Did Jesus have to die, or is that not even how we should think about it? And why is blood both a source of holiness and defilement? Also, what do menstruation, “nocturnal emissions” and masturbation have to do with each other in Leviticus? Nate and Tim discuss a few listener questions as well as some of their own.Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.comBecome a member and get:1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month2. All full-length episodes3. Access to our private community of 350+ listenersBecome a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Holiness and purity were two of the central concerns of the entire Levitical system. Neither were moral categories, but rather had to do with something like chemical states. In this episode, Nate and Tim discuss the idea of holiness and how the New Testament authors believed the gospel was that Jesus had made the world holy.Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.comBecome a member and get:1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month2. All full-length episodes3. Access to our private community of 350+ listenersBecome a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many of us are rethinking faith and leaving old beliefs behind, but how do we get healthy? Nate and Tim talk with Dr. Hillary McBride about what it actually takes to build new community, how to deal with the trauma our bodies carry, why maintaining relationships with people from our past can be so hard, and much more.Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.comBecome a member and get:1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month2. All full-length episodes3. Access to our private community of 350+ listenersBecome a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why all the blood in the Old Testament? There is actually an important bit of ancient science underlying the whole idea of sacrifice and atonement. Also, what happens if we just can’t believe that science?Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.comBecome a member and get:1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month2. All full-length episodes3. Access to our private community of 350+ listenersBecome a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why sacrifice animals? Why send some people outside the camp? Why all the rules? Nate and Tim discuss how the threat of viral contagion is the primary principal underlying the Levitical system, and how that is why the Torah talks so much about separation and mixture. When anything comes into contact with something “unclean”, the defilement spreads. Therefore, prevention, quarantine and cleansing are the name of the game. But is it possible there’s even more going on? Is it possible something could be so holy that it cannot be defiled? And what if that is precisely how the gospels depict Jesus?Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.comBecome a member and get:1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month2. All full-length episodes3. Access to our private community of 350+ listenersBecome a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What all is required in order to camp out with God? And what is holiness anyway? Nate and Tim discuss all this and more, including why there are so many long lists of detailed instructions in the Torah and how to read them. Also, what do the golden calf, Nadab and Abihu, and the tragedy of Uzzah and the cart all have in common?Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.comBecome a member and get:1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month2. All full-length episodes3. Access to our private community of 350+ listenersBecome a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the 1-year anniversary of the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh, we sit down with Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg. What constitutes a good apology? How do we appreciate both forgiveness and justice at the same time? And what can we learn from the Jewish tradition about how to disagree, change our minds, and embrace both the old and the new? Also, we get into how Jesus might have actually been a Pharisee.Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.comBecome a member and get:1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month2. All full-length episodes3. Access to our private community of 350+ listenersBecome a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you know that Adam and Eve worked as security guards in the Garden of Eden? And what does it mean to be a priest? And once again, why is there a snake in the garden? Nate and Tim discuss the role of priests and how Genesis 2 depicts Adam as a priest representing Israel.Get the SECOND PART of this episode on Utterly Heretical, just for supporters of the show. You can listen to that here!Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.comBecome a member and get:1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month2. All full-length episodes3. Access to our private community of 350+ listenersBecome a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are we supposed to be afraid of God? Why did the ancient Israelites fear the Lord? What was it that scared them exactly? Nate and Tim discuss how we may have gotten this all very wrong for a long time and maybe we shouldn’t be so scared after all.Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.comBecome a member and get:1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month2. All full-length episodes3. Access to our private community of 350+ listenersBecome a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The New Testament claims Jesus is helping reconcile humanity and God, but why were they ever separated in the first place? Does God want to separate from us because we’re awful, or is there something entirely different going on? Nate and Tim discuss the biblical authors’ surprising assumptions about why God is so distant and what is actually required to bridge the gap.Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email almostheretical@gmail.comBecome a member and get:1. Bonus episodes of Utterly Heretical (our private podcast) every month2. All full-length episodes3. Access to our private community of 350+ listenersBecome a member: almostheretical.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices