The Bible For Normal People

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. Show Notes → https://thebiblefornormalpeople.com/episodes/episode-340-pete-ruins-everything-with-bill-schniedewind Watch this episode on YouTube → https://youtu.be/Qb1pkjRH42Q Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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.  Show Notes → thebiblefornormalpeople.com/episodes/episode-338-the-brian-recker-and-tamice-spencer-helms-takeover Watch this episode on YouTube → https://youtu.be/gaZtio1Ue2I Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Show Notes →https://thebiblefornormalpeople.com/episode-74-grace-hamman-a-medieval-mystics-vision-of-gods-love Watch this episode on YouTube → https://youtu.be/hM_gyj-r-UM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week’s episode of Faith for Normal People, Pete and Jared talk with theologian and ethicist 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. Show Notes →https://thebiblefornormalpeople.com/episodes/episode-73-ciarra-jones-who-gets-to-decide-what-the-bible-means Watch this episode on YouTube → https://youtu.be/eb5oZ_q-uII ********** This episode is brought to you by Brooklyn Bedding, which knows sleep isn’t one-size-fits-all. That’s why they offer mattresses for every body, every sleep style – even in hard-to-find sizes. Go to brooklynbedding.com and use promo code BIBLE at checkout to get 30% off sitewide. This offer is not available anywhere else. ********** This episode is sponsored by Factor. Head to factormeals.com/normalpeople50off and use code normalpeople50off to get 50 percent off and 1 free breakfast item per box for 1 year, while supplies last until 10/31/2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices