Biblical Time Machine

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). 
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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 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. 

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

How did people in biblical times imagine life after death? On this episode, Lloyd is joined in the time machine by Robert Garland for ancient tour of the afterlife. Drawing on a panoply of cultures – from Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia to Greece, Rome, and early Christianity – Robert charts a map of what ancient people believed about death and the world beyond. 
Robert Garland is a British historian, philologist and Emeritus Roy D. and Margaret B. Wooster Professor of the Classics at Colgate Universityin New York. He specializes in ancient Greek history, religion, and daily life, and is the author of numerous books including What to Expect When You’re Dead: An Ancient Tour of the Afterlife (2025). 
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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 produced by John Nelson.

Christians have long read the 'suffering servant' of Isaiah in reference to Jesus. But how did that connection come about? Was the servant originally a messianic figure who dies for sins? And how have Jews read the servant through history, all the way from Isaiah and Daniel to the present day? 
To answer these questions, Helen and Lloyd are joined by Amy Jill-Levine, the Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace. Her many works include The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently (with Marc Brettler, 2020). 
Support the show
Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 produced by John Nelson.