History's Last Stand

Afleveringen

1. The Queen Who Defied Rome | Nathaniel Andrade & Mike Bird

   29 oktober 2026 · 35 min

   Afspelen
   Was Queen Zenobia of Palmyra greater than Cleopatra? She built an empire stretching across the Roman East, but her extraordinary reign came to a dramatic end when Emperor Aurelian marched against her.In Part 2, Dr Michael F. Bird and historian Dr Nathaniel Andrade uncover the battles that destroyed Zenobia's ambitions, her capture and the mystery surrounding her ultimate fate.They also explore the surprising role of early Christianity in Zenobia's empire, the prejudices she faced as a female ruler and a fascinating historical question: could the survival of Palmyra have changed the future of the Middle East?A remarkable story of power, ambition and a forgotten queen who deserves to be as famous as Cleopatra.Featuring Dr Nathaniel Andrade, author of Zenobia: Shooting Star of Palmyra.
   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Lees meer

2. Queen Zenobia: The Forgotten Woman Who Challenged Rome | Dr Nathanael Andrade (Part 1)

   22 oktober 2026 · 39 min

   Afspelen
   Was Queen Zenobia more successful than Cleopatra?In the third century AD, as Rome struggled against invasion, political chaos and a devastating military defeat, an extraordinary woman emerged from the Syrian desert to build an empire.Mike Bird is joined by historian Dr Nathanael Andrade, author of Zenobia: Shooting Star of Palmyra, to explore the dramatic rise of Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra.From the assassination of her husband to her remarkable military expansion across the Roman East, discover how Zenobia seized power, protected her young son and challenged the might of Rome itself.Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Subscribe to History's Last Stand to discover what happened when Rome finally fought back.
   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Lees meer

3. The stolen Gospel scandal: An Oxford professor and First Century Mark w/ Stephen Carlson

   15 oktober 2026 · 35 min

   Afspelen
   Was a sensational discovery of the earliest Gospel of Mark too good to be true?When rumours emerged of a first-century fragment of Mark's Gospel, biblical scholars and Christian apologists were electrified. Such a discovery could bring us astonishingly close to the original New Testament writings. But the manuscript's story took an extraordinary turn.Dr. Mike Bird is joined by Dr Stephen Carlson of Australian Catholic University to investigate the First Century Mark controversy, involving a renowned Oxford papyrologist, American manuscript collectors, allegations of stolen antiquities and a multimillion-dollar legal dispute.From the dating of ancient papyrus to the ethics of the antiquities trade, they explore how a genuine and important manuscript became the centre of a scandal, and what it reveals about the search for the earliest Christian texts.History's Last Stand with Michael Bird explores the extraordinary, controversial and sometimes unbelievable stories that shaped our world. Subscribe for a new episode every Wednesday.
   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Lees meer

4. The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife: How a biblical forgery fooled the experts

   8 oktober 2026 · 30 min

   Afspelen
   Did Jesus have a wife? For a brief moment, a tiny piece of ancient-looking papyrus appeared to offer extraordinary new evidence. Lees meer

   The so-called Gospel of Jesus’ Wife was unveiled by a Harvard scholar and made headlines around the world. But there was a problem: the fragment was almost certainly a modern forgery.

   New Testament scholar Stephen Carlson joins Mike Bird to uncover the extraordinary story behind the papyrus. How did suspicious Coptic, material copied from the internet and a mysterious collector eventually expose the hoax?

   And what does the scandal reveal about money, academic ambition and confirmation bias? Carlson and Bird explore why even experts can be vulnerable when a discovery appears to confirm exactly what they hoped to find.

   History’s Last Stand with Mike Bird.

   Subscribe & Support

   👉 Support thought-provoking conversations and help keep the show going at www.premierunbelievable.com/geolink/donate💡

   🎧 Never miss an episode! Subscribe to the History's Last Stand podcast at History's Last Stand with Michael Bird - Premier Plus🎙️

   🔗 Get bonus content, updates, fascinating articles, and early access to new episodes - absolutely free! Join now at www.premierunbelievable.com/ 📢

   Instagram: https://instagram.com/premierunbelievable

   Facebook: https://facebook.com/premierunbelievable

   Tik Tok: https://tiktok.com/@premier.unbelievable

   X: Premier Unbelievable? (@UnbelievableFE)

   Follow us

   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

5. The Secret Gospel of Mark: Christianity’s Greatest Hoax?

   1 oktober 2026 · 49 min

   Afspelen
   A lost gospel. A missing manuscript. And an extraordinary accusation of forgery.Mike Bird talks to New Testament scholar Stephen Carlson about the Secret Gospel of Mark, the sensational text discovered by Morton Smith in 1958.Was it an authentic window into early Christianity, an ancient fake, or an elaborate modern hoax?Carlson reveals the linguistic clues, anachronisms and apparent “Easter eggs” that led him to make the case against one of biblical scholarship’s most controversial discoveries.Subscribe & Support👉 Support thought-provoking conversations and help keep the show going at www.premierunbelievable.com/geolink/donate💡🎧 Never miss an episode! Subscribe to the History's Last Stand podcast at https://www.premier.plus/historys-last-stand-with-michael-bird🎙️🔗 Get bonus content, updates, fascinating articles, and early access to new episodes - absolutely free! Join now at www.premierunbelievable.com/ 📢 Follow usInstagram: https://instagram.com/premierunbelievableFacebook: https://facebook.com/premierunbelievableTik Tok: https://tiktok.com/@premier.unbelievableX: Premier Unbelievable? (@UnbelievableFE)
   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Lees meer

6. Artemis, Paul and “saved through childbearing” | Sandra Glahn

   23 september 2026 · 43 min

   Afspelen
   Why does Paul say women will be “saved through childbearing”? Lees meer

   Mike Bird is joined by Dr Sandra Glahn, author of Nobody’s Mother, to explore Artemis of Ephesus, one of the ancient world’s most powerful goddesses.

   They uncover a cult intertwined with childbirth, magic, wealth and civic life, and ask how understanding Artemis changes the way we read Acts 19 and 1 Timothy. Was Paul’s controversial teaching about women understood very differently by its first-century audience?

   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

7. Bonhoeffer’s legacy: The martyr the Nazis couldn’t silence

   17 september 2026 · 21 min

   Afspelen
   Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by the Nazi regime in April 1945. But his death was only the beginning of his extraordinary influence.In the final episode of this three-part series, Mike Bird talks to Bonhoeffer expert John McCabe about what happened after his execution, why many Germans initially regarded him as a traitor, and how his writings eventually made him one of the most influential Christian thinkers of the 20th century.They explore Bonhoeffer’s continuing influence on Christians confronting authoritarianism, apartheid and political oppression, including his surprising legacy among pro-democracy campaigners in Hong Kong.As Mike observes, tyrants eventually disappear, but the testimony of martyrs can endure.John McCabe is the author of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The Last Eight Days.The episode centres especially strongly on Bethge’s striking observation that as Bonhoeffer’s freedom was progressively removed, his thinking gained power. After his death, “he began to speak more loudly than ever before”.Subscribe & Support👉 Support thought-provoking conversations and help keep the show going at www.premierunbelievable.com/geolink/donate💡🎧 Never miss an episode! Subscribe to the History's Last Stand podcast at https://www.premier.plus/historys-last-stand-with-michael-bird🎙️🔗 Get bonus content, updates, fascinating articles, and early access to new episodes - absolutely free! Join now at www.premierunbelievable.com/ 📢 Follow usInstagram: https://instagram.com/premierunbelievableFacebook: https://facebook.com/premierunbelievableTik Tok: https://tiktok.com/@premier.unbelievableX: Premier Unbelievable? (@UnbelievableFE)
   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Lees meer

8. Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s final days: Did he really plot to kill Hitler?

   10 september 2026 · 45 min

   Afspelen
   Mike Bird continues his conversation with historian John McCabe, tracing Bonhoeffer’s involvement in the German resistance and reconstructing the extraordinary final days before his execution.Bonhoeffer had once seriously considered studying nonviolence with Gandhi. Yet faced with Hitler’s regime, he came to support the terrible choice that the Führer had to be removed. McCabe explains what Bonhoeffer actually knew, how deeply he was connected to the resistance and why the Gestapo eventually arrested him. Then the story becomes a dramatic countdown through a collapsing Germany: overcrowded prison vans, Allied bombing, acts of unexpected kindness, a British agent secretly sabotaging their transport and, finally, Bonhoeffer’s last Sunday service before the Gestapo came for him.Subscribe & Support👉 Support thought-provoking conversations and help keep the show going at www.premierunbelievable.com/geolink/donate💡🎧 Never miss an episode! Subscribe to the History's Last Stand podcast at https://www.premier.plus/historys-last-stand-with-michael-bird🎙️🔗 Get bonus content, updates, fascinating articles, and early access to new episodes - absolutely free! Join now at www.premierunbelievable.com/ 📢 Follow us Lees meer

   Instagram: https://instagram.com/premierunbelievableFacebook: https://facebook.com/premierunbelievableTik Tok: https://tiktok.com/@premier.unbelievableX: Premier Unbelievable? (@UnbelievableFE)
   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

9. Bonhoeffer Historian: "The Film Invented A Different Man"

   3 september 2026 · 39 min

   Afspelen
   Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor, theologian and opponent of Hitler who was executed by the Nazis aged just 39. But has the Bonhoeffer of history become obscured by the Bonhoeffer of legend?Mike Bird is joined by historian John McCabe for the first of three episodes exploring Bonhoeffer’s life and death.They discuss the Confessing Church, his radical seminary at Finkenwalde, his decision to return to Germany as war approached and the difficult line between Christian discipleship, resistance and survival.McCabe also explains why he believes some modern portrayals have created an “imaginary figure” quite different from the man revealed by the historical evidence.Subscribe & Support👉 Support thought-provoking conversations and help keep the show going at www.premierunbelievable.com/geolink/donate💡🎧 Never miss an episode! Subscribe to the History's Last Stand podcast at https://www.premier.plus/historys-last-stand-with-michael-bird🎙️🔗 Get bonus content, updates, fascinating articles, and early access to new episodes - absolutely free! Join now at www.premierunbelievable.com/ 📢 Follow usInstagram: https://instagram.com/premierunbelievableFacebook: https://facebook.com/premierunbelievableTik Tok: https://tiktok.com/@premier.unbelievableX: Premier Unbelievable? (@UnbelievableFE)
   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Lees meer

10. Has Christianity forgotten its own history? Why the past still matters

    27 augustus 2026 · 33 min

    Afspelen
    What happens to Christianity when Christians forget their own past?Historian Sarah Irving-Stonebraker joins Mike Bird to argue that losing touch with 2,000 years of Christian history can leave faith vulnerable to consumerism, celebrity culture and even theological drift.From ancient Christian practices and the idea of becoming “priests of history” to the extraordinary story of Indigenous Australian Christian activist William Cooper, this conversation asks whether recovering the past could help Christians navigate the present.Subscribe & Support👉 Support thought-provoking conversations and help keep the show going at www.premierunbelievable.com/geolink/donate💡🎧 Never miss an episode! Subscribe to the History's Last Stand podcast at https://www.premier.plus/historys-last-stand-with-michael-bird🎙️🔗 Get bonus content, updates, fascinating articles, and early access to new episodes - absolutely free! Join now at www.premierunbelievable.com/ 📢Follow usInstagram: https://instagram.com/premierunbelievableFacebook: https://facebook.com/premierunbelievableTik Tok: https://tiktok.com/@premier.unbelievableX: Premier Unbelievable? (@UnbelievableFE)
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Lees meer

Alle 15 afleveringen →