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 li...
May 13, 2026•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 14
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 suppo...
Apr 29, 2026•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 13
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 hel...
Apr 01, 2026•18 min•Ep. 12
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...
Mar 25, 2026•20 min•Ep. 11
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 ...
Mar 18, 2026•13 min•Ep. 10
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 o...
Mar 11, 2026•21 min•Ep. 9
The resurrection isn't a theological idea. It's a historical claim. And most people have never heard the actual evidence historians evaluate. (Listen to Part 2 here , and the full interview here .) 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 breakdo...
Mar 05, 2026•24 min•Ep. 8
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. fa...
Feb 25, 2026•19 min•Ep. 7
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...
Feb 18, 2026•26 min•Ep. 6
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...
Feb 11, 2026•22 min•Ep. 5
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...
Feb 04, 2026•32 min•Ep. 4
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 c...
Jan 21, 2026•54 min•Ep. 3
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 ma...
Jan 07, 2026•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 2
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. Become a premium member: faithlab.supercast.com ★ Support this podcast ★...
Dec 30, 2025•17 min•Ep. 1
