Biblical Time Machine

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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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

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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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

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
• Enjoying Biblical Time Machine? Rate and review us on your favorite podcast app
• Email us with episode suggestions!

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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

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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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

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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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

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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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

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, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

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. 

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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

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.  

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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson. 

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 show

Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson.