The B-Side Bible: The Hidden Tracks of the ancient world.
The B-Side Bible is a sharp, entertaining, and completely unvarnished dive into the hidden tracks, raw context, and overlooked history of the ancient world. The title is a nod to the mechanics of old vinyl records: while the A-sides are the polished, well-known mainstream hits that everyone recognises, the B-sides are the raw, experimental, and politically messy tracks that shaped the landscape of antiquity.
This podcast is a strict, objective post-mortem of ancient literature and cultural anthropology. We leave modern theology and moralising at the door to explore the original socio-historical context of the scriptures—examining why these texts were engineered, who they were actually written for, and what they meant to the people living under the shadows of the Babylonian and Roman empires. From bizarre prophetic performance art and fringe characters to strategic political propaganda and ancient text-editing battles, The B-Side Bible pulls back the curtain on the deep cuts of history.
### About the Host
Mark Kerrigan holds a Bachelor of Education and a Master’s degree in Theological Studies. With over twenty years of experience as an educator, Mark excels at breaking down complex, rigorous academic research into engaging, accessible, and fascinating narratives. He is a multi-disciplinary creator under the Narranimate Studios banner, hosting both The B-Side Bible and the Forgotten Urban Histories podcast. Mark is also a versatile author, having written two speculative fiction novels as well as two children's novels. Across all his projects, he combines his background in education, narrative world-building, and historical criticism to strip the varnish off the past—delivering it exactly as it was: loud, accurate, and completely off the record.
Episodes
16 episodes
The Biblical Obsession with 40: From a Biological Metaphor to 1st Century Propaganda
If you read ancient biblical literature, a specific mathematical rhythm keeps hitting the script. The rain falls for forty days in Genesis. Moses vanishes onto Mount Sinai for forty days. Israel wanders the desert for forty years. Jesus starves...
Gnostic Christianity - Enlightenment or Heresy
Long before Christianity settled into creeds and councils, it was a field of competing ideas — and some of the most striking came from the movement we now call Gnosticism.In this episode, we trace the rise of the Gnostics: the teachers w...
The Gospel of Judas
For nearly two thousand years, Judas Iscariot has stood as Christianity’s ultimate betrayer. But one ancient text — discovered in Egypt and finally brought to light in the early 21st century — tells a different story.In this episode, we ...
The Number of the Beast
If there’s a celebrity among numbers, it’s 666. It shows up where you least expect it: on horror posters, in guitar solos, on stolen highway signs, on novelty merchandise, and even in cheeky bus timetables. Whole marketing campaigns have timed ...
Why Mark's Gospel Survived
Mark’s Gospel is short, raw, and famously ends in silence — no nativity, no resurrection appearances, no triumphant conclusion. So how did this rough first draft of the Jesus story survive when flashier Gospels came along? In this episode, we e...
Zoroastrianism: the 3500 year old source of Judaism and Christianity
Zoroastrianism was founded by the prophet Zoroaster around 3,500 years ago in ancient Persia. This religion has profoundly influenced the spiritual landscape of the world, and today, we’ll be uncovering its rich history, key figures, and sacred...
The transformation of St Nicholas: From a humble saint to a modern myth.
In this episode, we’ll trace the journey of St. Nicholas—a 4th-century bishop from Myra—to the global legend we celebrate today. Along the way, we’ll explore the extraordinary life of Nicholas of Myra, the legends that shaped his saintly reputa...
The Gospel of Thomas
In this. the first episode of season 2 of "They Didn't Teach That at School," podcast author and presenter Mark Kerrigan B.Ed, M.TheolSt delves into the discovery and significance of the Gospel of Thomas, an apocryphal text comprising 114 sayin...
The Denigration of Women in the Bible
In the grand finale of our first series, we explore the early days of Christianity, focusing on the Jewish Christian sect, the transformative influence of Paul of Tarsus, and the significant but often marginalized role of women like Mary Magdal...
Flood Myths
In today’s episode we are going to look at the various flood mythologies from some of the world’s religions. Floods have been a part of human history since time immemorial, and across different civilizations and religions, we find remarkable st...
1st Century Judea
Today’s episode will begin by focusing on everyday life in Roman Occupied Judea. We are going to look at how people lived, the influence of Roman occupation on the populace and what led to Pontius Pilate making his fateful decision to execute J...
Ancient Artifacts Part 2
Today’s episode is part Two of a two-part podcast. In the previous podcast we looked at 5 of 10 distinct archaeological artefacts in history that corroborate with texts found in the Old Testament. In this week’s episode of Ancient Artifacts, we...
Ancient Artifacts: Part 1
Today’s episode is part one of a two-part podcast. In this podcast we are going to look at 10 distinct archaeological artefacts in history that corroborate with texts found in the Old Testament. In this week’s episode of Ancient Artifacts, the ...
Witchcraft and Magic in the Roman Empire
In chapter 19 of the Book of Acts of the Apostles, we encounter an unusual event that took place in the city of Ephesus.According to the biblical account, the Apostle Paul had been preaching and performing miracles in Ephesus, whic...
The Jewish/Babylonian Wars
In this episode of "They Didn't Teach that at School" we delve into the Jewish/Babylonian wars and examine a little known tactic used by King Nebuchadnezzar II against the Jews. We also look at the aftermath of the war and the effect it had, no...
Ancient Hebrew Cosmology
Our first ten podcasts are going to focus on the Bible and we are going to discover some incredible things that you probably didn’t know. I intend to get behind the scriptures and discover who they were written for, why they were written and wh...
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