I received the following information from a reader:

Timothy posted a few times on the old blog about the audio lectures sold by Now You Know Media, many from Catholic academics. But he never mentioned that pretty much anyone in the United States or Canada can listen to nearly all of those lectures for free.

Almost the entire Now You Know Media catalog is available on Hoopla, which is a digital platform that is available through libraries throughout the United States. If you get a library card from a library that partners with Hoopla, you should be able to sign up for Hoopla, and then download anything from Hoopla’s catalog onto any iOS or Android device through their app. Tons of libraries have Hoopla now; if you’re in the United States, I bet there’s a library somewhere in your state you can join that will give you access to Hoopla.

The way Hoopla works, you can borrow a limited number of items per month (my library’s limit is 10), but there are no waits or lines. Your library pays Hoopla a small amount of money every time you borrow anything, so there are unlimited copies of any particular item.

I’ll warn you about Hoopla’s biggest problem though: there are no chapters or chapter breaks in their audio products, so good luck jumping to a particular discussion or finding your place again if Hoopla’s sometimes-buggy app loses your spot. But in general I have had positive experiences using Hoopla.

I believe that all Hoopla content is available to all users (i.e. there are no separate catalogs for different libraries). I don’t know if the Canada catalog is identical to the U.S. catalog, however.

ALL of the below Bible-related audio lectures are available on Hoopla (there are a bunch of non-Bible-related lectures too). Among the presenters are Fr. Nicholas King (translator of the entire Bible from Greek), Fr. Donald Senior (editor of the Oxford Catholic Study Bible), Fr. Henry Wansbrough (who is behind the New Jerusalem and Revised New Jerusalem Bibles), and Fr. Felix Just (working on the NABRE New Testament). Many of the lectures are short, in the 5-hour range, while others are 10-15 hours.


  • How to Read and Understand Your Bible – Fr. Michael D. Guinan, O.F.M., Ph.D.
  • An Introduction To A Feminist Interpretation Of The Bible – Sr. Barbara E. Reid, O.P., Ph.D.
  • The Old Testament 101 – Fr. Michael D. Guinan, O.F.M., Ph.D.
  • Enjoying the Old Testament – Fr. Richard J. Clifford, S.J., Ph.D.
  • An Introduction to Hebrew Poetry – Prof. Stephen B. Reid, Ph.D.
  • Wisdom Literature of the Bible – Fr. Michael D. Guinan, O.F.M., Ph.D.
  • The Pentateuch: Exploring the Bible’s First Five Books + Job – Fr. Michael D. Guinan, O.F.M., Ph.D.
  • In the Beginning: Understanding the Book of Genesis – Prof. Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, Ph.D.
  • Genesis: A Bible Study Course – Sr. Dianne Bergant, C.S.A., Ph.D.
  • The Book of Exodus – Fr. Michael D. Guinan, O.F.M., Ph.D.
  • The Life of Moses: A Biblical Portrait – Prof. Stephen B. Reid, Ph.D.
  • The Book of Job – Prof. Kathleen M. O’Connor, Ph.D.
  • The Psalms: The Prayer of the Church – Sr. Dianne Bergant, C.S.A., Ph.D.
  • A Retreat With The Psalms – Fr. Michael D. Guinan, O.F.M., Ph.D.
  • The Psalms: Model and Guide to Prayer – Fr. Michael D. Guinan, O.F.M., Ph.D.
  • Song of Songs – Fr. Nicholas Ayo, C.S.C., S.T.L., Ph.D.
  • The Book of Isaiah: The Fifth Gospel – Fr. Leslie J. Hoppe, O.F.M., Ph.D.
  • Seven Catholic Treasures: The Deuterocanonical Books of the Catholic Bible – Dr. Dorothy Jonaitis, D. Min.
  • The New Testament: A Bible Study Course – Fr. Nicholas King S.J.
  • The New Testament: A Guided Tour – Fr. Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.
  • Four Portraits Of Jesus – Prof. Ian Boxall, Ph.D.
  • The Synoptic Gospels – Fr. William L. Burton, O.F.M., SSL, STD
  • The Gospel of Matthew: A Bible Study Course – Rev. Donald Senior, C.P., S.T.D., Ph.D.
  • The Gospel of Mark: A Bible Study Course – Prof. Ian Boxall, Ph.D.
  • The Gospel Of Mark – Fr. John R. Donahue, S.J., Ph.D.
  • The Gospel of Luke: A Bible Study Course – Fr. Nicholas King, S.J.
  • The Gospel of Luke – Sr. Barbara E. Reid, O.P., Ph.D.
  • The Gospel of John – Rev. Donald Senior, C.P., S.T.D.
  • A Retreat with the Gospel of Matthew – Fr. Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.
  • A Retreat with the Gospel of Mark – Fr. Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.
  • A Retreat with the Gospel of Luke – Fr. Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.
  • A Retreat with the Gospel of John – Fr. Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.
  • The Acts of the Apostles – Sr. Laurie Brink, O.P., Ph.D.
  • The Jesus of Scripture – Rev. Donald Senior, C.P., S.T.D., Ph.D.
  • The Parables: Understanding What Jesus Taught – Prof. Andrea Lorenzo Molinari, Ph.D.
  • A Journey Through The Parables – Fr. John Jay Hughes, Dr. theol.
  • Understanding Jesus’ Greatest Sermon – Fr. Dennis Hamm, S.J., Ph.D.
  • Good News: The Miracles of Jesus and His Disciples – Fr. Raymond F. Collins, S.T.D.
  • At The Table With Jesus – Fr. William L. Burton O.F.M., SSL, STD
  • He Lives: The Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus – Fr. Henry Wansbrough, O.S.B.
  • John the Baptist – Fr. Raymond F. Collins, S.T.D.
  • Meet The Real Mary Magdalene – Fr. Raymond F. Collins, S.T.D.
  • Upon This Rock: Who Was the Apostle Peter? – Fr. Raymond F. Collins, S.T.D.
  • The Apostles – Prof. Andrea Lorenzo Molinari, Ph.D.
  • Saint Paul: His Life, Faith and Legacy – Fr. Ron Witherup, S.S., Ph.D.
  • The Apostle Paul’s Letters – Fr. Raymond F. Collins, S.T.D.
  • Learning from Paul the Apostle – Rev. Thomas D. Stegman, S.J., Ph.D
  • Romans: A Bible Study Course – Fr. Frank J. Matera, Ph.D.
  • St. Paul’s Letters: First and Second Corinthians and Galatians – Fr. Ron Witherup, S.S., Ph.D.
  • First Thessalonians and the Corinthian Correspondence*** – Fr. Raymond F. Collins, S.T.D.
  • St. Paul’s Letters Series: Philippians – Sr. Laurie Brink, O.P., Ph.D.
  • St. Paul’s Pastoral Epistles: A Bible Study Course – Fr. Raymond F. Collins, S.T.D.
  • Apocalyptic Literature – Dr. Dorothy Jonaitis D. Min.
  • Revelation – Fr. Bertrand A. Buby, S.M., S.T.D.
  • The Victory of Christ: Exploring the Book of Revelation – Prof. Ian Boxall, D.Phil.
  • Life During Jesus’ Time – Fr. Raymond F. Collins, S.T.D.
  • The Historical Jesus – Prof. David Zachariah Flanagin, Ph.D.
  • Sexual Morality in the New Testament – Fr. Raymond F. Collins, S.T.D.
  • Resurrection and the Afterlife in the New Testament – Prof. Candida Moss, Ph.D.
  • Becoming the Beloved Disciple of John’s Gospel – Fr. Dan Crosby, O.F.M. Cap., L.Th.
  • Interpreting the Gospels Throughout History – Prof. Ian Boxall, D.Phil.
  • The Apocryphal Gospels – Fr. Bertrand A. Buby, S.M., S.T.D.
  • Women and the Bible – Sr. Barbara E. Reid, O.P., Ph.D.
  • Morality, Law and Justice in the Bible – Prof. Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, Ph.D.
  • The Messianic Prophecies Of Jesus – Fr. Michael D. Guinan, O.F.M., Ph.D.
  • “The Bible Says What?” – Rev. J. Patrick Mullen, S.T.L., Ph.D.
  • Biblical Spiritualities – Prof. Kathleen M. O’Connor, Ph.D.
  • The Bible through the Ages – Prof. David Zachariah Flanagin, Ph.D.
  • The Lectionary: A Treasure for Liturgy and Prayer – Fr. Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.
  • The Dead Sea Scrolls: Discovery and Impact – Prof. James VanderKam, Ph.D.

***Mislabeled “New Testament Miracles 101” in Hoopla

One thought on “Audio Lectures from Now You Know Media”

  1. very helpful,, I can save a lot of money doing this. thanks for sharing. you are a wonderful person to help other people learn about this so they can learn about the bible

Leave a Reply to Rudy Spieker Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.