Biblical Time Machine

Capernaum is known as "the Town of Jesus," since so many of Jesus's miracles and preaching happened in this small town on the Sea of Galilee. In the centuries after Jesus's death, Capernaum transformed from a Jewish fishing village into a Christian holy site. Thanks to archeology, we can learn more about Jewish-Christian relations in Capernaum during this much-debated period in the history of the Holy Land.
Helen and Dave are joined by Wally Cirafesi, an archeologist and New Testament scholar who has spent years excavating in the Galilee. At first glance, Capernaum feels like a village with clear divisions between Jews and Christians, since the most visible archeological remains are a large synagogue and church facing off in the center of town.
But in his research, Wally paints a much messier picture of ancient Capernaum in which Jews and Christians (and Jewish Christians) lived "cheek by jowl" in multi-family dwellings and may even have worshipped in each other's houses of prayer.
BUY BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE MERCH
The Biblical Time Machine Store is open! Check out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." Or get yourself a handsome Biblical Time Machine mug. Everything tastes better when it's biblical.
WIN STUFF
Join the Time Travelers Club, our Patreon site, and you'll be automatically entered in two cool giveaways:
1. We're giving away a free pass to the SBL Global Virtual Meeting scheduled for April 1-4, 2024. Join hundreds of biblical scholars from around the world for 4 days of research presentations and talks. Helen and I will also be recording a "live episode"! The winner will be announced soon, so join today.
2. We're also giving away 10 copies of the newly revised SBL Study Bible. This academic Bible is tailor-made for fans of Biblical Time Machine. It takes a scholarly approach to understanding the Bible — full of essays, footnotes, maps and more — and doesn't assume any past knowledge or religious background. It's the perfect companion for a fresh look at these ancient texts.

For legal reasons, the SBL Study Bible giveaway is only available to Time Travelers Club members 18 or older and living in the continental United States.

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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos

The Jewish sabbath (Shabbat), observed from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, is one of the oldest continuously observed holidays in existence. At first glance, the sabbath seems pretty straightforward; it's a "day of rest" that God commanded his people to observe on the 7th day. But when you read the Hebrew Bible really closely—like our guest Jon Levenson does—you run into all sorts of intriguing questions.

Was the "7th day" the same as the sabbath? Was the sabbath a day or rest or a day of bad omens? What does shabbat even mean in Hebrew?

If you're fans of this podcast, you will love Jon's new book, Israel’s Day of Light and Joy: The Origin, Development, and Enduring Meaning of the Jewish Sabbath.

SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE
If 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 BIOGRAPHY
Check 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 show

Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos

The New Testament story known as the "Healing of the Centurion's Slave" has been the subject of some intriguing scholarship in recent years. In the Greco-Roman world, the Greek word translated as "slave" or "servant" in the Bible also meant the younger partner in a same-sex male relationship. So the question is: by healing the Centurion's partner, did Jesus effectively bless a same-sex relationship?
The evidence is compelling. Homosexual relationships were common in the Greco-Roman world, especially in the military where power dynamics were reinforced by sex. In this story, repeated in two New Testament gospels, the Centurion clearly cares for his servant, but is he anything more than a concerned commander?
Christopher Zeichmann joins Helen and Dave to analyze how the story of the Centurion's slave would have sounded to 1st-century ears, and why it's been embraced by advocates of a more inclusive Christianity. For a deeper dive into the topic, read Chris's book, Queer Readings of the Centurion at Capernaum: Their History and Politics.
More from Bible Oddysey

• The Healing of the Centurion's Slave
• The Bible and Homosexuality
• Homosexuality in the New Testament

Win an SBL Study Bible!We're giving away 10 copies of the newly revised SBL Study Bible. This academic Bible is tailor-made for fans of Biblical Time Machine. It takes a scholarly approach to understanding the Bible — full of essays, footnotes, maps and more — and doesn't assume any past knowledge or religious background. It's the perfect companion for a fresh look at these ancient texts.
Each week we'll randomly pick a winner from the members of the Time Travelers Club, our Patreon site. Subscribe today to support the show and put your name in the running for this useful and in-depth resource.
For legal reasons, this giveaway is only available to Time Travelers Club members 18 or older and living in the continental United States.
As an Amazon Associate, we earn a small percentage from books purchased through the Amazon links above.

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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos

Join Helen and Dave as they attempt the impossible — to cover the entirety of biblical history in one fact-packed episode! To help us, we recruited Dan McClellan from the Data Over Dogma podcast to walk us century by century, book by book through the creation of the Bible. It's like listening to a full season of Biblical Time Machine in one sitting. (In a good way!)
For a deeper dive into the biblical history topics discussed on today's show, check out these past podcast episodes --->
Biblical Time Machine:

• How Yahweh Became God
• Why the Bible Was Written
• Are the 12 Tribes of Israel a Myth?
• How the Babylonian Exile Changed Everything
• Who Wrote the New Testament and Why?
• Who Chose the Books of the New Testament?
• Did the Author of John Know the Other Gospels?
• Ancient Manuscripts — The Bible Before It Was the Bible

Data Over Dogma:

• In the Beginning
• The Genesis of Genesis with Dr. David Carr
• Connecting with Source
• The End(s) of Monotheism w/David Burnett
• Jesus in History with Helen Bond
• Who ACTUALLY Wrote the New Testament?

SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE!
If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support 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. (Think of it as $1.25 an episode!)

GET YOUR BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE MUG
The Biblical Time Machine Store is open! Check out our 4-part audio study guide called "

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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos

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 CLUB
The 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 MACHINE
If 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 BIOGRAPHY
Check 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 show

Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos