History in the Bible Podcast

My second ep on the Gnostics. The Valentinians founded a parallel organisation to the imperial church incorporate that caused trouble for centuries.

3.20 Gnowing Me, Gnowing You II: The Crusade of Valentinus Unlike the Sethian Gnostics, the Valentinian Gnostics are clearly rooted in Christianity. They were founded by Valentinus, an Egyptian who may have stood for the bishopric of Rome. Valentinus founded a popular crusade that borrowed from the Sethians and the apostle Paul. The movement produced a copi...

Until the late 19th century, the Gnostic works were known only from their opponents, who regarded them as aberrant and vile Christians. Discoveries since then have uncovered a wealth of Gnostic literature. The Gnostics are now usually divided into two groups: Sethians and Valentinians. The Sethians are the older. Many scholars hold that their roots are in Second Temple Judaism, not Christianity.

3.19 Gnowing Me, Gnowing You I: The Children of Seth Until the late 19th century, the Gnostic works were known only from their opponents, who regarded them as aberrant and vile Christians.  Discoveries since then have uncovered a wealth of Gnostic literature. The Gnostics are now usually divided into two groups: Sethians and Valentinians. The Set...

In this bonus episode, Gil Kidron of a Podcast of Biblical Proportions and I wade into biblical chronology.

Bonus 44: Biblical Chronology with Gil Kidron I In this bonus episode, Gil Kidron of a Podcast of Biblical Proportions and I wade into biblical chronology.

In the second century, there were three groups of Jewish-leaning Jesus clubs: the Johhanines, the Nazoreans, and the Ebionities. These had either vanished or been absorbed into gentile Christanity by the year 200.
While that was happening, the Christian movement came to the attention of the imperial authorities. Writing in 110, governor Pliny only knew they seemed to be vaguely seditious, and had depraved practices, such as meeting before dawn. Forty years later, Christians had gained an appalling reputation. They refused to participate in any of the state rituals that bonded the emperor, the people, and the state to the gods. They were unpatriotic. Even worse, they were wicked sexual deviants with barbaric rituals. The Romans viewed them as witches.
I finish the episode by introducing the earliest Christian apologies, books written to defend the faith from the calumnies made against it.

3.18 Christians Under the Roman Gaze In the second century, there were three groups of Jewish-leaning Jesus clubs: the Johhanines, the Nazoreans, and the Ebionities. These had either vanished or been absorbed into gentile Christanity by the year 200. While that was happening, the Christian movement came to the attention of the imperial...

My second ep on the early rabbis, focussing on the enigmatic Mishnah. The Mishnah is nothing like any Jewish literature produced in the previous five centuries. Enigmatic, indeed.

3.17 Quest for the Rabbis II: The Mishnah The Mishnah is the first great product of the rabbis. Traditionally it was codified around 200 CE by Rabbi Yehuda naNasi. It appears from nowhere. The Mishnah bears no resemblance to anything in the Tanakh/Old Testament, nor in the vast Jewish apocalyptic literature of preceding centuries. 

In this ep, I search for the origins of the rabbis. The sad truth is, we have almost no information. It is all very frustrating. Still, I do my best.

3.16 Quest for the Rabbis I: Origins The origins of the rabbis, dated to the second century CE, are shrouded in fog, for reasons we do not understand. Why did the Jews cease writing histories after the year 100? Why do we have no histories from the Babylonian Jews. Where did the Mishnah, the foundational document of Rabbinic thought, d...

My new ep was very difficult to write and record. This is not easy listening. It deals with the Kitos War of 116 AD/CE and Bar Kosiva's (aka Bar Kochkva's) revolt of 132 CE.

The Kitos war was a unique event in Jewish history, and so horrific that some deny it ever happened. I am fortunate enough to have one of the few monographs written about the horror, by a professor at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

3.15 Tumultus Iudaeorum On the death of Herod the Great in 4 BCE, the Judean state was a prosperous, self-governed, and stable kingdom. It was Rome’s best buddy in the Levant, with territories extending beyond the Jordan and into Syria. Thriving Jewish communities could be found from Spain to Egypt. Over a span 70 years,...

My second ep about the apostolic fathers, those who followed the disciples. Here I discuss the anonymous authors of the epistle of Barnabas, the gospel of Peter, and the Shepherd of Hermas. And the famously long-lived Bishop Polycarp, the man who joined the disciples to the fathers of the imperial church: : Justin Martyr and Irenaeus. amongst others.

3.14 After the Apostles II: Holy Books and Blessed Bishops My second ep about the apostolic fathers, those who followed the disciples. Here I discuss the anonymous authors of the epistle of Barnabas, the gospel of Peter, and the Shepherd of Hermas. All of them were candidates for inclusion in the New Testament. We should be grateful that the virulent anti-J...

In mid-February 2022 there was a big stuff-up on my feed concerning a bonus ep on the OT prophets, Malachi and Joel.

That was my fault. When I uploaded the Malachi and Joel ep, I got the intended release date (mid-March 2022) wrong. I realised the error in just a few minutes. I immediately changed the release date, but for reasons unknown my podcast hoster stuffed up my rss feed.

I have now deleted the ep from my feed entirely, in an attempt to fix the error. With any luck, it will disappear from Apple and Google in a few days.

Sorry about that!

And we are back with the main narrative. In episode 3.13 I introduce the generation after the disciples, the Apostolic Fathers.

3.13 After the Apostles I: Out of the Mist By the year 70, all of the disciples save perhaps John, were dead. Their inheritors are traditionally known as the Apostolic fathers, although many scholars would object to that appellation. I explore the fathers in this and the next episode. In this show I present the very earliest: Bishop Clement....

In this bonus episode, Gil Kidron and Rutger Vos graciously invite me on to their long-running show Pod Academy. In this bonus we discuss the 2014 movie Noah, staring Russell Crowe, Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Connelly,Emma Watson, and Ray Winstone. We have a lot of fun.

Bonus 40 Noah: The Movie, with Pod Academy In this bonus episode, Gil Kidron and Rutger Vos graciously invite me on to their long-running show Pod Academy. This show is dedicated to applying a critical intellect to popular media, especially movies or TV series. In this bonus we discuss the 2014 movie Noah, staring Russell Crowe, Anthony Hopk...

Another in my long running series on the Twelve Minor Prophets. Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi are the three post-exilic prophets. In Jewish tradition, they are the last of the prophets. After them, prophecy ceased. Haggai is a pragmatic man relaying God’s words to the Jewish leadership. Although contemporary with Haggai, Zechariah is his polar opposite. Zechariah is off his nut, with the trippiest imagery outside of Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation.

Bonus 39 The Twelve Minor Prophets VI: Haggai and Zechariah Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi are the three post-exilic prophets. In Jewish tradition, they are the last of the prophets. After them, prophecy ceased. Haggai is a pragmatic man relaying God’s words to the Jewish leadership. Although contemporary with Haggai, Zechariah is his polar opposite. Zechar...

A new ep in my continuing series on the Twelve Minor Prophets. This time: Zephaniah (who is not a nice person) and Habakkuk (who is).

Bonus 38 The Twelve Minor Prophets V: Zephaniah and Habakkuk I'm joined by Steve Guerra as we continue our series on the twelve minor Old Testament prophets. Here we tackle Zephaniah and Habakkuk. Both are short. Zephaniah ranted during the last decades of the kingdom of Judea. Zephaniah is doom, doom, doom. Habakkuk tackles with a fundamental problem about G...

I finish my discussion of Revelation, cheekily noting that the book implies that only g**s will go to heaven. The Greek East only grudgingly accepted the book. The book sulked in the shadows of Christianity until the 19th century, incomprehensible and unwanted. British Protestants re-interpreted the book as the veriest key to the whole Bible. That obsession took root in North America.
I also peruse the amusing Acts of John, and the intriguing three letters attributed to John.

3.12 Earliest Christians IV: Conflicts in John’s Community I finish my discussion of Revelation, cheekily asking if the book implies that only g**s will go to heaven. The Greek East only grudgingly accepted the book. The book sulked in the shadows of Christianity until the 19th century, incomprehensible and unwanted. British Protestants re-interpreted the b...

The Johannine community was the fourth of the earliest Christian societies, tracing its origins to the beloved disciple, John son of Zebedee. It produced the most popular gospel, three letters, and the zany book of Revelation. Hear all about it in this new episode.

3.11 Earliest Christians III: John’s Community and Revelation Alongside the Jerusalem Jesus clubs, the clubs founded by Paul and others, and the Thomasines, scholars believe there was a fourth primitive Christian community: the Johannines. This community produced the gospel of John, the letters attributed to John, and Revelation. They traced their foundation t...

We believe there were four distinct early Christian communities: the gentile clubs of Paul, the Jewish clubs of Peter and James, the clubs who followed the writings of Thomas, and clubs attached to the disciple John. In this episode I tackle the first three.

The letter to the Hebrews is the most vigorous exposition of Paul's views and denigration of his own people, the Jews. But the letter never claims Paul as its author. And it's not even a letter.

Various books try to harmonise Paul and Peter.

In Acts, Peter sounds like Paul of the letters, and Paul sounds like Peter of the gospels. Acts may conceal a hostility to Paul in its depiction of Simon Magus.

The pastoral letters move Paul closer to Peter’s views. The two letters of Peter move Peter closer to Paul. The gospel of Thomas and Acts of Thomas show that some communities were attracted to early Gnostic views.

3.10 Earliest Christians II: Paul Against Peter Against Thomas We believe there were four distinct early Christian communities: the gentile clubs of Paul, the Jewish clubs of Peter and James, the clubs who followed the writings of Thomas, and clubs attached to the disciple John. In this episode I tackle the first three. The letter to the Hebrews is the most vig...

My very last ep in Q3 or Q4 of 2021 is going to be a discussion of counterfactuals/what ifs?. A lot of excitement is to be had there!

I've read several collections of counterfactuals by professional historians. They are uniformly dreadful. The historian spends 90% of the essay on what happened, the rest on the conterfactual, and concludes that counterfactual was impossible. That's no fun!

To me, the biggest, wildest what if? is this one:

What if there were no Jewish wars, the Empire had made a new concordat with the Judean polity, and the Temple and Jerusalem never fell?

There are others, that assume the Great Revolt took place (or maybe not?):

What if the Gnostics or the Marcionites had won dominance in the church?

What if the Manichaeans or the Mithraists became the dominant religion in the empire?

What if the Christians has developed a non-hierarchical organisational structure, as rabbinical Judaism did?

Suggestions welcomed.

The earliest Christians had three theological problems to tackle. First, what exactly happened at the resurrection of Jesus? Second, how was Jesus related to God? Third, what happens to people after they die? Hear all about it in my latest ep!

3.9 Earliest Christians I: Deciphering Jesus The earliest Christians had three theological problems to tackle. First, what exactly happened at the resurrection of Jesus? Was his physical body brought back to life? Or was he transformed into an immortal spiritual body? Perhaps he never had a mortal body in the first place. Second, how was Jesus...

A new ep, in which I investigate the two earliest Christian communities we know about: the Judean clubs run from Jerusalem by James and Peter, and the pagan clubs founded by Paul and others.

3.8 After the Temple II: The Christians I look at the two earliest Christian communities we know about: the Judean clubs run from Jerusalem by James and Peter, and the pagan clubs founded by Paul and others. I also have excursions into why women lost their positions of authority in Paul's clubs, the gospel according to the Hebrews, and ho...

In this bonus episode, Gil and Omri of a Podcast of Biblical Proportions engage with me about the patriarchs

Bonus 37 The Patriarchs with A Podcast of Biblical Proportions In this bonus episode I am joined by Omri and Gil of the rambunctious podcast “A Podcast of Biblical Proportions” for a discussion about the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and a little bit about Joseph. Theme music "Inspiring Teaser" by Rafael Krux, https://filmmusic.io/song/5672-inspiring-te...

The Temple has been burnt to the ground. Jerusalem is a wreck. The signficance of all that would not really hit the Jews for another two generations. In this ep, we meet the early rabbinic heroes, ben Zakkai and a bush of Gamaliels. Also the last of the old Judaic literature, the apocalypses and testaments. With a sidebar on how the Romans accidentally created the first formal distinction between Jews and Christians.

3.7 After the Temple I: The Judeans The rabbis now make their appearance: the heroes ben Zakkai and more Gamaliels than you can shake a stick at. Scholars grudgingly hold they are rebranded Pharisees, but they are willing to change their minds. The Romans diverted the old Temple tithe paid by the diaspora into a new tax, the fiscus Ju...

It's time for another episode in Steve and Garry's mini-series about the 12 minor Old Testament prophets. Micah is the chirpiest of the prophets, a favourite amongst both Christians and Jews. No one loves the frothing ravings of Nahum.

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/historyinthebible/HIB_3_Bonus_36_Michah_and_Nahum.mp3

Today's ep is the most disheartening I have ever written, a brief history of the Judean Great Revolt against Rome.
The Judeans proved to be effective fighters, easily dispatching the initial Roman response.
The Romans withdrew and regrouped. That gave Judea seven months to prepare for Roman retaliation. During that interlude, Judea instead erupted into a vicious civil war.
Judean militias attacked and betrayed each other. They acted as though the Romans were the least of their problems. They murdered countless numbers of their countrymen in Jerusalem, and starved the rest.
The Great Revolt ended up as a self-inflicted tragedy.

3.6 The Great Revolt II: A Civil War within a Rebellion The Great Revolt of 66 AD/CE began as a protest against Rome's failure to protect the Judeans from their ancient foes. The Judeans proved to be effective fighters, easily dispatching the initial Roman response. The Romans withdrew and regrouped. That gave Judea seven months to prepare for Roman reta...

Now out is Bonus 35, conversation with the chaps behind the show "A Podcast of Biblical Proportions". They don't have a FB page, but you can tweet them at .

Bonus 35 In conversation with A Podcast of Biblical Proportions In this bonus episode I am joined by Omri Harel and Gil Kidron of the rambunctious podcast “A Podcast of Biblical Proportions” for a rambling discussion about things biblical.

Latest ep, on the background and dramatis personae of the Great Judean Revolt of 66 AD/CE.

I have never been impressed by the traditional stories that historians told to explain the revolt. All too vague: religious fanaticism, messianic expectations, factional conflict. No one really had a convincing way to explain why the Judeans revolted. After all, the relationship between the Judeans and the Roman state had been strong and stable for a century, from the time of Herod the Great. What happened?

Very recently, historians have constructed a convincing explanation for the origins of the revolt, and why it broke out precisely when it did. Hear all about it:

3.5 The Great Revolt I: Lighting the Fuse The backstory and background of the first of the three Judean revolts, the Great Revolt of 66 AD/CE. This revolt destroyed the Temple, extinguished the ancient religion of the Tanakh/Old Testament, and relegated the Jerusalem Jesus club, the foundational church of Christianity, to the margins. Both....

In the fourth episode of the season, I explore how the Seleucid empire revolutionised the concept of time. This invention opened up the possibility that one day time would end, a concept hitherto unknown (no, the Mayans said no such thing). The Jews ran with it, creating a rich literature of the end-of-times. And after them the Christians. Hear all about it... https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/historyinthebible/HIB_3-04_Before_the_Great_Revolt_II_The_Christians.mp3

3.4 Before the Great Revolt II: The Apocalyptic Christians In this show I discuss the state of the Christians on the verge of the Great Revolt in 66 CE/AD. The Seleucid empire created a new way of conceptualising time. This provided the Jews with the intellectual tool to create a new body of literature, the apocalypse. The apocalypses solve a vexing theolog...

I'd like to thank the wonderful, wonderful people at jewishLIVE Connect, Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg, for inviting me back for their second ShavuotLive (2021) for a conversation with Benay Lappe. This was a massive undertaking, a continuous 30 hours of Jewish learning for Shavuot (Festival of Weeks, co-opted by Christians as Pentecost). You can find recordings of the whole show at the link below. I modestly appear in Part One, at the 4 hour mark.
https://www.jewishlive.org/shavuotlive-2021-replay

ShavuotLIVE 2021 - Full Recording — JewishLIVE ShavuotLIVE 2021: ReplayShavuotLIVE 2021 was a 30-hour digital celebration of Jewish learning. We welcomed over 1,000 people, through Zoom, our jewishLIVE website, and Facebook. Rewatch this incredible event by clicking the videos below! You can find any individual presentation of ShavuotLIVE via th...

Here is the third episode of season three. This is the first of two shows that set the stage for the Judean Great Revolt of 66 AD/CE.
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/historyinthebible/HIB_3-03_Before_the_Great_Revolt_I_The_Judeans.mp3

3.3 Before the Great Revolt I: The Judeans The Jews living in the Roman empire had many privileges that allowed them to practice their religion in peace and security. They were even allowed to avoid their patriotic duties of service to the state. The Romans favoured the province of Judea under the House of Herod, appointing it the peacekeepe...

The second part in a series of bonus episodes on the 12 minor prophets. This time, the two earliest prophets: Amos and Hosea.

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/historyinthebible/HIB_3_Bonus_33_Amos_and_Hosea.mp3

Bonus 33 The Twelve Minor Prophets II: Amos and Hosea In this bonus episode, Steve Guerra and I continue our series on the twelve minor Old Testament prophets. Here we tackle Amos and Hosea. Amos is the perfect pocket prophet. Amos gives you everything you want in a prophet, in a easily digestible form. On the other hand, his near contemporary Hosea is...

Second episode now up, thankfully with the audio problems of episode one fixed. Phew!

From now on, I can guarantee a new episode on my old schedule, every three weeks. And bonus shows.

This time, I provide a catch-up on how the Greeks created the world, and influenced the literature, of the world of the Second Temple, a world destroyed by the Great Revolt of 66 CE/AD.

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/historyinthebible/HIB_3-02_Rococo_World_Second_Temple.mp3

3.2 The Rococo World of the Second Temple On the cusp of the Great Revolt in 66, the little province of Judea had spent centuries under Hellenistic influence. Under this influence, Jewish thinkers produced a luxuriant literature in modes and genres unknown to the Tanakh/Old Testament. Theme music "Inspiring Teaser" by Rafael Krux, https://f...