I am learning so much about scripture that I never knew or fully understood before. Thank you!

Thank you Fr DeYoung for sharing your deep knowledge of the scriptures. I have been learning so much! Your intelligence is a gift so thank you for using it to serve us and our God.

Father Stephen consistently addresses many questions by bringing in historical and cultural context of the scriptures. Absolutely worth listening to.

I truly believe God gave us someone like Fr Stephen as a generational gift to help us understand the scriptures!

You cannot find a better Bible study podcast anywhere. Listening to anything else will be settling for something less.

The bible is fiction.

This is a wonderful and enlightening series, but it is a class so patience is required as in some episodes there are almost constant interruptions. Thank you Fr. Stephen.

I absolutely love Father Stephen’s interpretation of the Bible. I have never learned so much until I came across this podcast. Fr. Stephen has helped me deepened my relationship with Jesus! The way he brings the Bible into context makes every gospel clear to understand. The audio when people ask questions is not clear but it really doesn’t matter because the message is clear. I am a huge fan!!

I am so grateful to have found this podcast! Father Steven delivers his vast knowledge in such a humble and conversational way. I have learned so much about our Father and the world He created since I began listening a month ago. I’ve been recommending it to everyone!

While I love, love, love the topics he’s discussing and the enormous research. It is so slow, so dragged out, takes so long to get to the point that I actually get distracted and have to rewind again and again. I don’t know if he does it intentionally or unintentionally. I think it’s unnecessary to go THIS slow. I feel like all and all the gist of the show edited down to point would be 20 mins.

I initially found out about Father Stephen de Young through Lord of Spirits and now have also started listening to this podcast. I love how interesting he makes Bible study and how compassionate and funny and relatable he is. I always learn something new. The episodes are very short and bite-sized compared to LoS but that works great for doing something like a daily Bible study.

I enjoy listening to this podcast regularly and I have learned so much since I started. Fr De Young is an awesome Bible teacher.

Fr. DeYoung shares his deep knowledge of ancient languages and his study Ancient Near East cultures in this podcast that goes verse by verse in to the Biblical text.

Thank Fr.Stephen!! I recently discovered this podcast. The way you explain the scriptures in clear and understandable way that is very much Orthodox! I appreciate you teaching style. -Michael

Some good stuff here but the constant laughing is more than a little distracting and sounds almost irreverent. Did you laugh your way through the crucifixion accounts? You’re laughing your way through the judgment portions of Revelation.

The more I learned about scripture, the more I felt the need for additional guidance on both the holy messages and the contexts—culture, history, languages, geography, etc. I am so thankful to have found this podcast, which is a wonderful resource on content and context!

…but please ask the guy who feels the need to constantly (some episodes he speaks more than De Young!) interject to be respectful and listen…

Coming from a Protestant background and having read Revelations a couple of times. I always wanted to better understand it. Fr Stephen explains it a way that finally makes sense. I am coming to understand that the Orthodox view is the correct one.

The best Bible study for context, connection between the old and New Testament, and clarification of commonly misunderstood passages.

If you want to understand Scripture, you had better start here.

Glory to God, may God grant you many years Fr Stephen

If only he did not say “right” after practically every sentence or even phrase, I’d rate this podcast with 5 stars and keep listening. Instead, it quickly became distracting from the content and then annoyingly so. I had to quit listening.

I am writing this because I noticed that there are people other than me who are disappointed in the absence of the first two gospels. I was also like this, so I looked until I found it on YouTube. Search for Whole Counsel Archives

Everything about this podcast is genuinely perfect. I just wish that we could sometimes hear the parish better. If they were all mixed up it would make it perfect. I sometimes can’t hear their questions which causes some confusion. Also wish we had St. Matthew and St. Mark’s accounts of the Gospel☦️

Father De Young’s commentary is patient and thorough. He digs deep, though his tone is conversational and not didactic. I feel like I’m sitting there in his Bible study, learning from his teaching in a personal way. The only problem is that Father De Young’s companions are speaking off the mic. I can hear Fr. De Young’s voice loud and clear, but the questions and comments of his companions are barely audible, at least on my headphones. So part of the conversation is being lost, which is disorienting at times. If you could mic up Fr. De Young’s interlocutors, that would take this podcast to the next level, and I’d probably give it 5 stars. Thank you to Fr. De Young and Ancient Faith Ministries for putting out this quality show, where the host is not afraid to “get granular” — in a good way, of course.

This Bible study is one of the most eye opening and informative I’ve ever listened to. Fr. De Young does a tremendous job of breaking down the scriptures and helping us laypeople to understand them by putting in their proper context and taking into account the original languages the Bible was written in. All in all I would recommend it to anyone who is serious about wanting to understand the scriptures.

Foder SDY is da man when it comes to SEcond Temple Judaism. Just listen.

Five years ago, on a whim, before a road trip, I googled "Orthodox Christian Bible Study in English. After rummaging around a few miscellaneous links, I found what would one day become the Whole Counsel of God podcast. This podcast has been an instrumental tool for me in my journey to Orthodox Christianity.

My journey to Orthodox Christianity summarized: Sam Harris & Bart Ehrman to Jordan Peterson and Jonathan Pageau to Lord of Spirits podcast to The Whole Council of God Your teaching have been very helpful to me. I have listened to all of Luke over the period of about two weeks. I look forward to going back and listening to your Old Testament teachings when they have been fully restored online. Please make them available via a podcast library. Thank you for what you have produced and sharing what you have learned about Christ.

My graduate school experience is in the rear mirror, except the Greek - the Semitic ones are very rusty. Fr. Steven gives very full background and manages to teach this old dog new tricks, also making mention of the often wrong-hearted methodology that we were force-fed in the 70’s and the 80’s. Glory to God for this program which rightly divides the word of truth!

The teaching and content are great. I’m still at the early episodes and the audio is so soft I have to turn my speakers all the way up. I hope that is fixed later on. Almost blew my speakers out when my Bluetooth switched to a phone call ring.

I have listened to all of Father DeYoung's Bible studies, beginning with Deuteronomy at St. George's Cathedral in West Virginia (stgeorgecharleston.org/audio). One of the main elements that contributes to my understanding and integration of the information offered is the conversation amongst and between Father DeYoung and his parishioners. One of the main reasons that I continue to trust the information is due to the humility and love shown by Father DeYoung amid these conversations. Alternatively, he could seek to squelch conversation in order to promote the depth of his own intelect. In other words, he could just deliver a lecture. Thank you, Father DeYoung for having the courage to expose yourself to so many questions and concerns and for having the humility to simply say when you need time to find the best possible answer to a question.

I’ve so enjoyed Luke and now I’m in the middle of Acts. The only reason I didn’t give it five stars is because there is too much interruption and interaction with the congregants, one in particular. You almost get the sense he wants to take over and start teaching. I understand an occasional question, but it gets very annoying from an audience perspective when every pause triggers a comment.

What I appreciate most about Fr Stephen’s approach is the sense that he is providing as close to a 360 view as he can to each line of Holy Scripture. He goes to considerable effort to give listeners context and social customs, as well as the verbiage of the original texts. Going a step beyond that, Fr Stephen highlights correlation among sources to refine, corroborate, or contrast subtleties we could easily miss without such a knowledgeable guide.

I like Father very much, but I cannot find his OT lessons. I have looked and looked on his church’s web page and cannot find them anywhere.

The giggling is the very thing that not only keeps this from getting to dry, but also is the very thing that allows this to be one of the few podcasts that my wife will let me listen to when we are driving together. She does not like talk radio or nine music audio in the car. The speaker conveys both a great sense of humor as well as very informed answers. Keep it up!

The speaker’s constant giggling wears on me

Does Father teach any Old Testament? Love the reaching on the New Testament.

I'm a Protestant and have been for 30+ years. But I believe that studying Scripture outside a knowledge of tradition and history is dangerous at best. Father De Young simply reads through Scripture, adding historical and cultural context. When applicable, he adds the perspective of early church tradition. I would highly recommend you go to his church's website and listen to past recordings (they start in Deuteronomy) as well as new recordings posted here.