We trust ancient biographies that were written 450 years after the fact. So why do so many Christians get told the gospels can't be trusted as history?New Testament scholar Craig Keener (author of Christobiography and a four-volume commentary on Acts) is on the show with us. He was a self-described smug atheist before he became one of the most published New Testament scholars alive, and the path he took to find out whether any of this is actually true is worth listening to.🙏 Faith Lab is a listener-supported show. If these conversations are helping you, you can support the show at https://faithlabshow.com/support ★ Support this podcast ★

Most of us were taught the gospel is a ticket to heaven. New Testament scholar Nijay Gupta says that is not what Paul was actually preaching.Nijay Gupta is professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary and author of Paul for the World. He, Shane Rosenthal, and Nate work through what Paul's gospel actually was, where "I'll fly away" theology came from, and why he thinks C.S. Lewis got heaven wrong.🙏 Faith Lab is a listener-supported show. If these conversations are helping you, you can support the show at https://faithlabshow.com/support ★ Support this podcast ★

The hardest critiques of the cross target one version of the gospel. The earliest Christians were teaching something bigger.For a thousand years before penal substitution became the dominant framework, the church proclaimed something wider: that God entered into death to destroy it from the inside. Irenaeus, Athanasius, and Gregory of Nyssa all described it, and their version answers the questions that trip most of us up.🙏 Faith Lab is a listener-supported show. If these conversations are helping you, you can support the show at faithlabshow.com/support ★ Support this podcast ★

Most Christians were taught to trust the Gospels without ever being shown why they should. The historical evidence is stronger than you think.New Testament scholar Lydia McGrew explains what she calls the "reportage model," a case that the Gospel authors weren't just passing along stories. They were close to the facts, trying to get them right, and highly successful. She walks through the kind of evidence that's hard to explain any other way.🔓 Get the full unedited interview with Lydia McGrew, including her argument that John's long speeches could be real memories and why she thinks Luke's anointing story is a completely different event than the other Gospels describe. https://faithlabshow.com/premium ★ Support this podcast ★

Most Christians quietly carry a question they rarely say out loud: after the apostles died, what happened? There's a gap in the story, and in that gap, a worry lives.One man fills it. He was born 35 years after Jesus, personally knew people who personally knew Christ, and his own words still survive on paper. His name was Polycarp, and the chain connecting him to the eyewitnesses is shorter than you think.🔓 Faith Lab premium members get full unedited interviews with every guest episode, plus early access and bonus content. Support the show at https://faithlabshow.com/premium ★ Support this podcast ★

Most Christians assume the end of the story is leaving earth for heaven. N.T. Wright says that is not the story the New Testament is telling. (Listen to Part 1 here, and the full interview here.)If Christian hope is really resurrection and new creation, then death, salvation, and the church's mission all start to look different.🔓 Get the full unedited interview with N.T. Wright, including his unused answer on why Paul carries so much weight in Christianity and why he sees Paul as a trophy of grace, at https://faithlabshow.com/premium ★ Support this podcast ★

The resurrection isn't a theological idea. It's a historical claim. And most people have never heard the actual evidence historians evaluate.NT Wright, one of the world's leading scholars on early Christianity, walks through the case, and explains why the standard skeptical alternatives keep falling apart. Get Surprised by Hope and God's Homecoming🔓 Members get the full unedited conversation with NT Wright, including his extended breakdown of what the New Testament actually says about the afterlife. faithlabshow.com/support ★ Support this podcast ★

Matthew and Luke don't give us the same family tree, and the census in Luke has been called a historical invention. So why would anyone still trust the birth narratives?New Testament scholar Caleb Friedeman compared them against 95 other ancient biographies, and what he found about Matthew and Luke's sources changes how you'd evaluate every supposed contradiction.🔓 Members get the full unedited interview with Caleb, including his breakdown of how ancient Jewish genealogies actually worked. faithlab.supercast.com ★ Support this podcast ★

A claim has circulated in scholarship for decades: ancient birth narratives were never meant to be taken as history. If true, the Christmas stories in Matthew and Luke would be beautiful legends, nothing more. New Testament scholar Caleb Friedeman didn't just accept that claim. He went back to the actual ancient biographers -- Plutarch, Suetonius, Philo, Cornelius Nepos -- and tested it. What he found changes the way we should evaluate the opening chapters of the Gospels. Caleb walks us through what ancient authors were actually doing when they wrote birth stories, and why Luke's birth narrative may have stronger historical markers than almost any other section of his Gospel. Want the full, unedited conversation? Members get the complete interview with Caleb Friedeman, usually 15-20 extra minutes of material that didn't make the final cut. faithlabshow.com/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For decades, scholars have claimed that ancient birth narratives were never meant to be taken as history. Then one scholar went and actually read them.New Testament scholar Caleb Friedeman tested that claim against the ancient biographers themselves, and what he found in their own writing doesn't fit the story we've been told.🔓 Members get the full unedited interview with Caleb, including Shelby's pushback on whether these stories are too beautiful to be real. faithlab.supercast.com ★ Support this podcast ★

Want the full, unedited conversation? Parts 1 and 2 combined with some bonus parts, over 80 minutes with Tim Mackie. Available exclusively for premium members at faithlabshow.com/support This is Part 2 of our conversation with Tim Mackie, co-founder of The Bible Project. Listen to Part 1. Tim walks through one of the most disturbing stories in Genesis (what actually happened between Noah and Ham) and uses it to reveal how biblical authors embedded narrative riddles that only unlock as you read further. He explains why the Bible isn't a rulebook but an epic narrative pointing to a person, how Jesus himself engaged Scripture when asked about hot-button issues, why head-on theological debates almost never change anyone's mind, and what he means when he says "faithfulness" is a better word than "inerrancy." If Part 1 introduced design patterns, Part 2 shows what happens when you let them reshape how you read everything. In this episode: The Noah and Ham story, what actually happened and why the Bible leaves it ambiguous on purpose. How narrative riddles work across Genesis, Leviticus, and Samuel. Tim's Yoda analogy for how we misread the Bible. Why the Bible is a narrative pointing to Jesus, not a rulebook. How Jesus handled marriage and divorce by going back to Genesis 1–2. Why head-on theological debates almost never work. Inerrancy vs. faithfulness and why Tim prefers the Bible's own vocabulary. Bible translations as a bag of golf clubs. Tim's personal experience of encounter through Scripture. Thoughts, questions, stories? faithlabshow.com/contact⁠ Become a member and get: 1. Full, unedited ad-free interviews 2. Early release episodes 3. Access to the private Faith Lab community Become a member: ⁠faithlabshow.com/support⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's a story in Genesis where Noah gets drunk and something terrible happens with his son Ham, and the Bible never actually tells you what it was. That's not a mistake. It's a design choice.In part two of our conversation, Bible Project co-founder Tim Mackie walks through how the biblical authors crafted narratives with intentional gaps, layered patterns, and riddles that unfold across entire books. We get into why "inerrancy" might be the wrong word, what Jesus actually did when asked about marriage and divorce, and why Tim says the Bible isn't a rule book but an epic narrative pointing to a person.Want the full, unedited conversation? Members get the complete interview with Tim Mackie, including his thoughts on the LGBTQ conversation, church, and more that we trimmed for time: faithlab.supercast.com ★ Support this podcast ★

Want the full, unedited conversation? Parts 1 and 2 combined with some bonus parts, over 80 minutes with Tim Mackie. Available exclusively for premium members at ⁠faithlabshow.com/support⁠ This is Part 1 of our conversation with Tim Mackie, co-founder of The Bible Project. Listen to ⁠Part 2⁠. Most people read the Bible like a modern instruction manual. Tim Mackie says that's exactly the problem. In this episode, Tim breaks down how the Bible was actually designed to communicate through repetition, pattern, and intentional structure. We look at why the early chapters of Genesis aren't just origin stories but training ground for how to read the rest of Scripture. Once you see the design patterns, you can't unsee them. Part 1 lays the foundation. Part 2 shows what happens when you let it reshape how you read everything. Thoughts, questions, stories? ⁠faithlabshow.com/contact⁠ Become a member and get: 1. Full, unedited ad-free interviews 2. Early release episodes 3. Access to the private Faith Lab community Become a member: ⁠faithlabshow.com/support⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most people were taught to believe the Bible, but almost no one was taught how it actually works. Why does Genesis repeat the same words over and over? Why do later stories echo earlier ones in ways that seem too precise to be accidental?Bible Project co-founder Tim Mackie walks through how the biblical authors used design patterns, repeated keywords, and narrative "hyperlinking" to build meaning across the entire Hebrew Bible. From the word "good" threading through Genesis to the way Abraham's story mirrors the Garden of Eden, Tim shows why treating the Bible like a rule book or a textbook misses what these ancient literary artists were actually doing.Want the full, unedited conversation? Members get the complete interview with Tim Mackie, including his thoughts on the LGBTQ conversation, church, and more that we trimmed for time: faithlab.supercast.com ★ Support this podcast ★

Rebecca McLaughlin joins Faith Lab to confront Christianity’s hardest objections and ask whether Christian faith can actually stand up to serious scrutiny. In this conversation, Nate and Shelby talk with Rebecca about the historical reliability of the Gospels, eyewitness testimony, women in the early Christian movement, moral critiques of Christianity, and the problem of suffering. Rather than treating faith as a blind leap, Rebecca explains why Christianity has always made public and testable claims about reality, claims that invite investigation rather than shut it down. They explore why Jesus continues to provoke resistance, how modern skepticism often relies on values Christianity helped introduce, and why deconstruction so often happens when questions are postponed rather than engaged. From the resurrection accounts and the presence of embarrassing details in the Gospels to the role of women as primary witnesses, this episode walks through why the Christian story may be far more historically and intellectually resilient than many assume. This episode is for skeptics, deconstructing Christians, and anyone wondering whether Christianity can survive honest doubt in a pluralistic world by facing hard questions directly rather than avoiding them. Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email hi@faithlabshow.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes 2. Ad-free episodes 3. Early release episodes 4. Access to the private Faith Lab Facebook Group (350+ listeners) Become a member: faithlabshow.com/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rebecca McLaughlin joins Faith Lab to confront Christianity’s hardest objections and ask whether Christian faith can actually stand up to serious scrutiny.In this conversation, Nate and Shelby talk with Rebecca about the historical reliability of the Gospels, eyewitness testimony, women in the early Christian movement, moral critiques of Christianity, and the problem of suffering. Rather than treating faith as a blind leap, Rebecca explains why Christianity has always made public and testable claims about reality, claims that invite investigation rather than shut it down.They explore why Jesus continues to provoke resistance, how modern skepticism often relies on values Christianity helped introduce, and why deconstruction so often happens when questions are postponed rather than engaged. From the resurrection accounts and the presence of embarrassing details in the Gospels to the role of women as primary witnesses, this episode walks through why the Christian story may be far more historically and intellectually resilient than many assume.This episode is for skeptics, deconstructing Christians, and anyone wondering whether Christianity can survive honest doubt in a pluralistic world by facing hard questions directly rather than avoiding them. Become a premium member: faithlab.supercast.com ★ Support this podcast ★

This is a preview, listen to the full bonus episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/148177291 Faith usually doesn’t disappear all at once. It tends to erode slowly when questions feel unsafe or when certainty is treated as a requirement. In this bonus episode, Nate reflects on the first two episodes of Faith Lab: Deconstruction Led Me Back to Christianity. Faith Isn't Supposed to be Blind with Shane Rosenthal Nate responds to an idea from Shane Rosenthal that reshaped how he thinks about faith as trust rather than certainty. He shares how that shift helped him make sense of deconstruction, answers a couple listener questions about the direction of the show, and reads a listener story that captures what it feels like to find faith again through honesty and time. This episode is a quiet reflection on rebuilding trust without pretending and following questions without fear. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For most people, faith means believing without evidence. A leap. A feeling. Something you are told to accept rather than question. But what if that is not what faith meant at all? In this conversation, Nate and Shelby sit down with Shane Rosenthal to explore why the New Testament idea of faith was rooted in trust, eyewitness testimony, and public events rather than blind belief. They unpack how faith slowly became detached from evidence, why that shift matters, and how it helps explain why so many people deconstruct today. This is not about winning arguments or turning Christianity into an academic exercise. It is about recovering a version of faith that expects questions, invites investigation, and gives real reasons to believe. You can find Shane’s work at humbleskeptic.com, and be sure to check out this recent video he released on whether archaeologists have discovered biblical Bethsaida⁠. If you have ever wondered why doubt feels inevitable, or why you were never taught this side of the story, this conversation is for you. Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email hi@faithlabshow.com Become a member and get: 1. Bonus episodes 2. All full-length, ad-free episodes 3. Access to our private community of 350+ listeners Become a member: faithlabshow.com/premium Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For most people, faith means believing without evidence. A leap. A feeling. Something you are told to accept rather than question.But what if that is not what faith meant at all?In this conversation, Nate and Shelby sit down with Shane Rosenthal to explore why the New Testament idea of faith was rooted in trust, eyewitness testimony, and public events rather than blind belief. They unpack how faith slowly became detached from evidence, why that shift matters, and how it helps explain why so many people deconstruct today.This is not about winning arguments or turning Christianity into an academic exercise. It is about recovering a version of faith that expects questions, invites investigation, and gives real reasons to believe.You can find Shane’s work at humbleskeptic.com, and be sure to check out this recent video he released on whether archaeologists have discovered biblical Bethsaida⁠.If you have ever wondered why doubt feels inevitable, or why you were never taught this side of the story, this conversation is for you. Become a premium member: faithlab.supercast.com ★ Support this podcast ★

Nate Hanson reflects on his journey with the podcast Almost Heretical, discussing the process of deconstruction and how it led him to a deeper understanding of Christianity. He shares his experiences of doubt, the search for evidence, and the transition to a new show called Faith Lab, which aims to explore the historical and philosophical foundations of the Christian faith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices