For our final Easter episode, Helen and Dave tackle the biggest Easter "baddie" of them all, Judas Iscariot. Everyone knows that Judas betrayed Jesus, but... did he? The gospels, as usual, each put their own twist on Judas, and there's compelling evidence that the character of Judas may have been borrowed from an earlier betrayal tradition involving King David. To clear it all up, we welcome special guest Paul Middleton, professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Chester. 

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For centuries, historians have been trying to pinpoint the exact date of the Crucifixion, but biblical math is tricky! As Helen and Dave explain in today's third Easter episode, the gospels aren't in agreement on when Jesus died. Did different  traditions about Jesus's death and resurrection exist in the ancient world? Or do the different dates reflect different theological messages that the gospel authors were trying to send? As usual, we get to the bottom of it (or at least come to some moderately satisfying conclusions). 

• Read Helen's great article: "Dating the Death of Jesus"
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In the second of four Easter episodes, Helen and Dave investigate the historical Pontius Pilate (or "Ponty P" as Helen calls him). What was Pilate's job in Roman-ruled Judaea? Was Jesus the only controversial messiah figure that Pilate had to contend with? And most importantly, how did Pilate end up buried at the bottom of a lake in Switzerland? 

• Read Helen's excellent book: Pontius Pilate in History and Interpretation 
• See if you can catch the BTM debut of Helen's dog, Tessa, who briefly barks her approval in the background. Thanks, Tessa...
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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos

This Easter season, Helen and Dave are doing a series of episodes on the fascinating figures that appear in the Passion narratives of Jesus's trial, crucifixion and resurrection.  First up is Joseph Caiaphas, the High Priest of the Jerusalem Temple who — according to two of the gospels, at least — presided over the Jewish council that handed Jesus over to Pontius Pilate.

What was the role of the High Priest in the 1st century? Why would Caiaphas have perceived Jesus as a threat, religiously or politically? Helen will explain it all! To learn even more, read Helen's excellent book, Caiaphas: Friend of Rome and Judge of Jesus?

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The modern Bible on your bookshelf is the product of centuries of human engagement with really (really!) old texts. Some of the oldest Greek manuscripts of individual books of the New Testament contain "scribbles" in the margins — commentaries, corrections and the occasional doodle.  Garrick Allen is fascinated by these "paratexts," all of the extra stuff in  manuscripts that show how ancient readers have shaped the scriptures we have today. We're thrilled to have Garrick as our special guest for this installment of Biblical Time Machine. 

• Read Garrick's book: Manuscripts of the Book of Revelation: New Philology, Paratexts, Reception
• Follow Garrick on Twitter
• Email us with your episode suggestions. (We've already received some great ones!)

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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 Context
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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 Judaism
• The Grammar of Messianism: An Ancient Jewish Political Idiom and Its Users

Hey 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 @BibleTimeMach

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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 Jesus
• The Jewish Annotated New Testament
• Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi

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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. 

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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?

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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos