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Biblical Time Machine

Helen Bond & Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
  • 4.6 (194)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Join Helen and Lloyd as they travel back in time (metaphorically… it’s a podcast) to explore the real history of the people, places and events of the Old Testament, New Testament and everything in between.

  1. 3D AGO

    Asherah: The Forgotten Wife of God?

    This week in the Biblical Time Machine, Helen and Lloyd travel back to a time when God had a wife named Asherah... or did he? To help them answer decipher the ancient goddess, our co-hosts enlist the help of Dr Steve Wiggins, a world-leading expert on Asherah. Together, they explore how Asherah came to be associated with the God of Israel, discuss inscriptions and figurines associated with the goddess, and consider why the question of God once having a 'wife' remains so controversial today.  Steve Wiggins earned his PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 1992 and taught Hebrew Bible at Nashotah House Episcopal Seminary from 1992-2004. His revised dissertation, A Reassessment of Asherah: With Further Considerations of the Goddess, was expanded in 2007 and came out as a paperback version in 2025. It is the only full-length treatment of the Ugaritic source material on Asherah, and combines that with comprehensive examination of textual sources from the Hebrew Bible, ancient Mesopotamia, Epigraphic South Arabian sources, Hittite sources, as well as Hebrew inscriptions that may mention the goddess.  SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. DOWNLOAD OUR STUDY GUIDE: MARK AS ANCIENT BIOGRAPHY Check out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." While you're there, get yourself a Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 produced by John Nelson.

    36 min

  2. 12/22/2025

    How Christmas Carols Retell The Nativity

    Every Christmas, Christians sing a nativity story shaped as much by hymnody as by the Gospels themselves. In this Christmas special, Helen and Lloyd take a closer look at four of their favourite Christmas carols to ask the question: how do their depictions of Jesus' birth compare with the gospel accounts? For the first time ever, you will also be able to watch the Biblical Time Machine on YouTube. Subscribe to the Biblical Time Machine channel for upcoming content and conversations, including this conversation between Helen and Lloyd.  For more on the 'Plygain' Christmas tradition, see here.  SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. DOWNLOAD OUR STUDY GUIDE: MARK AS ANCIENT BIOGRAPHY Check out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." While you're there, get yourself a Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 produced by John Nelson.

    43 min

  3. 12/15/2025 · BONUS • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    BONUS: The Birth of John the Baptist

    Luke begins his infancy narrative of Jesus with the birth of John the Baptist – but why? In this exclusive bonus material, Lloyd continues his discussion with Helen about the nativity stories in Matthew and Luke.

    12 min

  4. 12/15/2025

    How Luke Rewrote Matthew's Nativity

    For decades, scholars have thought that Matthew and Luke composed their nativity stories separately, perhaps drawing on some underlying material. Yet in this special advent episode, Lloyd Lewellyn-Jones interviews his co-host Helen Bond about her proposal that Luke shows an awareness of Matthew's infancy narrative. Together, they unpack the reasons Luke had for 're-writing' Matthew's nativity and explore why Luke composed his birth story in the way that he did.  Helen K. Bond is Professor of Christian Origins at the University of Edinburgh. She is a leading scholar of the historical Jesus and early Christianity, with particular expertise in the Roman and Jewish contexts of the Gospels, especially the trial and death of Jesus. Among her many contributions are Pontius Pilate in History and Interpretation, The Historical Jesus: A Guide for the Perplexed and most recently The First Biography of Jesus: Genre and Meaning in Mark's Gospel.  SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. DOWNLOAD OUR STUDY GUIDE: MARK AS ANCIENT BIOGRAPHY Check out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." While you're there, get yourself a Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 produced by John Nelson.

    39 min

  5. 12/08/2025

    Birth Stories in the Ancient World

    How did ancient biographies narrate the births of their subjects? In this episode, Helen and Lloyd are joined in the Time Machine by Dr Caleb Friedeman, who has set out to explore how biographers described their subject’s infancy. Contrary to modern readers, who often read birth account in ancient lives as works of myth and theology rather than history, Friedeman argues that ancient biographers described the births of their heroes with serious historiographic intent. As we approach Christmas, Helen and Lloyd ask Caleb what this might mean for how ancient readers viewed the stories of Jesus’ birth in Matthew and Luke.  Caleb T. Friedeman is David A. Case Chair of Biblical Studies at Ohio Christian University. He is the author of The Revelation of the Messiah: The Christology Mystery of Luke 1-2 and Its Unveiling in Luke-Acts (SNTSMS 181) and his new book is Gospel Birth Narratives: Reopening a Closed Case (Baylor University Press, 2025) which explores historiographical elements in ancient birth stories.   SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. DOWNLOAD OUR STUDY GUIDE: MARK AS ANCIENT BIOGRAPHY Check out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." While you're there, get yourself a Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 produced by John Nelson.

    48 min

  6. 12/08/2025 · BONUS • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Re-telling the Birth of Moses

    In this exclusive bonus episode, Dr Caleb Friedeman unpacks the birth of Moses as re-told by the first-century biographer, Philo of Alexandria

    13 min

  7. 12/01/2025

    How Mary Was Lost

    At the beginning of advent, Helen and Lloyd sit down with Dr James Tabor to discuss the best-known and least-known woman in history: Mary, the mother of Jesus. They explore how second-century Christians reshaped Mary’s story and obscured the historical woman behind the traditions. They also unpack the rumours surrounding Jesus’ paternity, the emergence of Mary’s perpetual virginity and the long-debated identity of Jesus’ brothers and sisters.  Dr James Tabor is a retired Professor of Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he taught from 1989 until 2022. He is well known for his 2006 book, The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, his Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity and his most recent book, which Helen and Lloyd discuss on this episode, is The Lost Mary: Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus. SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE If you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription. DOWNLOAD OUR STUDY GUIDE: MARK AS ANCIENT BIOGRAPHY Check out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." While you're there, get yourself a Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. Support the show Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 produced by John Nelson.

    48 min

  8. 12/01/2025 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    BONUS: Excavating the Historical Mary

    In this exclusive bonus content, Helen and Lloyd ask Dr James Tabor what archaeology can reveal about the historical Mary.

    14 min
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Hosts & Guests

4.6
out of 5
194 Ratings

About

Join Helen and Lloyd as they travel back in time (metaphorically… it’s a podcast) to explore the real history of the people, places and events of the Old Testament, New Testament and everything in between.

Information

  • Creator
    Helen Bond & Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodes
    207
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Biblical Time Machine
  • Show Website
    Biblical Time Machine
  • Provider
    David Roos

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