very Informative and surprisingly funny
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“Last year I decided to try and go a little bit more in depth in learning about Biblical History, and while googling “Bible History Podcast” this is one of the first that came up, and one of my favorites. It’s fairly basic in structure and very informative. Garry explains his premise and method of approach to Biblical history in the beginning, and proceeds by going (mostly) chronologically through the books of the Bible. For those of you who grew up with Bible stories through either Sunday School or childhood family traditions, it serves as an enlightening and interesting refresher on familiar tales, but also includes a lot of interesting tidbits you may have missed then, such as the dual creation story in Genesis, God commanding and then punishing Israel for completing a census, amongst others. While Garry is not a biblical scholar himself, he is very meticulous about mentioning which scholars and sources whose ideas he is summarizing, and does a very good job of presenting some of the more complicated material in ways that are understandable outside of a non-academic setting. The website associated with this podcast also has a lot of great resources to help with keeping track of the geographical and genealogical aspects of Biblical history as well for those interested.
Sound-wise, the tone of the podcast is very calming and consistent, good for listening to while taking long bus rides or doing other things–I listened to a lot of episodes while working on illustration projects. Since this is a podcast that contains a lot of information that you do kind of have to pay attention to, it’s good if you’re not doing something that takes too much attention or mental energy. With that being said, Garry does occasionally mix in a little bit of dry humor in between serious discussion of Biblical history that always seems to catch me by surprise. I don’t have examples of anything in particular at the moment, but let’s just say that the Patriarchs, King David, and God himself all get dragged hilariously for their less-than-flattering characteristics at least once, while unexpected characters like King Saul are re-evaluated in a surprisingly compassionate manner. Not sure if the sprinklings of humor are everyone’s cup of tea, but they gave me a laugh at least.
Humorous digs aside, (if it wasn’t apparent already) to be clear this podcast is not interested in proselytizing or proving a specific perspective on the Bible in regards to faith and practice, but in investigating these texts from a specific historical perspective, taking into account the scholarship that we have so far. Like any subject, it’s not the end-all-be-all of approaches Biblical History, but I think it works as a good introduction for both the Biblical history enthusiast and the casual listener.”
Smug Caryatid via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
11/27/17
More reviews of History in the Bible
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“Thank you Garry. Obviously you put a ton of work into this podcast and it shows. I love the mix of humor, politics and history.
I’ve recommended this to numerous friends. Great work!”
JDawg28if via Apple Podcasts ·
Canada ·
10/20/18
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“Is this still available?”
hereinOz via Apple Podcasts ·
Australia ·
05/06/19
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“Familiar plot line really not so familiar once examined in detail by mr Stevens
There is so much detail parsed into understandable segments. Can’t stop listening.”
monker 58 via Apple Podcasts ·
Canada ·
10/10/20
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