The Bloody Bible Podcast The Bloody Bible Podcast

In this episode, Em and Caz look at the ways the Bible can be used – or misused – to justify intolerance of transgender and genderqueer lives and identities. They cast a critical eye on some biblical texts that are commonly cited in transphobic discourse, before moving on to explore other texts, which appear to affirm and celebrate the value of gender diversity.

In this episode, Em and Caz take a closer look at what the Bible says about Judas – a biblical character whose name has become synonymous with betrayal. They explore some of the things that are left unclear about Judas in the biblical texts, especially his motivations for betraying Jesus and the significance of his response to Jesus’s arrest. Along the way, they explore the themes of betrayal and remorse that are central to Judas’s character, and consider how these also play out in real-life cases of crime and criminality.

In this episode, Caz and Em take a closer look at the infamous figure of Jezebel, queen of Israel and scourge of the prophet Elijah. They explore how Jezebel’s intersecting identities as a powerful female foreign leader shape her representations in the Hebrew Bible and in New Testament texts. They also consider the ways that her reception over the centuries has operated to perpetuate misogynistic and racist stereotypes about women’s sexuality.

In this episode, Em and Caz discuss the disturbing theme of child sacrifice in the Bible. They investigate its significance and occurrence in a number of biblical texts from both the Old and New Testaments. Along the way, they discuss how these ‘texts of terror’ resonate with contemporary discourses of gender-based violence and child abuse, as well as the metaphorical ‘sacrifice’ of children to toxic political discourse.

In this episode, Caz and Em explore how the Bible is used to validate evangelical Christian teachings about sexual purity. Taking a deep dive into one purity-promoting ‘self-help’ book, they assess how the book’s sexual purity teachings undermine women’s sexual agency, equate female sexuality with sin and shame, and promote harmful myths about sexual violence.

In this episode, Em and Caz focus on the story of Hagar, an enslaved woman who was used by her enslavers, Abraham and Sarah, to bear a child for them [Genesis 16, 21]. They discuss Hagar’s experience as a victim of sexual subjugation at the hands of both Abraham and Sarah, and try to deconstruct Sarah’s underlying motives for her complicity in Hagar’s victimisation. Along the way, they talk about the contemporary phenomenon of enslavement, as well as some recent cases of powerful women orchestrating sexual violence.