Biblical Time Machine

1st October marks the UN's International Day of Older Persons. So this week, Helen and Lloyd took a trip in the Time Machine to visit the Bible's 'Golden Oldies' –  some of its oldest, wisest and most memorable characters. They consider what the Bible has to say about growing old, unpack theological readings of old age, and raise the age-old question: how old was Jesus when he began his mission? 
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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson.

'O Assyria, the rod of my anger!' So declared the prophet Isaiah of one of the most feared and imposing empires of the ancient world. But who were the Assyrians, and how did they become the world's first empire? 
To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Time Machine with Professor Eckart Frahm of Yale University, the author of Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World’s First Empire (2023, YUP). From warfare and imperial ambition to religion and everyday life, they discover together what made Assyria such a formidable civilisation, and how its history sheds new light on the world of the Hebrew Bible.
Support the show
Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson.

It is impossible to study the Bible without crashing into the word 'Hellenism', the spread of Greek culture across the ancient world by Alexander (the Great). But who was Alexander, and what do his successors have to do with the Bible? To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Time Machine with Dr Stephen Harrison, an expert on Alexander the Great. 
Dr Stephen Harrison is Senior Lecturer in Classics at Swansea University, and a historian of ancient Greece and the ancient Near East, focusing on the sixth to the second centuries BCE, the era of the Achaemenid Empire, Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic kingdoms. He is the author of Achaemenid Kingship, Alexander the Great, and the Early Seleucids (EUP, 2025) as well as a popular life of Alexander, Alexander the Great: Lives and Legacies (Reaktion Books 2025). 
Support the show
Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson.

If there is any biblical book which has something to say about wisdom, it is the Book of Proverbs. But what actually is Proverbs? Who wrote it? And what is its message about what a good life looks like? To get to the bottom of Proverbs, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Time Machine with Dr Ryan O'Dowd.
Ryan O'Dowd is Senior Academic Advisor at Chesterton House, Cornell University. He earned his PhD in Old Testament from the University of Liverpool and his many books include The Wisdom of Torah: Epistemology in Deuteronomy and the Wisdom Literature, a commentary on Proverbs, a co-authored volume, Old Testament Wisdom Literature: A Theological Introduction, and The Preacher's Hebrew Companion to Deuteronomy. 
Support the show
Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson.

Your favourite time travelling podcast is back – for its fifth season!  
Join biblical scholar Helen Bond and ancient historian Lloyd Lewellyn-Jones in the Biblical Time Machine as they travel back in time (not very far... to the summer!) and forward for all that lies ahead in Season 5. 
Lloyd gives us some hints about what's in store with his upcoming book on the Hittites, and Helen discusses her work on Mary, the mother of Jesus. 
If you would like to access our bonus episodes and get the chance to be a backstage guest, consider joining our Time Traveller's Club at patreon.com/biblicaltimemachine for just $5 a month (think of it as $1.25 per episode!)
Support the show
Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson.