Traditions of the Bible : a guide to the Bible as it was at the start of the common era / James L. Kugel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kugel, James L.

Contributor:

Kugel, James L.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible. Pentateuch--Criticism, interpretation, etc--History.

Bible.

Theology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1078 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 1998.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

James Kugel's The Bible As It Was (1997) has been welcomed with universal praise. Here now is the full scholarly edition of this wonderfully rich and illuminating work, expanding the author's findings into an incomparable reference work. Focusing on two dozen core stories in the Pentateuch--from the Creation and Tree of Knowledge through the Exodus from Egypt and journey to the Promised Land--James Kugel shows us how the earliest interpreters of the scriptures radically transformed the Bible and made it into the book that has come down to us today. Kugel explains how and why the writers of this formative age of interpretation--roughly 200 B.C.E. to 150 C.E.--assumed such a significant role. Mining their writings--including the Dead Sea Scrolls, works of Philo and Josephus and letters of the Apostle Paul, and writings of the Apostolic Fathers and the rabbinic Sages--he "es for us the seminal passages that uncover this crucial interpretive process. For this full-scale reference work Kugel has added a substantial treasury of sources and passages for each of the 24 Bible stories. It will serve as a unique guide and sourcebook for biblical interpretation.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

1 The World of Ancient Biblical Interpreters

2 The Creation of the World

3 Adam and Eve

4 Cain and Abel

5 Noah and the Flood

6 The Tower of Babel

7 Abraham Journeys from Chaldea

8 Melchizedek

9 The Trials of Abraham

10 Lot and Lot's Wife

11 Jacob and Esau

12 Jacob and the Angel

13 Dinah

14 Joseph's Ups and Downs

15 Jacob's Sons in Egypt

16 Growing Up in Pharaoh's Court

17 The Exodus from Egypt

18 The Red Sea

19 Into the Wilderness

20 At Mt. Sinai

21 The Golden Calf

22 Worship in the Wilderness

23 Trouble along the Way

24 The Bronze Serpent, Balaam, and Phinehas

25 The Life of Torah

26 Afterword

Abbreviations

Terms and Sources

Bibliography of Works Cited

Illustration Credits

Index

Notes:

Rev. ed. of: The Bible as it was. 1997.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 951-980) and index.

Related Work:

Kugel, James L. Bible as it was.

ISBN:

9780674039766

0674039769

OCLC:

646832506