Join Dave and Helen 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 Testame...
Josephus will always be our pal, but it's time to meet another super-important ancient Jewish writer: Philo of Alexandria. Living in the vibrant intellectual hub of 1st-century Alexandria, Philo applied Greco-Roman philosophical ideas to the Hebrew Bible and wrote some of the first books about biblical interpretation. Today Helen and Dave Learn all about Philo and the remarkable city of ancient Alexandria with guest Maren Neihoff, author of Philo of Alexandria: An Intellectual Biography.MORE FROM BIBLE ODYSSEY"Alexandria""Alexandria and Allegory""Philo, Clement & Origen"JOIN US FOR THE BTM BOOK CLUBThe next meeting of the Biblical Time Machine Book Club will be Saturday, February 22 at 12pm Eastern / 5pm UK. We'll be discussing a fascinating scholarly article by Nathanael Vette, who was the guest on our episode about Judaism and the Gospels After 70 CE. To join us live, become a member of the Time Travelers Club!SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINEIf you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting the show through the Time Travelers 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 BIOGRAPHYCheck 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 showTheme music written and performed by Dave Roos
--------
1:08:42
The Madness of King Nebuchadnezzar
To the authors of the Hebrew Bible, King Nebuchadnezzar was a grade-A jerk. In the 6th century BCE, he and his army sacked Jerusalem, destroyed the First Temple and carried the Judahites into exile in Babylon. All of that stuff actually happened, but things really start to get wild in the book of Daniel. In that much later text, Nebuchadnezzar goes mad, grows feathers and eats grass for 7 years. Where did that colorful story come from and does it have any basis in reality? Today's guest Peter Atkins has some pretty intriguing theories! Peter is the author of The Animalising Affliction of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4: Reading Across the Human-Animal Boundary.JOIN US FOR THE BTM BOOK CLUBThe next meeting of the Biblical Time Machine Book Club will be Saturday, February 22 at 12pm Eastern / 5pm UK. We'll be discussing a fascinating scholarly article by Nathanael Vette, who was the guest on our episode about Judaism and the Gospels After 70 CE. To join us live, become a member of the Time Travelers Club! SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINEIf you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting the show through the Time Travelers 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 BIOGRAPHYCheck 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 showTheme music written and performed by Dave Roos
--------
42:37
What Was Travel Like in Biblical Times?
Did Roman roads have rest stops? How bad were the snacks on a sea voyage across the Mediterranean? Did Paul get frequent sailor miles? On today's episode, we answer all of your questions about travel in the ancient world. Our guest (live from an Egyptian desert) is Robert Cioffi, who wrote a terrific article titled "Travel in the Roman World." You can also check out Rob's latest book, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Greek Novel: Between Representation and Resistance.SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINEIf you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting the show through the Time Travelers 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 BIOGRAPHYCheck 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 showTheme music written and performed by Dave Roos
--------
47:25
A Historian's Take on Josephus and 'The Jewish War'
Today's guest, historian Steve Mason, has called Josephus's The Jewish War "perhaps the most influential non-biblical text of Western history." And he's got a point! Read alongside the Bible, The Jewish War tells the "rest of the story" — specifically, how the Romans came to destroy the Temple in 70 CE. The trouble is, The Jewish War isn't "history" in the modern sense. It's a narrative written to make moral arguments about "good" and "bad" leaders in both Jerusalem and Rome. In today's episode, Mason explains how historians like himself try to reconstruct the past from a wide variety of sources, not just narrative.To learn much (much) more, check out some of Steve's excellent books:A History of the Jewish War, AD 66-74 (2016)Josephus and the New Testament (2002)Jews and Christians in the Roman World: From Historical Method to Cases (2023)SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINEIf you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting the show through the Time Travelers Club, our Patreon. We love making the show, but since we don't run ads we rely on listener contributions to cover our costs. Please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a $5/month subscription.DOWNLOAD OUR STUDY GUIDE: MARK AS ANCIENT BIOGRAPHYCheck 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 showTheme music written and performed by Dave Roos
--------
1:07:56
Real Time Travel with Ancient Papyri
Of course Helen and Dave have a fully functioning, very real Time Machine. But if you can't wait your turn (the line is ridiculously long), check out "documentary papyri." These scraps of ancient writing — letters, legal documents, shopping lists — offer a firsthand glimpse into everyday life in the 1st century CE. Even better, scholars like our guest Christina Kreinecker use clues from these ancient everyday texts to illuminate thorny passages of the New Testament. Check out Christina's book (co-edited with John S. Kloppenborg and James R. Harrison) Everyday Life in Graeco-Roman Times: Documentary Papyri and the New Testament.SUBSCRIBE AND GET A FREE MUG!Dave's mom has another holiday gift for BTM listeners! The first 5 people to subscribe to the Time Travelers Club will receive a handsome Biblical Time Machine mug courtesy of Arlene Roos. Subscribe today!SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINEIf you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting the show through the Time Travelers Club, our Patreon. We love making the show, but since we don't run ads we rely on listener contributions to cover our costs. Please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a $5/month subscription.DOWNLOAD OUR STUDY GUIDE: MARK AS ANCIENT BIOGRAPHYCheck 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 showTheme music written and performed by Dave Roos
Join Dave and Helen 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.
New Zealand