends at SBL Bible Odyssey.  SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

When Kings Were Gods

37 min

What did it mean to call a king “divine”? In this episode, Helen and Lloyd travel back to the ancient Near East — where kings were not just rulers but sacred figures and “sons of God.” They are joined by Dr Dylan Johnson, who explores how ancient peoples blurred the lines between human and divine authority, and how lawgiving, wisdom, and kingship became intertwined in their understanding of the cosmos. Dr Dylan Johnson is Lecturer in Ancient Near Eastern History at Cardiff University’s School of History, Archaeology and Religion. His research explores how law, power, and divinity intertwined in the ancient world. He is the author of Sovereign Authority and the Elaboration of Law in the Bible and the Ancient Near East (Mohr Siebeck, 2020), and his forthcoming book, Lawgiving in the Ancient Near East (Cambridge University Press), continues his investigation into how divine and royal authority shaped early legal traditions. SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

John – The Fourth Synoptic Gospel?

43 min

Since the mid-twentieth century, it has been routine for scholars to see John as independent of the Synoptics – Matthew, Mark and Luke. Yet a recent book by Professor Mark Goodacre suggests that John should be read as the fourth and final 'Synoptic' gospel which knew and used all of the Synoptics. Join Helen and Lloyd in the Biblical Time Machine as they explore Goodacre's case. Learn about John's dramatic transformation of the Synoptics, the way his Gospel 'presupposes' the earlier texts, and the payoff of Goodacre's argument for John's authorship and date.  Mark S. Goodacre is Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins in the Religious Studies Department at Duke University, North Carolina. He is the author of the classic volumes: The Case Against Q (2002) and Thomas and the Gospels (2012). His most recent book, fresh off the press, is The Fourth Synoptic Gospel: John's Knowledge of Matthew, Mark and Luke (Eerdmans, 2025), For more from Goodacre, check out his previous appearance on the Biblical Time Machine on SBL's Bible Odyssey and his own incredible NT Pod.  SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Heroic Bodies in the Hebrew Bible

42 min

Esau's hairiness, David's ruddiness, Saul's great height. We tend not to pay much attention to these details, but small bodily features in the Hebrew Bible can reveal a character's whole narrative arc. Join Helen and Lloyd in the Biblical Time Machine, as they explore what it meant to look like a hero in ancient Israel. Their guest this week is Brian R. Doak, Professor of Biblical Studies and Vice President of George Fox Digital at George Fox University. A specialist in the Hebrew Bible and the cultures of the Ancient Near East, his research explores how ancient texts, archaeology, inscriptions, and iconography illuminate the world of Israel. He is the author of Ancient Israel’s Neighbours (OUP, 2020) and Heroic Bodies in Ancient Israel (OUP, 2019).  For more on biblical bodies, check out SBL's Bible Odyssey entry on bodies.  SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE  If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

Jesus the Exorcist

36 min

Exorcisms on the big screen are terrifying – but what did exorcisms mean in first-century Palestine? Join Helen and Lloyd in the Biblical Time Machine as they uncover the strange world of Greek magical papyri, the Dead Sea Scrolls and charismatic figures viewed as magicians. Joining them in the Time Machine is Professor Graham Twelftree, a leading Jesus historian, who argues that Jesus was perceived in his own lifetime as an exorcist.  Graham H. Twelftree is Professor Emeritus of New testament Theology and Early Christianity at the School of Divinity, Regent University in Virginia, and Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the London School of Theology. His many works include Jesus the Exorcist: A Contribution to the Study of the Historical Jesus (1991), Jesus the Miracle Worker and Paul and the Miraculous, and edited volumes such as The Nature Miracles of Jesus: Problems, Perspectives and Prospects and The Cambridge Companion to Miracles.  SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE  If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. 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 Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

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