Biblical Time Machine

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 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). 
Support the show
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.

In this Easter special, Prof Lloyd Lewellyn-Jones interviews our resident expert, Prof Helen Bond, on the evidence for Jesus' resurrection. They discuss the data about the resurrection in early Christian literature, whether there was an empty tomb, and various naturalistic attempts to explain the resurrection belief. 
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.
In this week's bonus episode, Professor Helen Bond unpacks a tricky text in 1 Peter which some have read as the biblical basis for the harrowing of hell.  
Support the show
Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 produced by John Nelson.

What happened to Jesus on Easter Saturday? The apostles creed claims that Jesus 'descended into hell', reflecting a wider Christian motif called the 'Harrowing of Hell.' To find out more about this belief, Lloyd Lewellyn-Jones asks our resident expert, Helen Bond, who is currently writing a book on the subject.
They explore questions like:
Is the 'Harrowing of Hell' alluded to in the gospels? 
When did Jesus go to hell and what was he doing there? 
How strong is the biblical foundation of this idea? 
How is the Harrowing depicted in the Gospel of Nicodemus? 
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.
In this week's bonus episode, Professor Helen Bond unpacks a tricky text in 1 Peter which some have read as the biblical basis for the harrowing of hell.  

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