History in the Bible

Paul's letters say that he spent 17 years in Arabia Nabatea, in Damascus, and in what is now southern Turkey. In all those long years, he met the disciples precisely once, and then only Peter and James the brother of Jesus. I call this Paul's lost mission. The Book Acts ignores it. The chronology of Acts is impossible to reconcile with Paul's letters.

Paul's letters are puzzles. Why do we have so few? Paul loved to write. We should have 90 or more letters, not the scant dozen we have. And why don't we have letters from Paul's contemporary missionaries? How do we reconcile the vast differences between the three Pauls shown in his letters?

Keynote ep: Paul is the major protagonist in the Book of Acts. His letters comprise almost half the books in the New Testament. After Jesus, Paul dominates the New Testament. His letters are the earliest Christian documents we possess. But that is only thanks to the accidents of history. The overwhelming personality of Paul tramples that of the disciples into the dust. Not even Peter and James, brother of Jesus, can withstand the force of nature that is Paul. Paul is the first to launch a systematic campaign to bring Jesus to the pagans, in the face of opposition from the Jerusalem Jesus club. Paul accidentally constructs a theology of sin and death, and invents the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist. Yet Paul seems to know almost nothing about the life of Jesus. What gives?

The first chapters of Acts describe the perfect community of the Jerusalem Jesus club. Events take a dark turn after the first five chapters. The club is beset by tribulations. The disciples decide to appoint a set of deacons, middle-managers. That turns out not so well for the deacon Stephen. Stephen is accused of blasphemy, and delivers the longest speech in the book. He is the first to die for his faith after Jesus. Wemeet Simon Magus. Peter converts Cornelius, a pagan Roman. In his last major appearance in Acts, Peter is arrested, released by an angel, and disappears for parts unknown. And the disciple James the son of Zebedee, brother of the Beloved Disciple, is killed by King Herod Agrippa I.

I introduce the book of Acts. The book tries to harmonise the deeds of the two great apostles: the pro-Jewish Peter and the pro-gentile Paul. Paul's letters say that Acts is telling porkies. The first third of the book is centred on the Jerusalem Jesus club. The book of Acts describes the disciples' earliest Jesus club as a golden age, a hippie commune, but a commune with a dark side. The disciples are arrested, but keep escaping from prison. The authorities eventually give up, letting them go after a light flogging. The Saducees appear in a rare cameo.

What solid statements can we make about the life of Jesus? Who did Jesus think he was? We can never know, but we can make some guesses. Certainly, he thought he was like an Old Testament prophet. He believed that God's kingly rule was about to intervene. Jesus believed that his mission was to prepare the Jews for God's imminent intervention in the world. Did Jesus intend to found a new religion? I doubt it.

None of the gospels recount the resurrection. They tell of the discovery of the empty by Mary Magdalene and some other women, and then move to Jesus post-resurrection appearances. The resurrection happens off stage. The Gospel of Peter is the only document that describes the actual moment of resurrection. The gospels present differing accounts of Jesus' appearances after his death. Did he appear in spirit, like an angel, or as real fleshly human? How many people did he appear to, and when, and where?

This is a bonus episode for season two. Steve Guerra and I tackle the the book of Daniel. We all know the book's stories of Daniel: the lion's den, the fiery furnace, and the writing on the wall. We discover a book of two parts, one of which claims to be a reliable history of Babylonian times. Spoiler: It's not. The second half is the only apocalypse in the Old Testament.

Jesus' death is the supreme sacrifice. The Son of God takes upon himself the sins of the world to redeem all of mankind. From the disparate gospel accounts of Jesus' death, what can we actually say is dependable evidence? The gospels give us two surprise cameo appearances: Simon of Cyrene, and Joseph of Arimathea.

After the Last Supper, Jesus and his mates take a post-prandial stroll in the dark to the Mount of Olives, a 30 minute walk due east of the Temple. Jesus had delivered an apocaplytic sermon at the mount the day before. According to the gospel of John, Jesus serenely accepts his fate, and refuses to ask his Father to save him. The synoptic gospels challenge that. In those gospels, Jesus lashes out at his disciples. As the company return from the Mount through the Garden of Gethsamene, Jesus asks his Father to save him from death. Jesus is arrested at the Garden and sent for trial. The gospels can't get their story straight about the trials. Was Jesus tried by the Jewish Council? Was he just interrogated, but not tried, by the high priest? Was he sent to Herod Antipas? Was he taken before Pilate once or twice? The gospels disagree. One thing that the gospels furiously agree upon is in exonerating the Roman prefect, and dumping all the blame on the Jews.

After Jesus has resurrected Lazarus, he briefly flies to Ephraim, outside of Judea, for fear of the Jews. He quickly regains his confidence, and returns to Bethany, and the home of Lazarus. From there he moves to Jerusalem to participate in the annual Passover. In Jerusalem, he and his disciples partake in a final meal. Judas betrays Jesus. The gospel of John disagrees with the synoptics as to the dating of the Last Supper: the day of Passover, or the day before? John uses the supper to introduce a bunch of theology. He also introduces the mysterious Beloved Disciple, and a new divine entity, the Paraclete.

The Passion story story begins with Jesus in Bethany, a suburb of Jerusalem. Jesus is staying with his best buddies Martha, Mary, and the risen Lazarus. Jesus arranges with his students to organise a grand parade for his entry into the capital. That goes swimmingly. Ebullient from his grand reception, Jesus marches into the Temple, determined to destroy its commercial activities. Jesus then delivers a little apocalypse at the Mount of Olives.

The notion of the Trinity is one of -- if not the -- most difficult concepts in Christian theology. Steve Guerra and I plough through centuries of Jewish and Christian thought to try to make sense of it. Part two of two.

As so often, the synoptic gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke tell a different story of the third and final act of Jesus' life compared to the gospel of John. In the gospel of John, Jesus spends six months in Judea before his death, and is attacked by the authorities because he raised Lazarus from the dead. John has Jesus deliver a series of confusing speeches about his relationship with God. Against John, the synoptic gospels assert that Jesus spent a few weeks traveling to Judea, and only a week in the city.

This is a bonus episode for season two. My long-time collaborator, Steve Guerra, attended the IntelligentSpeech podcasting conference in New York in June 2019. I appeared with Steve thanks to the magic that is Skype. We talk all things Biblical. I hope you enjoy this bonus show. The conference was organised by Roifield Brown, producer of numerous podcasts: How Jamaica Conquered the World, and The Things That Made England, amongst others. Roifield was the man who introduced me to history podcasting.

After the Big Three disciples come the forgettable bit-players, the Nondescript Nine: Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew (also known as Nathaniel), Matthew, Thomas Didymus, James son of Alphaeus, Judas (also known as Thaddaeus), Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot.

The notion of the Trinity is one of -- if not the -- most difficult concepts in Christian theology. Steve Guerra and I plough through centuries of Jewish and Christian thought to try to make sense of it. Part one of two.

Keynote ep: Jesus had an inner cabinet of three disciples: Simon Peter; and James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Only they have significant speaking parts. The often appear together at many significant moments, such as the Transfiguration. The rest of the disciples are ciphers. Peter is by far the pre-eminent disciple, named more often in the New Testament all the other disciples put together. He is Jesus' devoted wombat, an impulsive, exuberant, and eminently likeable individual. But he fails when put to the test. A work attributed to him, the Apocalypse of Peter, provided all our modern images of hell. Western church fathers held that the disciple John wrote the gospel of that name, Revelation, and three letters. The Eastern church and modern scholars are dubious. James was the first disciple to be martyred, by Herod Agrippa. He is memorialised at the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

Jesus' mission to Galilee does not go as well as hoped. The Pharisees and scribes attack him for teaching and working wonders on the sabbath. Jesus spars with the Jewish factions many times. Jesus attacks the Pharisees for their petty legalism. Modern interpretations of these accounts hold them to reflect the situation when the gospels were written, projected back into the time of Jesus. Jesus' Galilean ministry concludes with his Transfiguration, where he stands between Moses and Elijah, and the voice of God again declares that Jesus is his son.

Most of Jesus ministry was conducted in Galilee. This time is stuffed to the brim with miracles and parables. Jesus exorcizes demons, raises people from the dead, and cures the sick. He feeds thousands, walks on water, and calms the storm. He teaches parables about old wine into new skins, mustard seeds, pearls, and weeds amongst the wheat. He meets Mary Magdalene. Jesus predicts his own death. Peter professes him the Messiah and Son of God.

In John's account of the early ministry, Jesus flies all over the place. He steals the disciples Simon Peter and Andrew from the Baptist while in the Perea. In his first great sign, he turns water into wine at Cana, then finds the disciples Philip and Nathaniel. He cleanses the temple and debates Nicodemus. He is first recognised as Messiah by a Samaritan, a people derided by the Jews. Jesus gives us his first theology lesson. None of this is in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

This episode presents Jesus' earliest ministry as the synoptic gospels tell it. Straight after his baptism by John, Jesus is tempted by Satan in the wilderness near the Dead Sea. He passes with flying colours. You know that quote "Get the behind me Satan"? It's not here. When Jesus learns that the Baptist has been arrested, he flies back to Galilee. According to Mark and Matthew, Jesus summons two sets of two brothers as his first followers. Mark and Luke describes Jesus first act as a sermon in a synagogue. Matthew has a much more spectacular debut: the Sermon on the Mount. Luke provides a very different version of that sermon. We also hear the Lord's Prayer. Catholics and Protestants have different ideas of what that is.

Keynote ep: An introduction to the geo-political world of Jesus. I also discuss the many problems we have when attempting to reconcile the chronologies of the gospels. The synoptic gospels differ in the details. The big problem is with the gospel of John. We simply cannot reconcile the chronology of John with the synoptics.

Jesus' identity as Son of God is revealed at his baptism by John, an old-style prophet who promotes Jewish ritual washing. Did John recognise Jesus at this event or not? The gospels differ. They regard the Baptist as a problematic figure, and treat him enigmatically. The synoptic gospels downplay him. The gospel of John (the apostle, not the Baptist) takes him over.

My Epiphany special relates the story of Christmas as told by the gospel of Matthew. In Matthew, the story is told from Joseph's point of view, not Mary's. Matthew has wise men, the infamous massacre of the innocents, and the flight to Egypt. No angels and no shepherds. He does not mention Mary's relative Elizabeth, and her son John the Baptist. If you read Matthew carefully, he says nothing of the day of Christmas, but he has a lot to say about the day of Epiphany, 6th January, the day the magi paid homage. I also introduce the Gospel of James, and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.

Second Temple Judaism (530 BC-70 AD) was a lush forest of beliefs, factions, and sects: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Sicarri, Zealots, the Fourth Philosophy and more. All were swept away in the First Roman-Jewish war that ended with the destruction of the temple. From this forest, two new religions emerged: Rabbinic Judaism, and Christianity.

My Christmas special tells the story of Christmas as related by the gospel of Luke. With lots of canticles and shepherds. My forthcoming Epiphany special relates the gospel of Matthew's version of the nativity.

King of the Jews, Saviour, Son of Man, God, Son of God, Messiah and Christos, and Lord. The New Testament has many titles for Jesus. Let's investigate them.

The gospel of John reads nothing like the other gospels. John defines Jesus as a cosmological figure, not the man adopted by God at his baptism that the other gospels talk about. John has a quite different biography of Jesus. In the synoptic gospels, Jesus travels to Jerusalem once in his life, to meet his destiny. The gospel of John has Jesus travelling to Jerusalem several times, and places the cleansing of the Temple at the beginning of Jesus' career, not at the end. John's gospel is clearly the product of a community, rather than a single author. This community also produced the letters attributed to John. We have no idea how this community related to the Jesus-clubs founded by Paul, nor to the communities who read the synoptic gospels. I throw in an introduction to some of the ideas that the gospel used: from Platonism, from Philo Judeaus, and from Gnosticism. I finish with the Gospel of Thomas, another Gnostic-influenced gospel.

The gospel of Matthew is the most Jewish of the gospels. He insists that his readers must follow Jewish law. Yet his gospel contains the infamous blood cry. Matthew's community might have been Jews who went to synagogue, and believed that what we call Christianity was the right way to be a Jew. Or they might have been outside the synagogues. Matthew today is understood as a factional writer, one who contended against the emerging rabbinical community. The gospel of Luke is part of a package, with the book of Acts. Luke is the most polished of the gospels, yet ranks with Mark in the bottom of the popularity stakes, even though it contains some of our most beloved stories: the parables of the good Samaritan and the tax collector, the annunciation of Jesus and John the Baptist, the shepherds and their flocks, and Jesus ascension to heaven.

Mark is the earliest, shortest, and least popular gospel. We don't know if Mark was a Jew or a gentile. Mark's audience is assailed by the powers that be. He has an especial dislike of the Pharisees. His Greek is rough, but punchy. Mark expects the return of Jesus any day now. Mark's Jesus was a man adopted by God at Jesus' baptism. His Jesus is forever telling people shut up about Jesus' true identity. In Mark, Jesus is Clark Kent, not Superman. In Mark, the reader always knows more than the characters in the story. Mark thinks the disciples are nitwits. The gospel of Matthew has long been regarded as the premier gospel. Matthew uses a lot of Mark, but he treats Mark critically. Matthew improves Mark's Greek, reveals Clark Kent as Superman, and is much kinder to the disciples. Matthew really differs from Mark by including five long speeches, including the famous Sermon on the Mount

Our earliest pagan sources for the life of Jesus - the historians Josephus, Tacitus, and Suetonius - tell us almost nothing about Jesus. The letters of St Paul are uninformative, as are rabbinic sources. We have to rely on the four gospels. These have their own agendas. In this episode I explore the relationships between the synoptic gospels: Mark, Matthew, and Luke. Today, we believe that Mark was the first gospel, and that both Matthew and Luke drew upon Mark. But Matthew and Luke have material in common, material not found in Mark. Where did that come from? Most scholars say it was the mysterious source called "Q". Others disagree.

Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians is the earliest surviving document of Christianity. I drop in on the Thessalonian Jesus-club to discover how a pagan newcomer would have reacted to the club and the letter. The newcomer is befuddled by the strange words used by club members, and confused about Paul. I also dissect the letter, and discover that Paul knew almost nothing about the life of Jesus.

Keynote ep: Since the Enlightenment, three great academic attempts have been made to make sense of the life of Jesus: the first, second, and third quests for the historical Jesus. I follow the Third Questers.

The discovery of the ancient Codices Vaticanus and Sinaiticus in the 19th century revealed that the New Testament circulated in three different textual traditions: the Byzantine, the Alexandrian, and the Western. It became clear that the Textus Receptus was based entirely on Byzantine manuscripts, all written in the high Middle Ages. Modern Protestant and Catholic bibles rely on the much older Alexandrian manuscripts, represented by Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, and on modern papyrus discoveries.

Unlike the Jews, Christians preserved many versions of their scriptures. The invention of printing spurred European scholars to revisit ancient Greek manuscripts in an attempt to create one single version of the sacred books. Over a century, Erasmus, Beza, Stephanus and the Elzevirs produced Greek editions. Their collective efforts are known as the Textus Receptus, the text behind the King James bible.

The Jesus-clubs reacted against Marcion's tiny list of sacred works. The invention of the codex, the book, brought the issue of the canon to the forefront. Melito, Tatian, Irenaeus, Eusebius, and Athanasius made the first attempts to list a sacred canon. The Christians struggled against Marcionites, Montanists, and Gnostics to define what they believed. I introduce the Shepherd of Hermas.

Christians in the first two centuries did not have a sacred canon of books. In this first of four parts, I discuss what the earliest church fathers Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp and Papias were reading. Marcion spurred the Jesus-clubs into action.

We all know of the biblical hero Samson, known to his friends as Shimshon ben Manoah, and to his enemies as "that bastard". Samson of the long hair, Samson who was seduced by Delilah, Samson who brought down the Philistine temple. In this bonus episode, three award-worthy history podcast writers and producers bring Samson to trial for mass murder.

Herod's kingdom was divided. The Romans took their own chunk. His sons Archelaus, Herod Antipas, and Philip received portions. Their success was mixed. Judea was never easy to rule, often breaking out into brigandage, even when run by Jews. Race riots between Greeks and Jews were common. Philip does not play a role in the New Testament story. Archelaus has a cameo part. Herod Antipas figures in the lives of Jesus and John the Baptist. Herod's grandson Herod Agrippa I appears in the story of the arrest of St Peter. In the end, the Romans decided on direct rule. That did not work out so well. The Jews erupted in revolt in 66 AD, a revolt that finished with the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem.

Rome created an efficient economic system that enabled even middle-strata Judeans to buy goods from far-distant places. Rome introduced new social structures, the patron-client system, and the household headed by the pater familias. The Jews created their own system of governance under the Roman rulers. They also created the synagogue. Jewish religion transformed itself. God became more numinous, while Satan turned into a person. Jews came up with a definite concept of a life after death.

The Biblical find of the century, the Dead Sea Scrolls, were turned over to an international committee for study. Bad idea. The cabal refused to let the wider scholarly community examine the documents, and forced their own interpretations on the world. The cabal bamboozled first the Jordanian authorities, then the Israelis. The cabal's stranglehold was only broken by a bunch of academic freedom-fighters in the 1990s.

Dan Libenson of the Judaism Unbound podcast returns to the show. This time we discuss best-selling Israeli author Yochi Brandes' novel 'The Orchard'. Dan translated the book into English. The novel centres on Rabbi Akiva, the man who forged rabbinic Judaism after teh fall of the Temple. Along the way we encounter a host of other rabbis and Paul of Tarsus. We also ponder the difficulties of translation and working out what actually happened in history.

So much to cover: the discovery of the oldest Jewish bible, the Leningrad Codex; and the oldest Christian bible, the Codex Sinaticus. At the Cairo Geniza, finds revealed another thousand years of manuscripts. The Didache was recovered, and another bunch of books discovered in an obscure tomb in Egypt, revealing a Christianity hitherto unknown. The Dead Sea Scrolls then showed that Judaism was not the dessicated religion that the New Testament described.

As the Tanakh tells it, the Jewish nation comprised a united body-politic from the fall of the kingdom of Israel right through the return. The only division in Judaism was between those who followed God's laws, and those who strayed. From the time of the Seleucids on, the people fragmented into factions and religious renewal movements. Prime amongst these were the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes: maybe.

The Maccabeans reach their apogee under John Hyrcanus I, and his sons Aristobulus and Alexander Jannaeus. Alexander's widow, Alexandra Salome, became known as a ruler of wisdom and moderation. Her incompetent children and successors John Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II blew it all in a fratricidal civil war. The Romans stepped in, ditched the Maccabean ditzes, and installed more reliable bureaucrats: Antipater, and his son Herod.

The Book of Jubilees was preserved by the Ethiopian Orthodox. Until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, it was held to be a parody of Jewish thought. Now we know the book was immensely popular with Jews and Christians until the early Middle Ages. The book re-writes Genesis and Exodus. Jubilees claims a higher authority than those books. It creates a new sacred calendar, and invents the figure we call Satan. I also have something to say about that odious book written at the same time, the Wisdom of Ben Sira.

The book of Daniel is one-half comfy folktales, and one-half crazy. It was the only one of the many Jewish apocalyptic books to make it into the Old testament because it was the only book to talk of the resurection of the dead. It gets every historical detail wrong. Nonetheless, it can claim to be the founding document of the USA. Daniel's use of a common Hebrew idiom, "son of man", has created huge theological problems. That part of 1 Enoch called the Book of Parables re-creates the idiom for Christians.

Rival high priests Jason and Menelaus plunge Judah into turmoil. Many Jews thought that both Jason and Menelaus were too Greek for their own good. Antiochus IV over-reacts and attempts to quash the civil strife. The Maccabeans stage a nationalistic rebellion. Judas Maccabeus reclaims the temple and creates Hanukkah. After Judas' death, his brother Jonathon transforms from insurgent to high-priest.

The Judeans spent 120 happy years under the Hellenistic rule of the Egyptian Ptolemies. They chafed under the rule of the Hellenistic kingdom of the Seleucids, who faced severe geopolitical challenges. The social and economic tidal wave of international Hellenism challenged every aspect of Judean life and thought. A country Jewish priest called Mattathias revolted against this globalisation: Make Judea Holy Again!