The launch of a new podcast, Bible in a Year: The Story, is meeting a unique need in culture by delivering audible, bite-size Bible content and helping listeners make sense of difficult topics in a succinct way. The weekly podcast is founded and narrated by Dr. Rachel Bodell, associate professor of marketing, innovation and leadership in Crowell School of Business at Biola University.

In addition, Bodell has studied all over the world — earning her undergraduate degree in the U.S., her masters in France and her doctorate at the University of Manchester in England.

Her new project, Bible in a Year: The Story, was inspired by a Catholic podcast, which ranks top overall and number one in the podcast category of religion. With this, Bodell realized the only Bible reading podcasts available were typically only from a Catholic viewpoint. This provided a unique opportunity for Bodell to meet a demand for a Protestant-Evangelical genre of Bible reading in the podcast industry. Thus, the Bible in a Year podcast was started.

During each of the episodes Bodell reads biblical passages and encourages her listeners to dive deeper by sharing resources that have been helpful to her in understanding the Bible as one unfolding, connected story. These secondary resources are short commentaries and reflections from Biola professors (e.g. Dr. Carmen Imes, Associate Professor of Old Testament, Dr. Jeannine Hanger, Assistant Professor in Talbot, and Dr. James Petitfils, Associate Professor of New Testament) as well as other biblical scholars (e.g. Dr. Tim Mackie, N.T. Wright, Kristi Mclelland, Dr. John Walton, Dr. Michael Heiser and Dr. Lucy Peppiatt).

This conversational-style commentary is influenced by Bodell’s background in music as a vocalist, which offers a unique angle compared to other similar podcasts in the industry. With the current high demand of podcasts, Bodell wants to build a community of listeners who are interested in journeying through the Bible together.

“[I hope to] build a community that helps us all to get into the greatest story ever told and grow in our understanding of how it is unfolding today … determining with maturity how we can be a part of [the biblical narrative].”

Look for Bible in a Year: The Story on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and other channels to start listening today. Learn more about and apply to the Crowell School of Business.


Written by Noelle Courselle, Public Relations Intern. For more information or interview opportunities with Rachel Bodell, please email media.relations@biola.edu.