PostBible: Ancient Gods and Ways: Recent Episodes
Mark Groleau
PostBible is a fresh new kind of Bible study that focuses on its stories.
Mark Groleau rewrites a unique version of the Bible's stories every week starting in Genesis. The goal is to learn the Bible's content - without needing to think that any of if actually happened... or needing to agree with any of the Bible's opinions.
It's the Bible... told in a fun way, with a healthy degree of separation.
PostBible will be guided by 5 principles:
1: PostBible will tell all the Bible stories in a way that preserves the awareness that we are far separated from these ancient times, ancient characters, ancient gods, and ancient ideas.
2: PostBible will heighten the drama, comedy, and tragedy of the Bible stories as they were meant to be told in an oral culture.
3: PostBible will convey the ingenuity of the original Hebrew or Greek language where possible.
4: PostBible will make Biblical scholarship accessible in and through the Bible stories.
5: PostBible will acknowledge that every choice is an opinion and every opinion is a choice. From Mark's version, to the factors that led to version decisions, to the scholarship that led to that decision, to what the Bible's storyteller chose to include: every choice is based on an opinion, and every opinion was based on a choice that led to other choices. There is no pure objectivity when humans write, read, and tell stories.
Get the Bible story here for free every week - or become a Full-On PostBible Geek for a buck a week to support the work and get extra bonus benefits like the scholars' notes and accompanying video at www.postbible.com!
Everyone leaves the ark. What's next? Well... everything is different, and yet everything's the same. And the god Yahweh has something to say about it - and something to promise.
This is Mark's retelling of Genesis 8:20-9:17, followed by the geeky stuff aka scholars' notes and observations from the Hebrew text, culture, and history.
CONTENT RATING: G as suitable for all audiences
Get your own downloadable copy of this story and the notes - instantly and for free here: https://postbible.ck.page/ff0ec68dac
Check out every episode at http://www.postbible.com
The flood water starts to recede when the god Yahweh repeats the Genesis 1 act of creation. After 40 days, or... 150? 57?... anyway... Noah, his family, and all the animals disembark from the ark in both a throwback of creation and a foreshadow of Israel's future at Sinai. It's a fresh start for humanity in Erets. Will they mess it up?
This is Mark's retelling of Genesis 7:18-8:19, followed by the geeky stuff aka scholars' notes and observations from the Hebrew text, culture, and history.
CONTENT RATING: G as suitable for all audiences
Get your own downloadable copy of this story and the notes - instantly and for free here: https://postbible.ck.page/abf4af1422
Check out every episode at http://www.postbible.com
Yahweh has had enough of the destruction and havoc wreaked by humans in the land... and decides to repay it with a program of total destruction of Yahweh’s own. But one man finds favour with Yahweh, and his name is Noah. He will be saved.
Noah is given instructions on how to build an ark and save his family and every species of animal. Then the rain falls for - you guessed it - 40 days and nights.
This is a retelling of Genesis 6:8-7:16 followed by the geeky stuff aka scholars' notes and observations from the Hebrew text, culture, and history.
CONTENT RATING: PG-13 for references to genocide
Get your own downloadable copy of this story and the notes - instantly and for free right here.
Watch all the episodes on YouTube here.
In this episode of Genesis, humans break bad as they spread throughout the land of Erets. Their violence is extreme, and once again they strive for immortality and shortcuts to the good life.
This is our first exposure to the "toledot" passages filled with generations and numbers whose meanings are loaded with significance. And of course... the famous Nephilim - a breed of half-god, half-human.
Noah's father predicts his son Noah will deliver humanity from their brutal existence, and he'll be correct about that - in a way he cannot imagine.
Then Yahweh hands down another sentence and then decides the whole human experiment is a mistake.
This is a retelling of Genesis 4:18-6:7, followed by the geeky stuff aka scholars' notes and observations from the Hebrew text, culture, and history.
CONTENT RATING: PG for references to sex and some violent content
Get your own downloadable copy of this story and the notes - instantly and for free at www.postbible.com!
In this episode of the Genesis bible story, the human race starts to expand as Adam and Eve have kids: Cain and Abel. But trouble starts brewing between the farmer and the shepherd - the oldest and the youngest - when they decide to make offerings to their god. Cain takes his autonomy to the limit and we have our first murder. Then Yahweh spells out the consequences, but in a surprising twist, offers protection. One thing leads to another... and Erets' first city is founded.
This is a retelling of Genesis 4:1-17, followed by the geeky stuff aka scholars' notes and observations from the Hebrew text, culture, and history.
CONTENT RATING: PG-13 for references to sex and some violent content
Make sure to download the story and scholars' notes at www.postbible.com!
In this episode of the human-origins story, Yahweh-Elohim spells out the new reality that is the consequence of the man and woman eating the fruit of the Tree of All-Knowing. As with the previous episodes, it's heavy on the etiology: why snakes slither, and why life is so short and brutal with such "intense labour." Then we talk about what that "Tree of Life" might be all about. Basically, this is about the way things are for humans... and there's no going back. (Yet?)
This is a retelling of Genesis 3:14-24, followed by the patron-members-only geeky stuff aka scholars' notes and observations from the Hebrew text, culture, and history.
You can download your own copy of this story with scholars' notes for free at https://www.postbible.com!
In this episode of the human-origins story, the woman (not called Eve yet!) gets approached by a snake - the most "nakedly ambitious" of all the land animals. (Really?!)
The snake tells her what she can get outta the Tree of All-Knowing, and it sounds pretty good. Spoiler alert: this story may be an explanation of the way things are. This is a favourite tool of the ancient world: using story to make a point about the present reality.
This is a retelling of Genesis 3:1-13, followed by the geeky stuff aka scholarly observations from the Hebrew text, culture, and history; things like: why a snake, contrasts with the Epic of Gilgamesh, what the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil might mean, and good ol' fashioned puns with the word "snake" and "naked."
You can download your own copy of this story for free at https://www.postbible.com!
PostBible is a fresh new kind of Bible study that will focus on its stories.
Mark Groleau is writing a unique version of the Bible's stories every week starting in Genesis.
In this intro episode, Mark explains why PostBible - and what it is exactly.
The goal is to learn the Bible's content - without needing to think that any of if actually happened... or needing to agree with any of the Bible's opinions.
PostBible will be guided by 5 principles:
#1: PostBible will tell all the Bible stories in a way that preserves the awareness that we are far separated from these ancient times, ancient characters, ancient gods, and ancient ideas.
#2: PostBible will heighten the drama, comedy, and tragedy of the Bible stories as they were meant to be told in an oral culture.
#3: PostBible will convey the ingenuity of the original Hebrew or Greek language where possible.
#4: PostBible will make Biblical scholarship accessible in and through the Bible stories.
#5: PostBible will acknowledge that every choice is an opinion and every opinion is a choice. From Mark's version, to the factors that led to version decisions, to the scholarship that led to that decision, to what the Bible's storyteller chose to include: every choice is based on an opinion, and every opinion was based on a choice that led to other choices. There is no pure objectivity when humans write, read, and tell stories.
Get the Bible story here for free every week - or become a Full-On PostBible Geek for a buck a week to support the work and get extra bonus benefits like the scholars notes!
You can do all that here at www.postbible.com!
In Genesis' second version of its two very different Creation stories, the god, now named Yhwh-Elohim, is still the main character, but begins by making a humanoid creature called "the-adam" out of the ground ("adam-a").
Then Yhwh-Elohim rather comically attempts to make a partner that will make the adam happy by making all the animals, but fails again and again... until resorting to drastic measures: splitting the humanoid into a man and a woman.
This is a retelling of Genesis 2:1-2:25, followed by the geeky stuff aka scholarly observations from the Hebrew text, history, and culture.
You can download your own copy of this story for free at www.postbible.com!
PostBible is the Bible stories told in a fun and entertianing way - with a healthy degree of sepearation.
In Genesis' first version of its two Creation stories, the god Elohim is the main character, and begins by making a new world out of the darkness and the waves.
This is a retelling of Genesis 1:1-2:4, followed by the geeky stuff aka scholarly observations from the Hebrew text.
You can download your own copy of this story for free - with the scholar's notes as a launch-week bonus! - at www.postbible.com!