Biblical Time Machine

The Amorites were once an age-defining people, but today they have been largely forgotten. So who were the Amorites, and how does Bible portray them? To take us back to the early Bronze era and the rise of the Amorite age, Helen and Lloyd are joined by the well-fared Time Traveller, Dr Dylan Johnson.

Dr Dylan R. Johnson is a Lecturer in Ancient Near Eastern History at Cardiff University and an expert on all things Mesopotamian. He is the author of Sovereign Authority and the Elaboration of Law in the Bible and the Ancient Near East (2020, Mohr Siebeck) and is writing Lawgiving in the Ancient Near East for Cambridge University Press.

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

As All Hallows' Eve fast approaches, Helen and Lloyd turn their attention to the spookiest episode in the gospel tradition – a story in which the dead are raised and enter Jerusalem (Matthew 27:52-53). The little episode has vexed scholars for centuries and raises many questions: what happened to the saints in between the crucifixion and resurrection? Who were these ‘holy ones’ who went into the city? And how do they fit into Matthew’s narrative as a whole?

To find out what this episode really means, Helen and Lloyd are joined by Dr Nathanael Vette, who has a spooky new theory about the 'resurrected saints', and why Matthew includes them in his gospel. In his forthcoming article, 'Noon of the Living Dead' (CBQ), Nathanael proposes that Matthew's saints should be seen against the backdrop of the 'shades of the dead', a Roman omen that preceded several national calamities, including the brutal murder of Julius Caesar.

Dr Nathanael Vette is Lecturer in New Testament, Gender and the Arts at King's College, London. He is the author of Writing with Scripture: Scripturalized Narrative in the Gospel of Mark (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2022) and co-editor of A Theology of Gratitude: Christian and Muslim Perspectives (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023).

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

For many contemporary readers of the Bible, C.S. Lewis is looked to as an inspiration and authority. The 20th century Oxbridge don, Christian essayist and author of The Chronicles of Narnia wove the Bible into all of his works. But was Lewis a good reader of the Bible? How did Lewis respond to the challenges of New Testament scholarship? And in what ways did Lewis put the Bible to use in his legendary chronicles?

To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Time Machine with New Testament Professor, Leslie Baynes, whose recent book, Between Interpretation and Imagination: C.S. Lewis and the Bible (Eerdmans, 2025) is the first full-length treatment of how C.S. Lewis engaged the Bible.

Leslie Baynes is Professor of Religious Studies at Missouri State University and a translator for the Catholic American Bible (CAB, 2027). She earned her PhD at the University of Notre Dame and is the author of The Heavenly Book Motif in Judeo-Christian Apocalypses 200 BCE – 200 CE (Brill, 2012), among many other contributions to New Testament studies.

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

'O Assyria, the rod of my anger!' So declared the prophet Isaiah of one of the most feared and imposing empires of the ancient world. But who were the Assyrians, and how did they become the world's first empire?

To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Time Machine with Professor Eckart Frahm of Yale University, the author of Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World’s First Empire (2023, YUP). From warfare and imperial ambition to religion and everyday life, they discover together what made Assyria such a formidable civilisation, and how its history sheds new light on the world of the Hebrew Bible.

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

1st October marks the UN's International Day of Older Persons. So this week, Helen and Lloyd took a trip in the Time Machine to visit the Bible's 'Golden Oldies' – some of its oldest, wisest and most memorable characters. They consider what the Bible has to say about growing old, unpack theological readings of old age, and raise the age-old question: how old was Jesus when he began his mission?

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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 is impossible to study the Bible without crashing into the word 'Hellenism', the spread of Greek culture across the ancient world by Alexander (the Great). But who was Alexander, and what do his successors have to do with the Bible? To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Time Machine with Dr Stephen Harrison, an expert on Alexander the Great.

Dr Stephen Harrison is Senior Lecturer in Classics at Swansea University, and a historian of ancient Greece and the ancient Near East, focusing on the sixth to the second centuries BCE, the era of the Achaemenid Empire, Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic kingdoms. He is the author of Achaemenid Kingship, Alexander the Great, and the Early Seleucids (EUP, 2025) as well as a popular life of Alexander, Alexander the Great: Lives and Legacies (Reaktion Books 2025).

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

If there is any biblical book which has something to say about wisdom, it is the Book of Proverbs. But what actually is Proverbs? Who wrote it? And what is its message about what a good life looks like? To get to the bottom of Proverbs, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Time Machine with Dr Ryan O'Dowd.

Ryan O'Dowd is Senior Academic Advisor at Chesterton House, Cornell University. He earned his PhD in Old Testament from the University of Liverpool and his many books include The Wisdom of Torah: Epistemology in Deuteronomy and the Wisdom Literature, a commentary on Proverbs, a co-authored volume, Old Testament Wisdom Literature: A Theological Introduction, and The Preacher's Hebrew Companion to Deuteronomy.

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

Your favourite time travelling podcast is back – for its fifth season!

Join biblical scholar Helen Bond and ancient historian Lloyd Lewellyn-Jones in the Biblical Time Machine as they travel back in time (not very far... to the summer!) and forward for all that lies ahead in Season 5.

Lloyd gives us some hints about what's in store with his upcoming book on the Hittites, and Helen discusses her work on Mary, the mother of Jesus.

If you would like to access our bonus episodes and get the chance to be a backstage guest, consider joining our Time Traveller's Club at http://www.patreon.com/biblicaltimemachine for just $5 a month (think of it as $1.25 per episode!)

Support the show

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

Helen and Lloyd have been on many adventures in the Biblical Time Machine this academic year. Season 4 has taken them across the ancient world – from the great Empires of Babylon and Persia to the early Church and beyond. They’ve explored what daily life was really like in biblical times, and waded into some of the biggest debates in cutting-edge scholarship with the help of leading academics.

In this special episode, Helen and Lloyd look back on the highlights of the season, revisit some of their favourite conversations – and give a sneak-peak into Season 5! As we take a summer break and prepare for the next season, listen back and share with us your favourite moments from our conversations this year!

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

Colossians is chock-full of historical and theological mysteries. Did the apostle Paul really write it? Who were the false teaches troubling the church at Colossae? And was is the meaning of its famous Christological ‘hymn’ – was it truly sung? To get to the bottom of all things Colossians, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Biblical Time Machine with Paul Foster.

Paul Foster is Professor in New Testament Language and Literature at the University of Edinburgh. He has specialised on a range of writings in the New Testament and beyond, in particular the pre-gospel source ‘Q’, the Gospel of Matthew, Thessalonians, the Gospel of Peter and the Apostolic Fathers. His 2016 commentary on Colossoians is part of Black’s New Testament Commentary Series.

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

Babylon is one of the most famous cities and empires in human history. To many people, it conjures images of Hanging Gardens, the Tower of Babel, Nebuchadnezzar, and the exile of the Jewish people. But how much of this is historical fact, and how much of it is later mythology?

To get to the bottom of Babylon, Helen takes a trip in the time machine with our resident ancient historian, Professor Lloyd Lewellyn-Jones.

Helen asks Lloyd about his highly acclaimed new book, Babylon: The Mother of All Cities(2026), and discuss the theology, law codes, great texts and daily life of the Bible's most famous – or infamous – city.

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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 Pharisees are among the most villainised groups in Jewish history. For centuries, Christians read them as legalists, religious hypocrites and bitter opponents of Jesus. But have we got the Pharisees all wrong?

To find out, Lloyd takes a trip in the Time Machine with our resident expert, Helen Bond, Professor of Christian Origins at the University of Edinburgh.

Drawing on a range of sources – from Josephus to the Dead Sea Scrolls – they construct a picture of the Pharisees beyond the stereotypes. Where did they come from? What did they believe? And how reliably do the gospels portray them.

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

Imitation is a huge part of the human experience, as we imitate role models and loved ones. Oscar Wilde called it the 'highest form of flattery'. But what did imitation – or mimesis – look like in early Christianity? To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the time machine with Professor Cornelis Bennema. They discuss what imitation meant in the ancient world, how the New Testament writers adapted the concept, and why Paul instructs his listeners to 'imitate me'.

Dr Cornelis (‘Cor’) Bennema is Head of Research and Professor of New Testament Studies at the London School of Theology. His main research interests include the Johannine literature, character studies in biblical narrative and early Christian ethics. He is the author of a number of works on mimesis, most recently Imitation in Early Christianity: Mimesis and Religious-Ethical Formation (Eerdmans, 2025).

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

Many of us think of the Bible as a book written in Hebrew and Greek, overlooking the important role of Aramaic—the lingua franca of much of the ancient Near East. In this episode, Helen and Lloyd climb into the Time Machine with Tawny Holm, one of the world's leading experts on Aramaic, to explore the language's history, literature, and cultural significance. Who spoke and wrote Aramaic? What kinds of texts were composed in it? And how can Aramaic literature beyond the Bible help us better understand the Aramaic passages within it?

Tawny M. Holm is Professor of Hebrew and Aramaic Studies at Penn State University. Her main research areas are the Hebrew Bible in its Ancient Near Eastern context, early Judaism and Aramaic studies. She is the author of Of Courtiers and Kings: The Biblical Daniel Narratives and Ancient-Story Collections (Eisenbrauns, 2013), and, most recently, Aramaic Literature from Egypt and the Levant, published in May 2026 in SBL’s series, Writings from the Ancient World (Volume 30).

Support the show

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

The book of Judges gives us some of the most intriguing and tragic characters in all of the Hebrew Bible: Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah and Samson. But what did it mean to be a 'judge' in ancient Israel? To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Biblical Time Machine with Dr Brandon Hurlbert.

Dr Brandon Hurlbert (PhD, Durham University) is a teaching fellow in Hebrew Bible and Ethics at Durham University. His thesis explored the possibilities of reading the book of Judges as Christian Scripture. He is a research associate at the Centre for the Study of Biblical Violenceand co-host of The Two Cities Podcast, and his other research interests include the Bible and Film and biblical reception history.

If you would like access to our bonus episode and the chance to be a backstage guest, consider joining our Time Traveller's Club at http://www.patreon.com/biblicaltimemachine for just $5 a month (think of it as $1.25 per episode).

Support the show

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

King David is one of the most familiar figures in the Bible. Most people know him as the shepherd boy, the Psalmist and the underdog who steps up to defeat Goliath. But is this only one side to a much darker story? To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Biblical Time Machine with Professor David Shepherd, who argues that David is not only a man of war, but a 'man of blood.'

David J. Shepherdis Professor in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at Trinity College Dublin and founding director of the Trinity Centre for Biblical Studies. Among his many academic monographs, he is the author of King David, Innocent Blood, and Bloodguilt (OUP, 2023).

If you would like access to our bonus David episode and the chance to be a backstage guest, consider joining our Time Traveller's Club at http://www.patreon.com/biblicaltimemachine for just $5 a month (think of it as $1.25 per episode).

Support the show

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

We tend to imagine that the gospels were written by Christians for other Christians. But this week, Helen and Lloyd take a trip with Dr Daniel Glover, who has argued that the figure we now call Luke was writing for a cadre of well-educated, cultural elites. This in turn shapes the way that he presents Jesus, conforming to a range philosophical and mythological tropes.

Daniel B. Glover is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Lee University. His research focuses on early Christianity within its broader Greco-Roman and ancient Mediterranean context, especially Luke–Acts, early Christology, deification, and ancient religion. Glover is the author of Patterns of Deification in the Acts of the Apostles (2022) and Jesus and Other Sons of God ( 2025), where he explores how Luke presents Jesus in dialogue with ancient Mediterranean ideas about divinity.

In this's week bonus episode, Dr Glover discusses the dating of Luke-Acts.

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

When we think of the Bible in the ancient world, we tend to think of bishops, priests and monks. But what did 'ordinary' people make of the Bible – and how did they engage with it? To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Biblical Time Machine with Prof Lucy Grigg, an expert on ancient popular culture.

Lucy Grig is Professor of the History of Late Antiquity at the University of Edinburgh. Among her many publications, she is the editor of ‘Popular Culture in the Ancient World’ (CUP, 2017) and has written on ‘The Bible in popular and non-literary culture’ as part of The New Cambridge History of the Bible (2013).

Support the show

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

The Song of Songs might be considered the Bible's steamiest book. But where would it sit on an ancient book shelf? Should we call it 'erotica'? And how did the book come to be associated with Solomon? To get to the bottom of this peculiar book, Helen and Lloyd are joined in the Biblical Time Machine by Professor Adele Berlin.

Adele Berlin is the Robin H. Smith Professor of Biblical Studies (Emerita) at the University of Maryland. She is the author of Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative, and the co-editor of The Jewish Study Bible with Marc Brettler. She has also written the Song of Songs commentary in the Hermeneia series.

Support the show

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

One of the most distinctive aspects of John's gospel is his presentation of Jesus' miracles as semeia – 'signs'. To get to the bottom of why John is so fond of semeia, Helen and Lloyd enter the time machine with leading Johannine scholar Catrin Williams. They discuss whether there are really seven signs in the gospel, how John's signs relate to scripture, and whether they are history or fiction.

Catrin H. Williams is Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Lampeter. A Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, she has published extensively on the Gospel of John, including a 2025 co-edited volume The Semeia Narratives in the Gospel of John.

Support the show

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