Biblical Time Machine

The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament is nearly silent on the lives of ordinary women in the ancient world. Thankfully, we have intriguing clues from archeology and ethnography that help piece together  women's lives more than 3,000 years ago.  Special guest Carol Meyers doesn't think that Ancient Israelite society was a strict patriarchy — despite troublesome verses like the so-called "curse of Eve" — but that women exercised important economic, social, and ritual functions in home and village life. Read Carol's book: Rediscovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in ContextEnjoying Biblical Time Machine? Rate and review us on your favorite podcast appEmail us with episode suggestions!Support the showTheme music written and performed by Dave Roos

Return guest Matthew Novenson drops some absolute bombs in this eye-opening episode about messiahs.  Pretty much everything you've been told about ancient beliefs about the messiah is wrong (in varying degrees). As Matt patiently explains, many things got lost in translation (and transliteration) from the Hebrew mashiach to the Greek khristos to the English messiah/Christ. But a close reading of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament in their original languages reveals some stunning insights. Don't miss it!While you're here, check out Matt's two excellent books about messiahs:Christ Among the Messiahs:  Christ Language in Paul and Messiah Language in Ancient JudaismThe Grammar of Messianism: An Ancient Jewish Political Idiom and Its UsersHey loyal listeners! If you like the podcast, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. It will help other people find us. Also, we'd love to hear your ideas for future episodes. Send us an email or reach out to us on Twitter @BibleTimeMachSupport the showTheme music written and performed by Dave Roos

It's easy to read the New Testament and think that Jesus's ministry and message ("grace, forgiveness, love") was somehow in stark opposition to Judaism ("the law, justice, purity"). In today's episode, guest Amy-Jill Levine explains how Jesus's teachings, actions and miracles fit squarely within 1st-century Jewish beliefs and practice, and why understanding Jesus's Jewishness is imperative for healing the centuries-old rift between Jews and Christians. Excellent books by Amy-Jill Levine:The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish JesusThe Jewish Annotated New TestamentShort Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial RabbiSupport the showTheme music written and performed by Dave Roos

Discovered in 1946 in abandoned caves in Israel, the Dead Sea Scrolls are by far the oldest copies we have of books from the Hebrew Bible. The ancient horde of scrolls — more than 1,000 — also sheds light on the mysterious community called the Essenes who retreated to the Dead Sea wilderness around the time of Jesus. Helen and Dave are joined by Dead Sea Scroll expert Charlotte Hempel, who challenges some of the conventional assumptions about the Essenes and explains why the millennia-old scrolls are still a really big deal. Support the showTheme music written and performed by Dave Roos

Everybody knows what Jesus looked like—the beard, the flowing locks, the tunic, and of course, the sandals! But incredibly, the Bible doesn't include a single physical description of Jesus... So where did the standard Western image come from, and is any of it historically accurate? Dave and Helen welcome back guest Joan Taylor, who makes a strong case that Western art painted a distorted picture of the real Jesus. Read Joan Taylor's excellent book: What Did Jesus Look Like?Support the showTheme music written and performed by Dave Roos

The Book of Genesis is packed with iconic stories: the Creation, Adam & Eve, Noah's Ark... but where did those ancient tales come from? Yale Assyriologist Eckart Frahm joins Helen and Dave as they set the time machine all the way back to the "Beginning" to explore the intriguing connections between ancient Mesopotamian myth and the "Primeval History" recorded in Genesis. Did ancient Israel borrow some of its origin stories from Babylon? Hear the evidence and decide for yourself. Support the showTheme music written and performed by Dave Roos

Magi and mangers and murderous kings — it must be Christmas! The New Testament tells two very different stories of Jesus's birth, but why? Helen and Dave set the Biblical Time Machine to December 25, Year 1 to discuss why the authors of Matthew and Luke chose to write their own particular versions of the Nativity story, each with important theological and political undertones. And was Jesus even born in Year 1? We'll answer all your Christmas questions.  Support the showTheme music written and performed by Dave Roos

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

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

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