The Old Testament
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The Old Testament
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Narrated by:
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Amy-Jill Levine
About this listen
The Old Testament - written in ancient Israel by many different authors over the course of a thousand years - has had more meaning to more people than any other book the world has known. Its influence, whether you consider it scripture or literature, is evident everywhere in our culture, from medieval mystery plays to modern novels, art, music, theater, film, and dance. What can this work teach us about those who wrote it? About the people we once were? And can new academic understanding also speak to faith? As Professor Levine observes: "The Old Testament is endlessly fascinating because it offers everything to explore: myth, saga, and history; tragedy, comedy, and farce; economics and politics; literature and poetry of surpassing beauty; court intrigue and prophetic morality; heavenly miracles and sometimes heavenly silence; questions of theodicy; answers that satisfy and answers that may not; destruction and rebuilding; despair and hope."
In a series of 24 lively lectures, she takes you down all of these avenues, exploring selected passages from the texts known as the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible, and the Tanakh, revealing how fresh research and findings from scholars of archaeology, cross-cultural studies, and comparative religion can deepen your understanding.
And though the focus of her lectures is on historical and literary issues, Professor Levine does not shy away from issues of religious concern, maintaining that the goal of an academic course is not to undermine religious faith, but to use that academic knowledge as a new source of insight into the writings that form a believer's spiritual bedrock.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2001 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2001 The Great CoursesWhat listeners say about The Old Testament
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lauren O'Connell
- 12-07-2020
Outstanding overview, thoughtful and engaging
Thoughtfully constructed and wonderfully presented, this series of lectures follows the narrative arc of the Hebrew Bible, examining the key issues each text grapples with, the context in which they may have been written, genre, characterisation, themes, reception and much more. References to ancient Near Eastern cosmology, politics and literature are woven throughout, and Prof Levine makes a point of noting both what the text says and what it does not say. Indeed, some of the most thought-provoking --and engaging! -- moments were those in which we are reminded that the Bible isn't necessarily concerned with the questions we bring to it, but is wrestling with another set of questions entirely: for example, when addressing the common question concerning the origin of Cain and Abel's wives, Levine enthusiastically declares 'The Bible does not care!'. From there we weave through the rest of Genesis with a foray into folklore analysis, Exodus, the Deuteronomistic history, Israel and Judah's kings and conquests, the prophets, exile and restoration, and wisdom literature, finally drawing to a close with the apocryphal texts, At the conclusion of the course, Levine states her hope that the series will have demonstrated how much more there is to uncover and that listeners will be inspired to learn even more about the Hebrew Bible. In my own case, I can say that the course was entirely successful in its aims.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rose
- 03-12-2023
Brilliantly information and engaging
Lexcellent series of lecture given in a lively and engaging way.
The author makes me want to find out more on the subject and that's a sign of an excellent teacher
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 28-09-2017
Under the hood of the old testament
Excellent for Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Aetheist, well actually anyone interested in the historical, if not spiritual richness of this material which is too important, even now, to overlook. Also very entertaining. Wish I had lecturers like her.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Soph
- 30-04-2022
Date of release wrong; but good primer on scholarly OT approach
Audible lists this as released in 2013, but the accompanying PDF earlier. One can find what looks like the same title elsewhere with a publishing date of 2000. I’m disappointed because there must’ve been a lot of scholarship in those 13 yrs.
That said, if u have no prev exposure to scholarly analysis of the OT, Professor Levine is engaging, a great teacher and effective at summarising a lot of material.
Hence, 5 stars from me for Prof Levine and 3 stars for the publisher for the incorrect date.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- mikimr
- 14-10-2024
Cute but inaccurate
The speaker is a good story teller, but her interpretation is not supported with evidence as she claims. She referrs to many points as facts based on what she thinks and tries to question biblical actions based on her common sense, but did not look at other explanations to why things are written and are valid that way.
Overall not too bad, cute story telling, but inaccurate at best.
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