The Old Testament: A Very Short Introduction
Michael Coogan
Jun 2021 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Tom Parks
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Audiobook
4 hr
Unabridged
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Eligible
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About this audiobook
Eminent biblical scholar Michael D. Coogan offers here a wide-ranging and stimulating exploration of the Old Testament, illuminating its importance as history, literature, and sacred text. Coogan explains the differences between the Bible of Jewish tradition (the "Hebrew Bible") and the Old Testament of Christianity, and also examines the different contents of the Bibles used by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, and Protestants. Coogan explores the use of invented dialogue and historical fiction in the Old Testament, the presence of mythic elements in apparently historical accounts, and the relationship of ancient Israelite myths to those of their neighbors. The book considers the Old Testament's idea of divine justice, especially in Ecclesiastes and Job, and looks at notions of the afterlife in the ancient Near East and in ancient Israel. Coogan highlights the significance of the history and literature of the Old Testament and describes how non-biblical evidence, such as archaeological data and texts, has placed the Old Testament in a larger and more illuminating context. Here then is a marvelous overview of one of the great pillars of Western religion and culture, a book whose significance has endured for thousands of years and which remains vitally important today for Jews, Christians, and Muslims worldwide.
About the author
Michael Coogan has been a lecturer on the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at the Harvard Divinity School and the director of publications for the Harvard Semitic Museum. He is the editor of The New Oxford Annotated Bible, The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Books of the Bible, and The Old Testament: A Very Short Introduction.
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