The Old Testament, or Tanakh, was written in ancient Israel over 1,000 years by many authors. What can this book teach us about the ancient Israelites? What does our faith find in new scholarly understanding? These lectures by scripture expert Professor Amy-Jill Levine introduce you to the history, religion, and literature of ancient Israel as preserved in the Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible. Professor Levine brings biblical characters and passages to life and vividly reveals the magnificent artistry suffusing the Old Testament.
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The Old Testament is one of the foundational documents of Western civilization. In this course, you’ll study a selection of the major books of the Old Testament, probing their meaning and relevance. Among these, you’ll explore the prophets, the wisdom literature, and the apocalyptic literature, finding their deeper historical and religious import, as well as their sublime literary treasures.
The History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon offers you a fast-moving yet thorough introduction to key issues in the development of the New Testament. These include: its different kinds of books, the conditions in which they were composed, what they teach, who actually wrote them, and—perhaps most important of all—why and how some books and not others became part of the canon of scripture that would define Christianity for all time. With their scholarly approach, these insightful lectures provide a deeper understanding of the New Testament for both Christians and non-Christians alike.
Enjoy an intellectual adventure like no other in this book-by-book look at the Bible from a literary perspective. From the stories of Moses to the gospel accounts of Jesus and the formation of the earliest Christian communities, these lectures empower you to engage with the Bible as a collection of richly meaningful texts filled with complex characters, dramatic conflicts, and inspirational wisdom.
Whether you consider it a book of faith or a cultural artifact, the New Testament is among the most significant writings that the world has ever known. This course sheds the light of purely historical research on the New Testament—its form, the methods of its composition, its authors and their original audiences, and the larger historical context. Mindful of the limitations imposed by the available historical evidence and methods, Professor Bart. D. Ehrman brings impressive expertise to the task of reconstructing the life of Jesus and the early Christian community.
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