21 thoughts on “Podcast on Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean”

1. Phil Harland October 17, 2013 at 8:28 pm

   Thanks for listening, and glad you find this interesting.
2. Johan van en Bos December 28, 2013 at 5:37 pm

   Hallo Philip A. Harland,
   I am Dutch, 52 years old, father of two almost adult children and teacher (elementary school) with a passion for early Christianity. It is only now that I seriously take it up studying this subject.
   Doing it academically to me is not an option because I’ve been reading about for decades and among others I am a follower of the Gilles Quispel, the Dutch church historian (or to better say was, because he past away in 2006)

   When I stumbled upon your website, with that immeasurable number of podcast, exactly in my line of interest, I was happily surprised and I took up executing my old intention.
   Your series of podcasts and the book ‘Who wrote the gospels’ by Burton L. Mack is my starting position. Of course there are lots of others that I will involve later but for now these seemingly inexhaustible sources will do.

   I want to thank you for putting all your thorough work on the Net.
   It gave me the motivation to, instead of reading randomly, take it up get more organised.

   Yours faithfully,
   Johan van den Bos
   Klaroenstraat 16
   2287 CK
   Rijswijk
   Holland
3. Ned Gibson January 6, 2014 at 5:47 pm

   Hello Professor Harland,

   I am a recent graduate of Rutgers University and I am seriously considering a career in Hermeneutical studies and Biblical History. I have been a listener of your podcast for a couple years now and I was hoping you might have some advice for how I might begin a career in these fields. I was wondering, how would someone actually get into such fields (after getting a PhD)? How does one begin to conduct research? Do you conduct your own research or are you strictly a professor? Any advice, recommendations or further assistance would be greatly appreciated.

   Thank you,
   Ned Gibson
4. Scott Carlson April 16, 2014 at 7:10 am

   Dr. Harland,
   Thank you for your podcasts and other resources on early Christianity, especially regarding the Apostle Paul. I am teaching a course on the Pauline Epistles at a Lay Church Leader Training Institute and found your material helpful.
   Sincerely,
   Scott Carlson
5. Tracy Cramer June 11, 2014 at 6:53 am

   Wow, I really can’t express how much I appreciate your making these very accessible lectures available to the public. Thank you!

   I’ve read a lot in the last two years, (Meier, Sanders, Fredrikson, Ehrman, and Vermes) but I feel your courses fill in a lot of the assumed background information.

   I am just now finishing your outstanding Series 7, (having only listened to Series 7) and have written down the books you mention, but I am wondering if you have put together a bibliography for all the other series of lectures. Also, are there any study materials at your website?

   These podcasts should really get a wider audience!

   Thank you again, tracy
6. Samuel H. Bolton March 19, 2015 at 8:38 am

   These are fantastic! Thank you so much for making these available. They’re very useful to an aspiring religious studies scholar.
7. Steven Barker March 6, 2016 at 7:57 am

   Thank you so much! I’ve been listening to you for years and have learned many valuable things. Ancient religion/early christianity… they’re tricky topics– you’ve helped me gain some perspective. I’ve got to keep learning, though. So much to learn! Thanks again.
8. Rich Hershey July 26, 2016 at 9:28 am

   Dear Mr. Harland,

   I am writing to congratulate you on this very fine series of podcasts. I have listened through all of the episodes on Christianity, and about half on the origins of Satan. I must say that this is quite a service you provide, free of charge, and it speaks volumes about your love of the subject and the quality of your expertise. I only wish I could attend one of your courses, as the podcasts are clearly recorded lectures, and I can only imagine how enriching it would be to work through the material in a more formal classroom setting. Nevertheless, I am currently listening to the podcasts on Christian origins for a second (and in some cases even third) time, and will likely keep going back until all of the information sticks (there’s a lot to take in!). Thanks so much for this, it’s really of the highest quality, and so important for understanding one of the world’s most influential religions.
9. Phil Harland July 29, 2016 at 11:40 pm

   Thanks for the encouragement, Rich!
10. Magnus Magnuson February 14, 2017 at 11:20 am

    This is fascinating stuff! I’m excited for many hours of listening! Thank you for making this free and available for download.
11. Phil Harland February 14, 2017 at 11:34 am

    You are welcome! Thanks for listening.
12. Ben Wolfley April 22, 2017 at 3:40 pm

    Hi,

    I am very interested in listening to these podcasts, but every time I try to play them I get an error saying ‘Not Found’. When I try to download them I get a ‘Failed – Network error’. Is there any other options? Thanks
13. Phil Harland April 22, 2017 at 5:28 pm

    Hello Ben, Perhaps it’s a problem at your end or with your connection? When I go on this page and click the download option it opens it up to play, when I right click and “save link as” it saves fine, and when I press the flash play button it plays fine. Was there a specific episode that didn’t work for you?
14. Ryan August 26, 2017 at 11:43 pm

    Hello, it appears that your link to podcast 8.17 is broken. The rest of the links seem to work fine.
15. Scott October 6, 2017 at 12:35 am

    Thoroughly enjoy listening to these lectures. I have learned alot.

    This is my second time through.

    By the way, I also tried to download 8.17: Satan’s Home, part 4 – Tortures in Hell and Christ’s Descent and found it to be a dead link.
16. Phillip December 15, 2018 at 5:02 am

    Thank you very much for the podcast! I am presently finishing up listening to most of them a second time. I especially enjoyed the information on the origins of apocalypticism and Satan. You demonstrated well how the Bible shows the influence of combat myths, Zoroastrianism, and the intertestimental works and/or the icultural milieu that gave rise to them. I was raised with the apocalyptic worldview, which is difficult to shake. Your podcast has been invaluable in my waking up to reality:

    We are not living in the end times. (45% of Americans think we are.) I don’t need to be enslaved to these ancient myths. I can be free!

    Thank you!
17. Giovanni P January 30, 2019 at 8:36 am

    This is the best podcast ever published.
18. J. Robinson March 11, 2019 at 3:42 pm

    Hi there! I just wanted to drop a line of thanks for this podcast. I was raised atheist in the US Bible Belt and am just now getting around to reading the Bible. I find a lot of it hard to figure out since I’m lacking a lot of historical context. I’ve struggled to find books or groups or anything to help me with this since I want to avoid theological stuff. As such, I was really excited to come across this! It’s nicely accessible to a layperson plus it gives me some context and some resources to look at in the future. I’ll admit, the background on Hell and Satan is how I stumbled across the podcast, but I’ve started listening to the other series, too, because I find it helpful for understanding the general historical times and such. I’ll probably keep listening as I keep on reading through the Bible. All this to say, I really appreciate that you took the time to do this. Thank you.
19. Rod March 17, 2019 at 8:25 pm

    I have been enjoying your podcasts immensely. And repeatedly – it takes me a few listens to take each of them in.
    Thank you very much, Professor Harland, all the way from Australia.
20. Dave Carlson August 14, 2020 at 3:26 pm

    Good stuff. I listened to the podcasts when they were originally on line, and downloaded all of them. I found them again through the Biblical Studies Online site, and downloaded them once more (can’t have too much of a good thing). Excellent work. Many thanks.
    Hope all is well with you, take care.
21. Anthony Fasolo Jr. July 5, 2022 at 7:03 pm

    I’m so grateful these podcasts are still around! I found them roughly ten or so years ago and have begun to listen to them once again. I really believe that these courses would be so beneficial to people today, in that it would help them better understand the religion they adhere to. Thank you for creating these and making them freely available to people.