Topics
- #church history 1
- #cultural and social issues 1
- #doubt 1
- #politics 1
- Amy-Jill Levine 1
- Andrew Perriman 1
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- Austin Channing Brown 1
- Bible for Normal People Season 1 27
- Bible for Normal People Season 2 39
- Bible for Normal People Season 3 41
- Bible for Normal People Season 4 40
- Bible for Normal People Season 5 40
- Bible for Normal People Season 6 6
- Bible for Normal People Season 8 1
- Biblical Interpretation 142
- Brian Walsh 1
- Canonization 13
- Cheryl Bridges Johns 1
- Church History 44
- Cultural & Social Issues 71
- Deconstruction 36
- Doubt 34
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- Ethics & Morality 15
- Faith for Normal People Season 1 1
- God 36
- Jared Byas 5
- Jennifer Knust 1
- Jesus 30
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- LGBTQ+ 8
- Linda Kay Klein 1
- New Testament 49
- Non-Christian Religions 26
- Old Testament 76
- Pete Enns 10
- Pete Holmes: 1
- Pete Ruins 3
- Politics 25
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- Race & Justice 13
- Rachel Held Evans 1
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Episode 341: Archie Wright - Who The Devil Is Satan?
In this week’s episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete talks with biblical scholar Archie Wright about the development of the devil and how Jewish and Christian understandings of Satan have evolved over time. They explore why Satan does not appear in the Garden of Eden story as commonly assumed, how ancient Jewish texts like 1 Enoch helped shape ideas about evil spirits, and how later Christian traditions transformed Satan into the figure familiar today. Together, they invite listeners to reconsider familiar assumptions about the Bible, explore the historical development of theological ideas, and approach Scripture with fresh eyes by tracing traditions back to their earliest sources.
Episode 340: Pete Ruins Everything with Bill Schniedewind
In this week’s episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete talks with biblical scholar Bill Schniedewind about where God is located in the Hebrew Bible and how different understandings of divine presence developed throughout ancient Israelite religion. They explore the archaeological and biblical evidence surrounding temples, sacred spaces, the Ark of the Covenant, and the centralization of worship in Jerusalem, challenging the idea that Israelite religion followed a simple progression toward one centralized system. Together, they consider the Bible’s competing visions of God’s presence, the tensions surrounding political and religious authority, and how those unresolved tensions reflect the complexity of both Scripture and the human search for God.
Episode 339: Mark Goodacre - Did The Gospels Copy Each Other?
In this week’s episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete and Jared talk with Mark Goodacre about the synoptic problem and what the striking similarities and differences between Matthew, Mark, and Luke reveal about how the Gospels were written. They explore why scholars think Matthew and Luke used Mark, the debate over the hypothetical source Q, and the evidence that Luke may have known Matthew. Together, they consider how Gospel writers intentionally revised and reshaped earlier accounts, what those disagreements reveal about the development of early Christian theology, and how recognizing these differences can change the way readers understand Scripture as a whole.
Episode 338: The Brian Recker and Tamice Spencer-Helms Takeover
In this week’s episode of The Bible for Normal People, Brian Recker and Tamice Spencer-Helms celebrate the podcast’s 10th anniversary by talking with Pete Enns and Jared Byas about how their relationships with the Bible, faith, and certainty have evolved over the past decade. They reflect on the costs of questioning evangelicalism, the ways The Bible for Normal People has helped people hold onto a love for Scripture while letting go of rigid interpretations, and how lived experiences from people of color and LGBTQ+ communities have expanded their understanding of what it means to read the Bible. Together, they explore Scripture as a “means of grace,” the freedom of admitting what they don’t know, and the possibility of having conviction without certainty.
Episode 74: Grace Hamman - A Medieval Mystic’s Vision of God’s Love
In this week’s episode of Faith for Normal People, Pete and Jared talk with writer and scholar Grace Hamman about Julian of Norwich, her mystical visions, and her radically intimate understanding of God’s love. They explore Julian’s depiction of Jesus as a mother, her approach to suffering and hope in the aftermath of the Black Death, and her insistence that “all shall be well” is not a simplistic promise that everything will turn out fine, but a hard-won hope in the midst of suffering. They also consider what Julian’s example can teach those navigating deconstruction, questions of authority, and the tension between personal spiritual experience and institutional tradition, inviting listeners to embrace a more nuanced way of engaging faith, Scripture, and the wisdom of the past.
Episode 336: Pete Enns - Pete Ruins Everything on Lamentations
In this week’s episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete explores the book of Lamentations and what it can teach us about faith in the midst of suffering. He examines the book’s historical setting in the aftermath of Jerusalem’s destruction, its raw and unsettling portrayals of grief, anger, and God’s apparent absence, and the ways its carefully structured poetry gives shape to experiences of trauma and loss. He also considers how Lamentations challenges modern Christian assumptions that faith requires certainty, optimism, or resolution. Together, these themes invite listeners to see lament not as a failure of faith, but as a deeply faithful way of remaining in relationship with God when life falls apart.
Episode 73: Ciarra Jones - Who Gets to Decide What The Bible Means?
In this week’s episode of Faith for Normal People, Pete and Jared talk with theologian Ciarra Jones about who gets to decide what the Bible means and how our identities, experiences, and social locations shape the ways we interpret Scripture. Drawing on her own journey from Pentecostal Christianity to Black, queer, womanist, and liberation theology, Ciarra explores how dominant interpretations of the Bible have been used to justify slavery, white supremacy, sexism, and the marginalization of LGBTQ+ people. She also introduces the practices of biblical refusal and biblical reversal, challenging the idea that some interpretations are objective while others are merely subjective, and invites listeners to see deconstruction not as abandoning faith but as a process of reorientation, reconstruction, and discovering a more expansive and intimate understanding of God.
Episode 330: Bruce Longenecker - The Vision of Galatians
In this week’s episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete and Jared talk with Bruce Longenecker about Galatians, Paul’s understanding of the Torah, and the kind of community he believed the gospel creates. They explore how Paul reframes identity around participation in Christ rather than ethnic or religious hierarchy, and why Galatians is less about individual salvation and more about transformed relationships in a fractured world. Together, they invite listeners to see Paul’s vision as a radical challenge to systems of power, exclusion, and self-interest.
Episode 328: Vanessa Lovelace - Is Deuteronomy History?
In this week’s episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete and Jared talk with Vanessa Lovelace about the Deuteronomistic history and why Deuteronomy plays such a central role in shaping Israel’s story. They explore how biblical writers interpreted Israel’s history through the lens of covenant, exile, and identity formation, and how these themes continue to influence modern readings of the Bible. Together, they invite listeners to see ancient texts not as a flat narrative, but as a rich conversation about God, justice, failure, and hope.
Episode 327: Douglas Campbell - Ripping Up the Romans Road
In this week’s episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete and Jared talk with Douglas Campbell about rethinking the “Romans Road” and what Paul is really doing in his letter to the Romans. They explore how common readings have turned Romans into a step-by-step plan of salvation, often missing its original context and ethical focus. Together, they invite listeners to see Romans as a vision of God’s radical love and a call to live transformed, relational lives shaped by that reality.
Episode 321: H. Daniel Zacharias and T. Christopher Hoklotubbe - Native American Biblical Interpretation
In this week’s episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete and Jared talk with Chris Hoklotubbe and Danny Zacharias about biblical interpretation through an Indigenous American perspective. They explore how cultural identity, history, and social location shape the way people read Scripture, and why Indigenous perspectives challenge assumptions many Christians take for granted. Together, they invite listeners to read the Bible more thoughtfully, remaining aware of their own context and open to voices that have too often been overlooked.
Episode 320: Pete Ruins Everything on Jeremiah
In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete has another go at ruining something. This week, he’s unpacking the book of Jeremiah and its interlocking themes of anguish, confusion, and hope. Along the way, Pete picks out some of the iconic Jeremiah verses commonly quoted in churches and Facebook posts and puts them back in the context of the text. It might make those verses less applicable to a high school graduation card, but it also helps readers participate in the ongoing journey to search for God’s promises in the face of crisis.
Bonus Episode: Jennifer Garcia Bashaw & Aaron Higashi - Nobody “Just Reads” the Bible
This is a teaser of our February 2026 bonus episode! In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete and Jared are joined by longtime friends of the podcast Jennifer Garcia Bashaw and Aaron Higashi for a lively conversation about, of all things, interpreting the Bible. Together, they explore metaphors that celebrate the diversity of biblical interpretation, wrestle with the complexities of relativism, and invite listeners to move beyond inerrancy toward a more expansive, life-giving view of Scripture.
Episode 71: Jared Stacy - The Evangelical to Conspiracy Theory Pipeline
In this week’s episode of Faith for Normal People, Pete and Jared talk with theologian and ethicist Jared Stacy about the rise of conspiracy thinking, especially within American evangelicalism. Drawing on his research, Jared Stacy explains how conspiracy theories tap into fears of cultural decline, offer a sense of control, and become spiritually charged narratives about good and evil. He also explores opportunities for people to recognize these patterns and consider more grounded, truth-seeking ways of engaging faith and public life.
Episode 316: Pete Enns & Jared Byas - Is the Bible the Word of God? & Other Easy Questions
At the close of Season 9 of The Bible for Normal People, Pete & Jared set out on their annual holiday quest: taking questions that people have been asking for centuries and attempting to answer them in an hour-long podcast episode.
Episode 313: Pete Ruins Song of Songs
In the final Pete Ruins episode of 2025, Pete Enns speaks to everyone who has ever read Song of Songs and wondered “why the heck is this in the Bible?”
Episode 67: Liz Charlotte Grant - The Gift of an Unclear Text
In this week’s episode of Faith for Normal People, Pete is joined by Liz Charlotte Grant to talk about using the Bible as a springboard for curiosity, inquiry, conversation, and community. This episode explores how art, imagination, and the practice of midrash can open up new ways of engaging scripture when literal readings don’t speak to what we see in the world today.