We are so freaking back. We're joined by Seattle University professor emeritus Wes Howard-Brook, author of works like Come Out My People: God's Call Out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond, to discuss:King Solomon wasn't actually all that wise

DAVID & BATHSHEBA: The discourse (with April Ajoy)

Jul 13th, 2023 1h 27m

Hello! Let's sprint through a big (but action-packed) portion of the Book of Samuel and then focus on the story of King David and Bathsheba.Almost everything you've ever heard about this story has nothing to do with what's actually in the Bi

DAVID & JONATHAN: Biased toward love (with Mason Mennenga)

Apr 10th, 2023 1h 38m

We're back in the Book of Samuel, starting in chapter 18, where giant-killer David meets Israel's other war hero, Prince Jonathan. To quote Taylor Swift, sparks fly. Platonic sparks, your Sunday school teacher assures you. There's a case the

DAVID VS GOLIATH: Are we the baddies? (with Andrew Whitehead)

Dec 20th, 2022 1h 37m

Samuel chapter 17!We've reached a Bible story everybody PRETTY MUCH knows, though there are still lots of fun details. It wasn't a slingshot, for one thing!Goliath is the Statue of Liberty of Michael Jordans, David is Mr. Have It Both Ways

KING SAUL: Himbo Boss Baby vs. Dungeon Master Dick Cheney

Sep 12th, 2022 56m 50s

Samuel 7-16!The Bible contains a LOT of genres. Uh-oh, you're now in the middle of a Machiavellian historical novel about Derek Zoolander! Time for our regular installment of Which Part Of This Story Will White Christian Americans Try To C

SAMUEL: "The Messiah" and the golden hemorrhoid rats

May 30th, 2022 48m

We're entering a whole new chunk of the Bible, and it might be a surprise chunk!Why we're now in Samuel instead of Ruth, the book that's up next according to Christian Bibles! Yet another barren womb! As always, when the Bible reuses a sto

JUDGES: Righteous invasion of Ehud (with Jon Bois)

Mar 1st, 2022 2h 3m

It's time to bring on the internet's beloved Jon Bois to discuss:The Bible's best story book so far, if you have the non-exploding stomach for it: Judges.Meet Ehud, the left-handed sphincter-bursting assassin!Homeschool middle school du

JOSHUA: Jericho was an inside job

Feb 3rd, 2022 57m 41s

WAR DADS AND LADY WAR DADS ASSEMBLE. It's a new Bible section! Joshua is the dude version of LIVE LAUGH LOVE, but also somehow the most feminist book yet. Rahab, the Bible character whose job is most ignored by church, and also a military

DEUUUTERONOMY: Actually super important and mostly really good??

Nov 30th, 2021 1h 25m

The final book of the Torah, the one we NEVER talked about in church, actually ... kinda rules at times? In the story, at the edge of Canaan, Moses reframes everything that's happened to this point, retconning the horrors of Numbers and syn

NUMBERS: Maybe the Bible's worst book!

Sep 13th, 2021 1h 2m

The fourth book of the Bible! As always, remember the Bible has been written, edited, and interpreted by LOTS of people, and we're under no obligation to treat its angriest voices as definitive of the entire thing. The actual story resumes!

Q&A: Heresy reviews, salvation fear, and animal souls

Jul 12th, 2021 1h 26m

Hi pals! Taking a break from the main Bible storyline to hit some listener questions, such as:What's the Protestant holiday calendar like? Which Bible verse most contradicts its own book? There's a Toad the Wet Sprocket song about the ap

LEVITICUS: Fight fundie with fundie

May 17th, 2021 59m 54s

Our first attempt at doing an entire book in one episode, and it happens to be one of the weirdest, grossest, narrative-lightest books. Yay!Spending as little time as possible on the chapters about bodily discharges, we promise.Leviticus

TABERNACLE: I feel God in this Minecraft tailgate (with Rev. Chris Lee)

Mar 10th, 2021 51m 9s

Pretty much the whole last half of Exodus, except for the Ten Commandments-adjacent rules and the Golden Calf chapterWhy yes, we DID have fun talking about quite arguably the most boring stretch of the whole Bible!Why yes, you CAN recreat

GOLDEN CALF: God's marshmallow test (with Jane Coaston)

Jan 25th, 2021 1h 4m

Exodus 24, Exodus 32, and so forth (there's a whole lot of laws and blueprints mixed within the storyline) ...Think the Bible itself is weird? Wait'll you get a load of church history! Unchallenged faith: is that really even faith? Aaro

CHRISTMAS FELLOWSHIP: Jacksonville Jesus & Militant Mary

Dec 17th, 2020 1h 22m

Taking a break from storyline order for some holiday spirit: Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2, plus some Mark!Welcome aboard Richard Johnson, Matt Brown, Sara Cannon, and some of our Associate Pastors for an interdenominational exchange: what Christm

TEN COMMANDMENTS: Wife Guy Moses and God's TOS page

Nov 25th, 2020 56m 38s

Exodus 20! How many of these Ten do we agree to keep today? They all seem pretty simple, obvious, or outdated, right? Well!! Tried something new: recorded a Zoom with a few of our Patreon Associate Pastors, plus Interfaith Council guests: M

SINAI: What's the Bible about? (with Richard Elliott Friedman)

Nov 2nd, 2020 1h 10m

Exodus 19-20ish, the part about Moses leading the Israelites to meet Huge Loud Scary Firestorm GodGreatest pyro entrance of all timeIs monotheism having a moment?We're joined by Dr. Friedman (author of Who Wrote the Bible and many other

Q&A: Our stories, Christian punk rock, and Baptist spaceships

Oct 1st, 2020 1h 3m

Support for this program occurs at patreon.com/vbspodcast, where we have stickers, mugs, a Discord, hats (for now), early episode access, and so forth!- Taking a break from the main storyline, where we're making hilariously little progress (bu

THE RED SEA: First of all, it wasn't the Red Sea

Sep 7th, 2020 54m 44s

Exodus 13-18, one of the most Google Maps portionsSomething similar to the story could've happened! But there's no way to know! And that's ok! Let's discuss the Indiana Jones of Bible scammers, Jurassic Jesus Park in Kentucky, and ladies bei

PASSOVER: From Destroyer to Matzo Hunt (with Charlotte Wilder, Bobby Big Wheel, & Alex Kirshner)

Aug 10th, 2020 1h 13m

Exodus 12! God's bug-out bag & Mean Tooth Fairy!From mythology to religion, from polytheism to ... ?Jewish friends explain one of their favorite holidays! Follow @TheWilderThings, @BobbyBigWheel, & @Alex_KirshnerThanks to Mike Altman, Brad H

MOSES: Secret battles of the Mega Man gods

Jul 24th, 2020 1h 8m

Exodus 1-11! The Bible's Luke/Obi-Wan duo!Made it to Book 2! REALLY important book!Moses rises, falls, rises into one of the world's biggest heroesPlagues are more metal than you've ever realized!Weird circumcision stuff? Yes alwaysLet's t

JOSEPH: Coat is a lie! Genesis recap! Children like Veggie Tales!

Jun 21st, 2020 1h 7m

Genesis 37-50!It doesn't feel like every third verse is missing! You can do ANYTHING with Joseph. See: Veggie Tales & Technicolor Dreamcoat Finished Genesis! It's about lady spies, Babylon allegory, and everything else! Tips appreciated at

ABRAHAM: Daddy issues (with Rodger Sherman and Shaker Samman)

May 31st, 2020 1h 21m

Genesis 12-35! God's putting together a crew!Faaatherrr Aaabraham, Mother of Dragons Growing up Jewish! Growing up Muslim! Quran is pretty cool, btw So much weird sex stuff??? "The Nature Boy" Jacob "The Snake-ob" #TeamEsauFollow guests

NOAH: Ecoterrorist Russell Crowe (with Ryan Nanni and Michael Felder)

May 15th, 2020 1h 20m

Genesis 6-11!Happy animals with Cap'n Noah (while 99.9% of life drowns)!Catholic-Protestant multiversesNES bootlegs for the LordAronofsky's most biblical horror movie, reviewedPlease be patient, God ain't finished with God yet!Follow gues

CREATION: Dirtbag Adam vs. Rookie God

May 4th, 2020 1h 13m

Genesis 1-5! Release the Sea Monster Cut!Please bear with God, it's His first day on the job! Wait, how many Gods are here? Someone please put Eve in charge Please stop pooping on Cain's rutabagas Snake might not be Satan btw Extended Uni

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