In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, our resident destroyer Pete is on a mission to ruin the book of 1 Kings by delving into the historical context and narrative themes of this ancient text which marks the beginning of the end of Israel’s monarchy.

Nerd alert—we’re diving into biblical studies in this episode of The Bible for Normal People as Pete and Jared talk with Barbara Leung Lai about her work studying the inner life of characters in the Hebrew Bible. Combining psychological exegesis, perspectives of personality, and Bakhtinian views of polyphony and dialogism, Barbara helps give Bible readers insight into what biblical characters might have thought and felt.

Pete and Jared are joined by renowned scholar John Dominic “Dom” Crossan in this episode of The Bible for Normal People as they take a tour of the gospels that didn’t make the cut for the New Testament. Together they explore three different types of non-canonical gospels and what those texts can teach us about the creation of the Bible.

In this episode of The Bible for Normal People, Pete and Jared talk with Richard Kalmin about the origins and history of the Talmud, why it was written, and how the text has functioned not just within Jewish history, but also in various modern denominations of Judaism.

We’re uncovering more than Boaz’s feet in this episode of The Bible for Normal People as Judy Fentress-Williams joins Pete and Jared to take a historical-critical look at the symbolism, cultural context, and subversive embrace of the other within the book of Ruth.