A Rabbi Reads the Bible
Overview
Read the Bible with rabbi Jonathan Magonet and tap into 2,000 years of Jewish exegesis. Magonet draws on his own creativity as a poet and songwriter to read the biblical text, and uses it as a springboard for exploring the character of biblical personalities. He moves comfortably between the worlds of religious tradition and the questioning of the modern secular person. His skills as a popular lecturer and broadcaster help shape this lively book.
Top Highlights
“Laban’s self-justification exactly echoes and thus repays Jacob for what he did: ‘That’s not the way we do things here, to give the younger one in place of the firstborn!’ (Gen. 27:26). There are other echoes throughout the story to suggest that Jacob never escapes from what he did (betrayals continue to haunt him through the lives of his own children).” (Page 21)
“the text itself is utterly lacking in what we would think of as punctuation” (Page 18)
“‘If that is what they have written, what really happened? And if that is what really happened, what are they trying to make us think? And if that is what they are trying to make us think, what should we be thinking instead?’ You learn to read between the lines and behind the lines. You learn to read a newspaper as if your life depended upon understanding it—because it does!’” (Page 28)
“The Bible is always in dialogue with us, believers and non-believers alike—and what seems to matter is less the ‘truth’ we discover than the integrity with which we try to struggle with that ‘truth’ and assimilate it into our lives.” (Page 10)
“The ‘Five Books of Moses’, Torah; the ‘Prophets’, Nevi’im, beginning with Joshua and ending with Malachi; and the ‘Writings’, Ketuvim, from Psalms to the end of the Books of Chronicles.” (Page 12)
- Title: A Rabbi Reads the Bible
- Author: Jonathan Magonet
- Edition: Second Edition
- Publisher: SCM Press
- Print Publication Date: 2004
- Logos Release Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Bible. O.T. › Criticism, interpretation, etc., Jewish; Bible. O.T. › Theology
- ISBNs: 9780334029526, 033402952X
- Resource ID: LLS:SCMRABBIREADSBBL
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T02:53:05Z