About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherHarperCollins

ISBN-101328505928

ISBN-139781328505927

eBay Product ID (ePID)242543414

Product Key Features

Number of Pages496 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication NameGreat Shift

Publication Year2018

SubjectJudaism / Rituals & Practice, General, Biblical Criticism & Interpretation / Old Testament, Judaism / Theology

TypeNot Available

Subject AreaReligion, Reference

AuthorJames L. Kugel

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height1.4 in

Item Weight14.1 Oz

Item Length8 in

Item Width5.3 in

Additional Product Features

TitleLeadingThe

Reviews"Lively, inviting account...the author is at home in every era from that of the ancient texts to our own, and he makes for an excellent guide. Biblical exegesis at its best: a brilliant and sensitive reading of ancient texts, all with an eye to making them meaningful to our time by making sense of what they meant in their own." -- Kirkus Reviews , STARRED "Provocative... likely to interest both believers and nonbelievers with some familiarity with the Old Testament." -- Booklist, "Lively, inviting account . . . the author is at home in every era from that of the ancient texts to our own, and he makes for an excellent guide. Biblical exegesis at its best: a brilliant and sensitive reading of ancient texts, all with an eye to making them meaningful to our time by making sense of what they meant in their own." -- Kirkus Reviews , starred review "Provocative . . . likely to interest both believers and nonbelievers with some familiarity with the Old Testament." -- Booklist

Intended AudienceTrade

SynopsisA world-renowned scholar reveals how a pivotal transformation in spiritual experience during the biblical era made us who we are today A great mystery lies at the heart of the Bible. Early on, people seem to live in a world entirely foreign to our own. God appears to Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and others; God buttonholes Moses and Isaiah and Jeremiah and tells them what to say. Then comes the Great Shift, and Israelites stop seeing God or hearing the divine voice. Instead, later Israelites are "in search of God," reaching out to a distant, omniscient deity in prayers, as people have done ever since. What brought about this change The answers come from ancient texts, archaeology and anthropology, and even modern neuroscience. They concern the origins of the modern sense of self and the birth of a worldview that has been ours ever since. James Kugel, whose strong religious faith shines through his scientific reckoning with the Bible and the ancient world, has written a masterwork that will be of interest to believers and nonbelievers alike, a profound meditation on encountering God, then and now., A world-renowned scholar reveals how a pivotal transformation in spiritual experience during the biblical era made us who we are today A great mystery lies at the heart of the Bible. Early on, people seem to live in a world entirely foreign to our own. God appears to Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and others; God buttonholes Moses and Isaiah and Jeremiah and tells them what to say. Then comes the Great Shift, and Israelites stop seeing God or hearing the divine voice. Instead, later Israelites are "in search of God," reaching out to a distant, omniscient deity in prayers, as people have done ever since. What brought about this change? The answers come from ancient texts, archaeology and anthropology, and even modern neuroscience. They concern the origins of the modern sense of self and the birth of a worldview that has been ours ever since. James Kugel, whose strong religious faith shines through his scientific reckoning with the Bible and the ancient world, has written a masterwork that will be of interest to believers and nonbelievers alike, a profound meditation on encountering God, then and now., One of the world's leading Bible scholars summarizes a career of study to ask the biggest questions: how has the nature of God changed over time? What are the origins of belief and religion? Why is the modern West so unusual in its worldview?