The Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures in Five Minutes

COLLECTIONS:
Biblical Studies Collection
Christianity Collection
Complete Collection
Judaism Collection

“The Bible” is venerated as holy writ; the Scriptures by Jews and Christians alike. Many of its stories and characters are discussed in the Qur’an as well. Given the authority half of the present human community grants to biblical writings, the Bible can hardly be ignored, even by those who contest its authority and consider, often rightly so, that it is misinterpreted or misused to support an ideology they reject.

To make things even more intricate, the Bible as a whole is a treasure trove of mythical compositions, laws, stories, genealogies, oracles, hymns, proverbs, and quasi-philosophical writings, produced between two to three millennia ago, in historical and cultural contexts vastly different from our own. Hence, reading the Bible is a baffling experience to anyone who ever ventured to open a Bible at page 1 and read it as if it were an ordinary book.

Like other volumes in the related Religion in 5 Minutes series the short contributions in this volume are written by experts on the topic as responses to questions frequently encountered in undergraduate contexts or wondered about by general readers. Each deals with the essentials anyone entering the fascinating world of biblical scholarship needs to master. Concise and jargon-free chapters present the nature of the biblical texts and the different methodologies that have been developed to understand it. In addition, major issues that standard introductions tend to dodge are considered in a balanced way, providing the pros and cons for each position.

Each of the chapters concludes with recommendations for further reading beyond as well as within this book.

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