The Bible's Prehistory, Purpose, and Political Future

Jacob Wright's online course The Bible's Prehistory, Purpose, and Political Future might be worth checking out. The course has been archived, but it is free to work through at your own pace.

> Working through colorful biblical and ancient Near Eastern texts, and drawing on an array of comparative examples, the course illustrates the thoroughgoing manner with which biblical authors responded to defeat by advancing a demotic agenda that places the community at the center. The aim of the biblical authors was to create a nation, and they sought to realize this goal via a shared text, which includes stories and songs, wisdom and laws.

Reminder: The Bible's Prehistory, Purpose, and Political Future is now active.

Not a book, but I really recommend the course "The Bible's Prehistory, Purpose, and Political Future" by Prof Jacob Wright on Coursera. It's a fascinating take on the history of the Bible's compilation as an exercise in nation-making.

Love - what the world needs. ;) Thanks.

Here is the link to the class: The Bible's Prehistory, Purpose, and Political Future

Here is a thread from r/academicbiblical on the Exodus

I found this fascinating - from an academic in biblical studies:

Video: William Propp - What Was The Exodus?

I used to follow all of this, and still find it interesting as a layperson, but I don't follow it that much anymore. If you find biblical history interesting, r/academicbiblical used to be a great resource and has many older threads you can review.

I haven’t seen them yet so I can’t speak to their exact content or quality, but I frequently audit MOOCs for free online just for my own edification, and I have two on my list I haven’t gotten to yet but that you might be interested in:

The Bible in Light of the Ancient Near East: https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:IsraelX+0109434x+1T2020/course/

The Bible’s Prehistory, Purpose, and Political Future: https://www.coursera.org/learn/bible-history/home/welcome

If you’re not familiar with MOOCs, you’ll need an account but no payment is necessary. People can pay for a certificate but you can also just audit for free, which is what I do.

this search engine for open courseware might help - Here is the section on Theology with over 200 open course listings from various colleges.

also: These are the free open courses at MIT in the Humanities/religion category:

also I took an earlier version of this class a few years ago (before it was free) but it appears to be free now Emory's "The Bible's Prehistory, Purpose, and Political Future"