[{"content":"Introduction In the first centuries of Christianity, believers circulated many letters, gospels, and apocalypses alongside the texts we now call the New Testament. Some of these were read aloud in worship, quoted as authoritative, and bound together with texts that did eventually become scripture. Then — gradually, through council decisions and the weight of tradition — a line was drawn.\nThis episode asks: what lies on the other side of that line, and what does it tell us?\nThe Epistle of Clement …","date":"2026-03-12","permalink":"/posts/ep24-lost-letters/","summary":"Introduction In the first centuries of Christianity, believers circulated many letters, gospels, and apocalypses alongside the texts we now call the New Testament. Some of these were read aloud in …","tags":["manuscripts"],"title":"The Lost Letters of the Early Church"},{"content":"The Most Debated Book in the Bible No book in the New Testament has generated more controversy, more failed predictions, and more genuine spiritual insight than the Revelation of John. Depending on who is reading it, it is either a coded message to persecuted first-century Christians, a literal roadmap for the end of history, or a timeless meditation on the cosmic struggle between good and evil.\nIn this episode, we trace the hermeneutical battle through twenty centuries of Christian thought.\nThe …","date":"2026-03-05","permalink":"/posts/ep23-revelation-symbolism/","summary":"The Most Debated Book in the Bible No book in the New Testament has generated more controversy, more failed predictions, and more genuine spiritual insight than the Revelation of John. Depending on …","tags":["prophecy"],"title":"Revelation: Symbolism vs. Literalism"},{"content":"The Problem of the Seven Last Words Christian tradition speaks of the \u0026amp;ldquo;Seven Last Words of Christ\u0026amp;rdquo; — a harmonization of sayings drawn from all four Gospels. But the four evangelists don\u0026amp;rsquo;t agree on what Jesus said from the cross. In fact, they disagree quite substantially.\nThis episode explores those differences, argues they are not a problem to be explained away, and shows how each Gospel\u0026amp;rsquo;s distinctive account reveals something profound about its theology.\nMark and …","date":"2026-02-26","permalink":"/posts/ep22-jesus-words-cross/","summary":"The Problem of the Seven Last Words Christian tradition speaks of the \u0026ldquo;Seven Last Words of Christ\u0026rdquo; — a harmonization of sayings drawn from all four Gospels. But the four evangelists …","tags":["gospels"],"title":"What Did Jesus Really Say on the Cross?"},{"content":"The Discovery In the spring of 1947, a Bedouin shepherd named Muhammad edh-Dhib threw a stone into a cave near the northwest shore of the Dead Sea and heard pottery shatter. What he found — and what subsequent archaeological investigation uncovered across eleven caves — was one of the most extraordinary discoveries in the history of religion.\nThe Dead Sea Scrolls: approximately 900 manuscripts, dating from the third century BC to the first century AD, including every book of the Hebrew Bible …","date":"2026-02-19","permalink":"/posts/ep21-dead-sea-scrolls/","summary":"The Discovery In the spring of 1947, a Bedouin shepherd named Muhammad edh-Dhib threw a stone into a cave near the northwest shore of the Dead Sea and heard pottery shatter. What he found — and what …","tags":["history"],"title":"The Dead Sea Scrolls and Modern Faith"},{"content":"The Problem \u0026amp;ldquo;For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.\u0026amp;rdquo; — Paul, Romans 3:28\n\u0026amp;ldquo;You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.\u0026amp;rdquo; — James 2:24\nThese two statements appear to directly contradict each other. Martin Luther, who made sola fide (faith alone) the cornerstone of the Reformation, called the Epistle of James \u0026amp;ldquo;an epistle of straw\u0026amp;rdquo; and questioned whether it belonged in the canon.\nTwo thousand years of …","date":"2026-02-12","permalink":"/posts/ep20-paul-james/","summary":"The Problem \u0026ldquo;For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.\u0026rdquo; — Paul, Romans 3:28\n\u0026ldquo;You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.\u0026rdquo; …","tags":["theology"],"title":"Paul vs. James: Faith and Works"},{"content":"The Myths Thanks largely to The Da Vinci Code and decades of popular misinformation, the Council of Nicaea (325 AD) has become one of the most mythologized events in Christian history. Let\u0026amp;rsquo;s start with what it did not do:\nIt did not decide which books would be in the Bible It did not invent the divinity of Jesus It was not a close vote on whether Jesus was divine It was not called to suppress earlier, more \u0026amp;ldquo;human\u0026amp;rdquo; portrayals of Jesus What Actually Happened Emperor Constantine, …","date":"2026-02-05","permalink":"/posts/ep19-council-nicaea/","summary":"The Myths Thanks largely to The Da Vinci Code and decades of popular misinformation, the Council of Nicaea (325 AD) has become one of the most mythologized events in Christian history. Let\u0026rsquo;s …","tags":["history"],"title":"The Council of Nicaea: Myth and Reality"}]