Biblical scholarship has grown a lot over the centuries but there are some ideas that are just so good they never go away! On this episode of the podcast, Pete looks at one of those foundational ideas: Julius Wellhausen’s documentary hypothesis. Wellhaus...

Under the hood of America, we see an interesting history of using the book of Revelation to talk about immigration. Our guest, NT scholar Yii-Jan Lin walks us through the profound impact the book of Revelation has had on the US dialogue about people comi...

In this episode Jared begins to tackle the book of Jonah by asking, “What kind of book is this?” as well as introducing the first chapter. Just because Jesus mentions Jonah does that mean we have to believe it’s historical? What is the historical context...

The writings of formerly enslaved people tell us a lot about how they viewed the Bible. We sat down with Professor Emerson Powery to talk about how the Bible was used around the institution of slavery and how it can be both a book of oppression and a boo...

On this week's episode, Pete and Jared are talking about the afterlife. What is it and what does the Bible say about it? Show Notes → 

If we look under the surface, we find a fascinating conversation about the Spirit of God in the Bible. Considering the word for Spirit, Wind, and Breath of God is often the same in the Bible, how are we to understand the relationship between them? We tal...

Dr. Martin Luther King says “All people are caught in an Inescapable network of mutuality.” So what does that mean when it comes to the gospel, the Bible, and how we navigate racial equality? In this episode, we talk to Xavier Ramey about diversity, incl...

This week Pete & Jared talk to Meghan Henning about hell. She shares with us her knowledge of the ancient world Jesus and the New Testament writers were familiar with and how they might have understood hell. Show Notes →  

That 50 cent word describes something many Bible readers have noticed: the way the New Testament writers quote the Old often has little to do with what the Old Testament writers were actually trying to say. Jesus was in fact a surprise development in Isr...

Translating the Bible is more than just about being woodenly accurate. We’re humans after all. In this episode, Pete and Jared talk to Sarah Ruden, who talks about using our imaginations to put ourselves in the place of the biblical writers, emotions and...

Sometimes it can be easy to forget the psychological ramifications of our faith. The way our faith shapes the language we use to talk about tragedies and sadnesses in our life can be life-giving or it can really mess us up. In this episode we talk to Ali...

It’s hard to know where the Bible fits into our political views, our ethical stances, and how we live out life. Pete and Jared point out how many of us might be using the Bible in disrespectful and irresponsible ways as well as parsing out why we even ne...

Christianity is diverse and so are all the ways Christians have read the Bible through the centuries. James Martin helps us understand a Jesuit practice of reading Scripture that engages both the head and heart. Also, he’s met with the Pope. So of course...

Here's what's coming up in Season 4 of The Bible For Normal People podcast

Here in our last episode for Season 3, Pete & Jared take a deeper dive into Pete’s latest book and how we can further answer these questions, “What is the Bible and what do we do with it?” Show Notes →

This week, Pete & Jared sit down with Tom Oord and discuss the things God can and cannot do and how that affects our view of the world, the Bible, and salvation.  Show Notes → 

In this final episode of the Dundee Award Winning series, Pete looks at the significance and symbolism of the tabernacle, which takes up a whopping 13 chapters, and the Golden Calf episode, which threatens to derail the entire plan—were it not for Moses’...

On this episode of the Bible For Normal People, we look back to Season 1 when Pete and Jared talked with theologian Megan DeFranza on a topic that deeply affects the lives of many, but that few Christians are even aware of. And Megan might surprise you a...

You may have noticed that we’re in a political season with a lot of charged rhetoric, so we decided to bring on someone who isn’t like that. Like at all. We have Pete Wehner, political commentator and columnist joining us to talk about this deep problem ...

A lot of parents who no longer hold to the same beliefs about the Bible and God they did when they were children are left wondering, “But how do we raise our kids?” Author and speaker Cindy Wang Brandt helps us with the question: How can our kids hold to...

When we ask, “What does this passage mean?” the answer is a little more complicated than we might expect. Jared looks at some basic principles of biblical interpretation and how they might help us better read our Bibles.Show Notes →

This episode originally aired as Episode 46 on April 23, 2018This week, Jared & Pete talk to Wil Gafney about womanist interpretation of the Bible. In their discussion, Wil brings up fascinating nuances in the text and challenges the predominantly patri...

This week’s guest is Jeff Chu—author, journalist, advocate, co-creator of Evolving Faith—and our topic is grief, a universal experience that is often difficult to talk about it. We experience grief when confronted with death, of course, but grief is also...

Pete continues his award-winning, mind-bending—almost surreal—series on the book of Exodus. In this episode he looks the laws in chapters 20-24, namely the 10 Commandments and the so-called “Book of the Covenant.” What were these laws about back in the d...

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People Podcast, Pete and Jared talk with Jonathan Martin about the beauty of Pentecostalism, the value of being taught to listen to the Holy Spirit from a young age, and the importance of experiencing other Christi...