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1. 

   9 Mar 2026 · 42 min

   Child Sacrifice in Ancient Religion

   We have all heard rumours that ancient religions used children in ritual sacrifice. But did it really happen? To discuss the evidence, Helen and Lloyd are joined in the Time Machine by Dr Eve MacDonald, lecturer at Cardiff University and author of the acclaimed, Carthage: A New History of an Ancient Empire (Penguin, 2025). Dr MacDonald answers questions like: Did human sacrifice really occur in the ancient world, and what does the archaeological evidence actually show?What happene...

2. 

   S4 · 2 Mar 2026 · 46 min

   The Language Jesus Spoke

   This week in the Biblical Time Machine, Helen and Lloyd travel back in time to hear and read Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. Helping them to uncover the language is world-leading Jesus historian, Bruce Chilton, the Bernard Iddings Bell Profesosr of Religion at Bard College, NY. Professor Chilton is the author of numerous books, including Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography and most recently, Aramaic Jesus: Tradition, Identity, and Christianity's Mother Tongue. On the show, he answers ...

3. 

   23 Feb 2026 · 43 min

   God and Israel – A Marriage in Crisis?

   This week in the Biblical Time Machine, Prof Lloyd Lewellyn-Jones sits down with Dr Charlie Hadjiev to discuss Hosea, one of the most evocative, troubling and hopeful books of the Hebrew Bible. They cover questions like: When and where was Hosea written?How was adultery viewed in the ancient world? How can Paul Ricour’s hermeneutics shed light on the text? Does Hosea present God as an abusive husband? Dr Charlie Hadjievis a lecturer in biblical studies at St Padarn’s Inst...

4. 

   S4 · 14 Feb 2026 · 33 min

   Is Love in the (Biblical) Air?

   Is love in the biblical air this Valentine's Day? To find out, Professors Helen Bond and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones take a trip back to the biblical world. They discuss... What is ‘love’ in the biblical imagination? Is there romantic love in the ancient world? Is Song of Songs a wedding Song? How are Heriodas and Antipas anticipated by Ahab and Jezebel? How have we misread David and Bathsheba’s relationship? Why is Paul ‘anti-marriage’? Does same-sex love show u...

5. 

   9 Feb 2026 · 41 min

   Roman Faith and Christian Faith

   The early Christian world was awash with the language of 'belief' (pistis in Greek, fides in Latin). But what does it really mean to 'believe'? Today, we often use the word refer to an assent to a set of propositions: someone might believe that Jesus rose from the dead, or that he was born of a virgin. But is this what the language of belief meant to the early Christians, within the wider Roman world? To unpack the lexis of 'belief', Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Time Machine with T...

6. 

   19 Jan 2026 · 47 min

   Who were the Magi, really?

   We all know the story of the Magi: they were three kings who followed a star to Bethlehem. But what if this common nativity narrative gets it all wrong? To uncover who the Magi really were, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Biblical Time Machine with Dr Eric Vanden Ekyel, author of the popular tome, The Magi: Who They Were, How They’ve Been Remembered (2022; Fortress Press). Eric Vanden Eykel is a New Testament scholar and Associate Professor of Religion at Ferrum College. In addi...

7. 

   S4 · 19 Jan 2026 · 43 min

   What are the Non-Canonical Gospels?

   Many people only know the version of the non-canonical gospels popularised by Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. The Church did away these 'lost' texts, and their recovery promises to reveal a more primitive version of Jesus that Orthodoxy suppressed. But how much truth is there to this narrative? What really are the non-canonical gospels? In this episode, Helen and Lloyd are joined by Simon Gathercole to uncover the true story of the non-canonical or 'apocryphal' gospels. Simon J. Gathercole i...

8. 

   12 Jan 2026 · 44 min

   Jesus' Physical Appearance

   The physical appearance of Jesus is more widely known and distinctive than any other. Yet this familiarity can lead us to overlook a curious fact: in the Gospels, it is never described. This week on the Biblical Time Machine, Helen and Lloyd ask the show's producer John Nelson about this mystery: is it surprising that the Gospels do not describe Jesus' physical appearance, and what might explain this lacuna? Dr John Nelson is the researcher and producer of Biblical Time Machine. He earn...

9. 

   5 Jan 2026 · 42 min

   Did the Beloved Disciple Exist?

   The Gospel of John presents itself as rooted in the testimony of 'the disciple whom Jesus loved'. But who was this disciple? Over the centuries, scholars have proposed a baffling range of explanations, from John the son of Zebedee or a 'John the Elder' to Lazarus and Mary Magdalene. Joining Helen and Lloyd in the Time Machine, Dr Hugo Mendez has a different theory: that John is a work of disguised authorship. The beloved disciple was not a real person, but is an idealised literary creation.&n...

10. 

    29 Dec 2025 · 36 min

    Asherah: The Forgotten Wife of God?

    This week in the Biblical Time Machine, Helen and Lloyd travel back to a time when God had a wife named Asherah... or did he? To help them answer decipher the ancient goddess, our co-hosts enlist the help of Dr Steve Wiggins, a world-leading expert on Asherah. Together, they explore how Asherah came to be associated with the God of Israel, discuss inscriptions and figurines associated with the goddess, and consider why the question of God once having a 'wife' remains so controversial today.&n...