For many contemporary readers of the Bible, C.S. Lewis is looked to as an inspiration and authority. The 20th century Oxbridge don, Christian essayist and author of The Chronicles of Narnia wove the Bible into all of his works. But was Lewis a good reader of the Bible? How did Lewis respond to the challenges of New Testament scholarship? And in what ways did Lewis put the Bible to use in his legendary chronicles?

To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Time Machine with New Testament Professor, Leslie Baynes, whose recent book, Between Interpretation and Imagination: C.S. Lewis and the Bible (Eerdmans, 2025) is the first full-length treatment of how C.S. Lewis engaged the Bible.

Leslie Baynes is Professor of Religious Studies at Missouri State University and a translator for the Catholic American Bible (CAB, 2027). She earned her PhD at the University of Notre Dame and is the author of The Heavenly Book Motif in Judeo-Christian Apocalypses 200 BCE – 200 CE (Brill, 2012), among many other contributions to New Testament studies.

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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson.

1st October marks the UN's International Day of Older Persons. So this week, Helen and Lloyd took a trip in the Time Machine to visit the Bible's 'Golden Oldies' – some of its oldest, wisest and most memorable characters. They consider what the Bible has to say about growing old, unpack theological readings of old age, and raise the age-old question: how old was Jesus when he began his mission?

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Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson.

'O Assyria, the rod of my anger!' So declared the prophet Isaiah of one of the most feared and imposing empires of the ancient world. But who were the Assyrians, and how did they become the world's first empire?

To find out, Helen and Lloyd take a trip in the Time Machine with Professor Eckart Frahm of Yale University, the author of Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World’s First Empire (2023, YUP). From warfare and imperial ambition to religion and everyday life, they discover together what made Assyria such a formidable civilisation, and how its history sheds new light on the world of the Hebrew Bible.

Support the show

Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 + 5 produced by John Nelson.