Random House New Releases - Religion - Bible - Criticism, Interpretation - Old Testament

But Where Is the Lamb? by James Goodman

2013-09-10T00:30:00-05:00

But Where Is the Lamb? Imagining the Story of Abraham and Isaac
Written by James Goodman

Hardcover, 320 pages | Schocken | Religion - Bible - Criticism, Interpretation - Old Testament; Religion - Bible - Study - Old Testament; Religion - Bible - Commentaries - Old Testament | $25.00 | 978-0-8052-4253-9 (0-8052-4253-8)

A uniquely original encounter with one of the most compelling and resonant stories ever told—the story of God's command to Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. A history and meditation that illuminates the myriad ways in which it has been interpreted and understood down through the ages.

A mere nineteen lines in the book of Genesis, the story rests at the heart of the history, literature, theology, and sacred rituals of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and for more than two millennia, people have struggled with the troubling questions about sacrifice, authority, obedience, and faith the story gives rise to. James Goodman recounts the history of that struggle, from the story's origins to its place in the cultures and faiths of our own time. He introduces us to the commentary of late-antiquity rabbis and priests and then early Islamic exegetes (many of whom believed that Ishmael was the son that Abraham nearly sacrificed). He examines Syriac hymns (in which Sarah plays a major role), the Hebrew chronicles of the First Crusade (in which Isaac often dies), and the medieval English mystery plays. He delineates the story's presence in the art of Europe's golden age, the philosophy of Kant and Kierkegaard, and the panoply of both sacred and profane reflection upon the story in the twentieth-century.

But Where is the Lamb? by James Goodman

2013-09-10T00:30:00-05:00

But Where is the Lamb? Imagining the Story of Abraham and Isaac
Written by James Goodman

eBook, 288 pages | Schocken | Religion - Bible - Criticism, Interpretation - Old Testament; Religion - Bible - Study - Old Testament; Religion - Bible - Commentaries - Old Testament | $12.99 | 978-0-8052-4314-7 (0-8052-4314-3)

From Eden to Exile by Eric H. Cline

2012-12-04T00:30:00-05:00

From Eden to Exile Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible
Written by Eric H. Cline

eBook, 256 pages | National Geographic | Religion - Bible - Criticism, Interpretation - Old Testament | $16.95 | 978-1-4262-1224-6 (1-4262-1224-0)

Eric H. Cline uses the tools of his trade to examine some of the most puzzling mysteries from the Hebrew Bible and, in the process, to narrate the history of ancient Israel. Combining the academic rigor that has won the respect of his peers with an accessible style that has made him a favorite with readers and students alike, he lays out each mystery, evaluates all available evidence—from established fact to arguable assumption to far-fetched leap of faith—and proposes an explanation that reconciles Scripture, science, and history.

Numerous amateur archaeologists have sought some trace of NoahÕs Ark to meet only with failure. But, though no serious scholar would undertake such a literal search, many agree that the Flood was no myth but the cultural memory of a real, catastrophic inundation, retold and reshaped over countless generations. Likewise, some experts suggest that JoshuaÕs storied victory at Jericho is the distant echo of an earthquake instead of IsraelÕs sacred trumpets—a fascinating, geologically plausible theory that remains unproven despite the best efforts of scientific research.

Cline places these and other Biblical stories in solid archaeological and historical context, debunks more than a few lunatic-fringe fantasies, and reserves judgment on ideas that cannot yet be confirmed or denied. Along the way, our most informed understanding of ancient Israel comes alive with dramatic but accurate detail in this groundbreaking, engrossing, entertaining book by one of the rising stars in the field.

Beginnings by Meir Shalev

2011-03-01T00:30:00-05:00

Beginnings Reflections on the Bible's Intriguing Firsts
Written by Meir Shalev

eBook, 304 pages | Harmony | Religion - Judaism - History; History - Jewish; Religion - Bible - Criticism, Interpretation - Old Testament | $12.99 | 978-0-307-71719-1 (0-307-71719-4)

The bestselling and prize-winning Israeli author Meir Shalev describes the many "firsts" of the Bible – the first love and the first death, to the first laugh and the first dream – providing a fresh, secular and surprising look at the stories we think we know.

The first kiss in the Bible is not a kiss of love. The first love in the Bible is not the love of a man and a woman. The first hatred in the Bible is the hatred of a man toward his wife. The first laugh in the Bible is also the last. In Beginnings, Meir Shalev reintroduces us to the heroes and heroines of the Old Testament, exploring these and many more of the Bible’s unexpected "firsts." Combining penetrating wit, deep empathy, and impressive knowledge of the Bible, he probes each episode to uncover nuances and implications that a lesser writer would overlook, and his nontraditional, nonreligious interpretations of the famous stories of the Bible take them beyond platitudes and assumptions to the love, fear, tragedy, and inspiration at their heart. Literary, inquisitive, and honest, Shalev makes these stories come alive in all their complicated beauty, and though these stories are ancient, their resonance remains intensely contemporary.

From the Hardcover edition.

The Beginning of Desire by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

2011-02-01T00:30:00-05:00

The Beginning of Desire Reflections on Genesis
Written by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

Trade Paperback, 480 pages | Schocken | Religion - Bible - Commentaries - Old Testament; Religion - Bible - Criticism, Interpretation - Old Testament; Religion - Bible - Study - Old Testament | $19.95 | 978-0-8052-1239-6 (0-8052-1239-6)

Winner of the National Jewish Book Award

Since its publication in 1995, The Beginning of Desire has opened new pathways in the reading of the Bible. Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg’s innovative use of midrash, literature, philosophy, and psychoanalysis draws deeply upon the familiar biblical narratives to produce interpretations that are at once startlingly beautiful and completely authentic. Illuminating the tensions that grip human beings as they search for an encounter with God, Zornberg gives us a brilliant analysis of the stories of Adam and Eve; Noah; Abraham and Sarah; Isaac and Rebecca; Jacob, Rachel, and Leah; and Joseph and his brothers.

The Beginning of Desire by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

2011-02-01T00:30:00-05:00

The Beginning of Desire Reflections on Genesis
Written by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

eBook, 480 pages | Schocken | Religion - Bible - Commentaries - Old Testament; Religion - Bible - Criticism, Interpretation - Old Testament; Religion - Bible - Study - Old Testament | $14.99 | 978-0-8052-1243-3 (0-8052-1243-4)

Turn the Scriptures over to Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg and what do you get? A unique blend of brilliant literary insights and theological wisdom, derived from a lifelong immersion in rabbinic traditions and lore. With amazing literary sensitivity, Zornberg ingeniously breathes new life into Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Rachel, and Joseph. The author's vibrant spirit, charming personality, and infectious enthusiasm for the Bible draw the reader into the search for meaning where real life and the biblical story intersect. The Beginning Of Desire imaginatively interweaves biblical, rabbinic, and literary sources into a colorful tapestry that is both intellectually stimulating and personally uplifting.

One of the Jewish biblical scholars scheduled to appear on the Bill Moyers PBS special on Genesis, Avivah Zornberg employs an amazing repertoire of literary sources to engage the audience and illuminate the text. Delivering her erudition in a pleasantly lyrical style, the author shares her experience of God with the world. It is an intimate, personal, and revealing encounter no one should miss.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Particulars of Rapture by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

2011-02-01T00:30:00-05:00

The Particulars of Rapture Reflections on Exodis
Written by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

eBook, 592 pages | Schocken | Religion - Bible - Commentaries - Old Testament; Religion - Bible - Criticism, Interpretation - Old Testament; Religion - Bible - Study - Old Testament | $17.99 | 978-0-8052-1244-0 (0-8052-1244-2)

Avivah Zornberg grew up in a world of rabbinic tradition and scholarship and received a Ph.D. in English literature from Cambridge University. The Particulars of Rapture, the sequel to her award-winning study of the Book of Genesis, takes its title from a line by the American poet Wallace Stevens about the interdependence of opposite things, such as male and female, and conscious and unconscious. To her reading of the familiar story of the Israelites and their flight from slavery in Egypt, Avivah Zornberg has brought a vast range of classical Jewish interpretations and Midrashic sources, literary allusions, and ideas from philosophy and psychology. Her quest in this book, as she writes in the introduction, is "to find those who will hear with me a particular idiom of redemption," who will hear "within the particulars of rapture . . . what cannot be expressed."

Zornberg's previous book, The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis, won the National Jewish Book Award for nonfiction in 1995 and has become a classic among readers of all religions. The Particulars of Rapture will enhance Zornberg's reputation as one of today's most original and compelling interpreters of the biblical and rabbinic traditions.

From the Hardcover edition.

The Particulars of Rapture by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

2011-02-01T00:30:00-05:00

The Particulars of Rapture Reflections on Exodus
Written by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

Trade Paperback, 592 pages | Schocken | Religion - Bible - Commentaries - Old Testament; Religion - Bible - Criticism, Interpretation - Old Testament; Religion - Bible - Study - Old Testament | $21.95 | 978-0-8052-1237-2 (0-8052-1237-X)

In her commentary on the book of Exodus—the stories of slavery and liberation, the burning bush, the revelation at Sinai, the golden calf, the shattering of the tablets, the building and consecration of the tabernacle—Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg weaves a magnificent tapestry of classical biblical, talmudic, and midrashic interpretations; literary allusions; and insights from the worlds of philosophy and psychology into a narrative that gives us fascinating new perspectives on the biblical themes of exodus and redemption.

From Eden to Exile by Eric H. Cline

2008-06-17T00:30:00-05:00

From Eden to Exile Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible
Written by Eric H. Cline

Trade Paperback, 256 pages | National Geographic | Religion - Bible - Criticism, Interpretation - Old Testament | $16.95 | 978-1-4262-0208-7 (1-4262-0208-3)

In this provocative yet persuasive book, now in paperback, Eric H. Cline uses the tools of his trade to examine some of the most puzzling mysteries from the Hebrew Bible and, in the process, to narrate the history of ancient Israel. Combining academic with an accessible style that has made him a favorite with readers and students alike, he lays out each mystery, evaluates all available evidence—from established fact to arguable assumption to far-fetched leap of faith—and proposes an explanation that reconciles Scripture, science, and history.

Numerous amateur archaeologists have sought some trace of Noah’s Ark to meet only with failure. But, though no serious scholar would undertake such a literal search, many agree that the Flood was no myth but the cultural memory of a real, catastrophic inundation, retold and reshaped over countless generations. Likewise, some experts suggest that Joshua’s storied victory at Jericho is the distant echo of an earthquake instead of Israel’s sacred trumpets—a fascinating, geologically plausible theory that remains unproven despite the best efforts of scientific research.

Cline places these and other Biblical stories in solid archaeological and historical context and reserves judgment on ideas that cannot yet be confirmed or denied. Along the way, our most informed understanding of ancient Israel comes alive with dramatic but accurate detail in this groundbreaking and entertaining book by one of the rising stars in the field.

From Eden to Exile by Eric H. Cline

2007-06-19T00:30:00-05:00

From Eden to Exile Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible
Written by Eric H. Cline

Hardcover, 256 pages | National Geographic | Religion - Bible - Criticism, Interpretation - Old Testament | $26.00 | 978-1-4262-0084-7 (1-4262-0084-6)

The Nine Commandments by David Noel Freedman

2002-05-14T00:30:00-05:00

The Nine Commandments Uncovering the Hidden Pattern of Crime and Punishment in the Hebrew Bible
Written by David Noel Freedman

eBook, 368 pages | Image | Religion - Bible - Criticism, Interpretation - Old Testament | $13.99 | 978-0-385-50546-8 (0-385-50546-9)

In a book certain to be as controversial as Harold Bloom's The Book of J and Elaine Pagels's The Gnostic Gospels, David Noel Freedman delves into the Old Testament and reveals a pattern of defiance of the Covenant with God that inexorably led to the downfall of the nation of Israel, the destruction of the Temple, and the banishment of survivors from the Promised Land. Book by book, from Exodus to Kings, Freedman charts the violation of the first nine Commandments one by one-from the sin of apostasy (the worship of the golden calf, Exodus 32) to murder (the death of a concubine, Judges, 19:25-26) to false testimony (Jezebel's charges against her neighbor, Naboth, I Kings 21). Because covetousness, Freedman shows, lies behind all the crimes committed, each act implicitly breaks the Tenth Commandment as well.

In a powerful and persuasive argument, Freedman asserts that this hidden trail of sins betrays the hand of a master editor, who skillfully wove into Israel's history a message to a community in their Babylonian exile that their fate is not the result of God's abandoning them, but a consequence of their abandonment of God. With wit and insight, The Nine Commandments boldly challenges previous scholarship and conventional beliefs.

David Noel Freedman has been General Editor and a contributing coauthor of the Anchor Bible series since its inception in 1956. He is a professor in Hebrew Bible at the University of California, San Diego, and lives in La Jolla, California.

From the Hardcover edition.

Genesis by Alfre Woodard

2000-07-05T00:30:00-05:00

Genesis A Living Conversation
Written by Bill Moyers
Read by Mandy Patinkin and Alfre Woodard

Unabridged Audiobook Download | Random House Audio | Religion - Bible - Criticism, Interpretation - Old Testament | $10.95 | 978-0-553-75167-3 (0-553-75167-0)

People need stories to make sense of the world--to hold their lives together, and to fasten on to those values that last. The greatest stories are found in the Bible, enduring through the centuries. In Genesis, acclaimed television journalist Bill Moyers brings together some of the world's liveliest minds for spirited round-table discussions of the ageless stories from the Bible's first, towering book.

Creation, temptation, murder, exile, and family strife--these emerge from every page of Genesis and speak to us today. Genesis invites readers into a lively and accessible discussion of the manifold meanings of these stories, and engages us in a fascinating exploration of the relationship between interpreter and text. Among the scores of writers, theologians, artists, and thinkers in the series are Mary Gordon, Phyllis Trible, John Barth, Faye Kellerman, Samuel Proctor, Aviva Zornberg, Walter Brueggemann, Robert Alter, Oscar Hijuelos, Charles Johnson, Stephen Mitchell, Leon Kass, Elaine Pagels, Bharati Mukherjee, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Elizabeth Swados, Renita Weems--all in a dazzling, multi-layered chorus of voices.

With the same interplay of text, photographs, and art that made The Power of Myth and Healing and the Mind so dynamic and unforgettable, Genesis has the capacity to enrich people's lives intellectually and spiritually.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Random House New Releases - Religion - Bible - Criticism, Interpretation - Old Testament

But Where Is the Lamb? by James Goodman

But Where Is the Lamb? Imagining the Story of Abraham and IsaacWritten by James Goodman

But Where is the Lamb? by James Goodman

But Where is the Lamb? Imagining the Story of Abraham and IsaacWritten by James Goodman

From Eden to Exile by Eric H. Cline

From Eden to Exile Unraveling Mysteries of the BibleWritten by Eric H. Cline

Beginnings by Meir Shalev

Beginnings Reflections on the Bible's Intriguing FirstsWritten by Meir Shalev

The Beginning of Desire by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

The Beginning of Desire Reflections on GenesisWritten by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

The Beginning of Desire by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

The Beginning of Desire Reflections on GenesisWritten by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

The Particulars of Rapture by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

The Particulars of Rapture Reflections on ExodisWritten by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

The Particulars of Rapture by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

The Particulars of Rapture Reflections on ExodusWritten by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

From Eden to Exile by Eric H. Cline

From Eden to Exile Unraveling Mysteries of the BibleWritten by Eric H. Cline

From Eden to Exile by Eric H. Cline

From Eden to Exile Unraveling Mysteries of the BibleWritten by Eric H. Cline

The Nine Commandments by David Noel Freedman

The Nine Commandments Uncovering the Hidden Pattern of Crime and Punishment in the Hebrew BibleWritten by David Noel Freedman

Genesis by Alfre Woodard

Genesis A Living ConversationWritten by Bill Moyers Read by Mandy Patinkin and Alfre Woodard

But Where Is the Lamb? Imagining the Story of Abraham and Isaac
Written by James Goodman

But Where is the Lamb? Imagining the Story of Abraham and Isaac
Written by James Goodman

From Eden to Exile Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible
Written by Eric H. Cline

Beginnings Reflections on the Bible's Intriguing Firsts
Written by Meir Shalev

The Beginning of Desire Reflections on Genesis
Written by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

The Beginning of Desire Reflections on Genesis
Written by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

The Particulars of Rapture Reflections on Exodis
Written by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

The Particulars of Rapture Reflections on Exodus
Written by Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg

From Eden to Exile Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible
Written by Eric H. Cline

From Eden to Exile Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible
Written by Eric H. Cline

The Nine Commandments Uncovering the Hidden Pattern of Crime and Punishment in the Hebrew Bible
Written by David Noel Freedman

Genesis A Living Conversation
Written by Bill Moyers
Read by Mandy Patinkin and Alfre Woodard