History in the Bible

This is the first episode in a series of speculations and alternate histories. This time: what if John the Baptist was bigger than Jesus? What if Paul had split to form his own independent movement?

In this bonus, Bernie Maopolski of Fan of History (https://shows.acast.com/history) invites me onto his "Whats New In History" segment. We discuss my ideas about how Bible scholars have it all wrong about the mathematics of the growth of Christinaity in the Roman Empire, and how I have corrected their errors. I also have some announcements about my final episodes, and about my forthcoming book of the show.

In this bonus collaboration, the hosts dive into the story of Abraham and the three strangers, discussing the practicality and realism of the narrative. They explore measurement units, connections between ancient myths and Acts Chapter 14, the roles of angels in Jewish tradition, and early Christian interpretations of Abraham's visitors.

The revolt of Bar Kosiva against Rome failed, as had the Great Revolt. The Roman punishment destroyed almost all the many blooms living in the mighty jungle that was Second Temple Judaism. Only two species escaped the immolation: rabbinic Judaism, and Christianity. The imperial punishment also destroyed the Jewish wing of the church incorporate, leaving the franchise to follow its own path. With a shout-out to the great Rabbi Akiva.

The Temple's destruction also destroyed all the many varieties of Second Temple Judaism, save for the emerging rabbinic movement, and the nascent Christian movement.

In this bonus, Gregg Gassman of the Popeular History Podcast (www.popeularhistory.com) and and I discuss Peter, Paul, and Clement. Gregg is a Catholic, and I was brought up in the Anglican tradition. So we have some differences about Peter, as you will soon hear. We also try to work out where Clement fits in the papal succession.

Only two of Abraham's heirs survived to the year 200 CE/AD: rabbinic Judaism, and the imperial church incorporate. My final epiodes explore how that happened.

In this collaboration with Steve Guerra of the History of the Papacy show (https://www.atozhistorypage.com/), and Scott McAndless of the Retelling the Bible podcast (https://retellingthebible.wordpress.com/2021/09/15/5-19-me-myself-and-manoah/), we discuss Scott's episode "Me, Myself, and Manoah".

In this bonus, I launch a new mini-series. My co-hosts are Steve Guerra of the History of the Papacy show (https://www.atozhistorypage.com/), and Scott Mcandless of the Retelling the Bible podcast (https://retellingthebible.wordpress.com/). In these bonus episodes, we will discuss one of Scott's re-tellings. In this show we revisit Scott's show on Joshua and the day the sun stood still.

In this bonus, John Brooks of the "Pod Only Knows" podcast interviews me about the genesis and making of my show. I think it turned out pretty well. This episode formed the last show of John's former podcast, "Hard to Believe". It is published here with his kind permission. With his new podcast, "Pod Only Knows", John is off to fresh ventures, along with Dr. Kelly J. Baker. They are both from the serious world of religious studies. In their new show, they take a sometimes serious, sometimes irreverent, and always curious, look at the way religion shows up in our world. Kelly and John invite other people from the wide and wild world of religious studies to talk to them about why and how they do what they do and why their work matters to us all.