Truth you can trace
The Library
Original explainers written in our own words, citing the sources listed on our Sources page. The facts are attributed to the named sources and scholars; the synthesis is ours.
321 entries across 16 collections, plus the 166 answers, 18 deep dives, 19 topics below.
The life of Jesus
The events of Jesus' life placed in order and in their setting.
79 studiesThe books of the Bible
Who wrote each book, when, to whom, and what it is for, with disputed authorship stated as disputed.
66 introductionsDaily life in Bible times
Food, work, money, houses, travel, family.
57 entriesEmpires and rulers of the Old Testament world
The powers the Bible's story runs through: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome.
20 entriesBetween the Testaments
The four centuries between Malachi and Matthew.
10 entriesApocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
The between-the-Testaments Jewish writings themselves (1 Enoch, Jubilees, Sirach…).
9 passagesThe church through history
Constantine, Nicaea, the 1054 split, the Reformation, the branches today. Backbone: Schaff (PD).
9 chaptersJosephus on the New Testament world
The first-century Jewish historian; our chief non-biblical witness to the period.
9 passagesRoman writers on Jesus and the first Christians
The three earliest non-Christian Roman notices of Jesus and the Christians, quoted word for word from public-domain translations: hostile or offhand, each writer's slant named, and honest about what they do and do not show.
4 passagesThe Dead Sea Scrolls
What the scrolls are, the 1947 discovery, and what they do and don't change.
8 chaptersWhat the spade found
What has been dug up that touches the Old Testament, kept apart from what it is claimed to prove. The same, for the New Testament.
16 findsWhy trust the Bible?
The classic lines of evidence, each with its honest counter-case.
7 lines of evidenceWhy there are different Bibles
How translations differ and why. Backbone: the ISBE (1915, PD).
7 chaptersWhy it happened
The Roman-world reason behind a scene in the text, the census that sent a couple to Bethlehem, the tax that put money-changers in the temple, the stone that dates Paul's trial. Where the history is disputed, it says so and picks no side.
6 explanationsThe festival year
What Israel's appointed times did to the city, the roads and the calendar: the crowds Passover brought to Jerusalem, the water and lamps of Tabernacles, the diaspora that gathered at Pentecost, the fast that dates Paul's voyage against the closing sailing season, and how far a man could walk on the Sabbath. It names a festival only where the text names one.
8 entriesLaw and covenant
How the covenants and the law work, and how the traditions read them.
6 entries
Also written here
Questions
The Bible questions people ask most, each answered with every major view shown and every source you can trace.
166 answersPeople of the Bible
A deep dive on each person: who they were, their life in order, and the points scholars genuinely disagree about.
18 deep divesWhat Jesus taught
Jesus' teaching gathered by subject, in his own words, every verse traceable to the Gospel it comes from.
19 topics
Where readers genuinely disagree, each entry gives every major view side by side, says who holds it, and picks none. Every source, with its licence, is listed on our Sources page.