I am happy to report that Bollati Boringhieri Editore, part of the Gruppo Editoriale Mauri Spagnol, has acquired the Italian rights to my book, with publication slated for fall, 2015. Stay tuned!
Interview on the Moncrieff Show
I was interviewed today on the Moncrieff Show, on Dublin’s Newstalk Radio, about How the Bible Became Holy. The interview can be heard here.
New Course Syllabus: Great Jewish Books
I will be teaching a new course this fall (2014) entitled Great Jewish Books. The description is:
Judaism is sometimes defined as an extended conversation between writers in different places and times, writing in different languages. This course will give you access into this conversation. Who are the major thinkers and their works? What are the topics and ideas that engage them, and how do they engage each other? We will wrestle with their ideas, both as universal answers to perennial questions of human concern (e.g., why is there evil in the world) and as expressions of their own Jewishness.
And a couple more reviews….
Above is the interview that I had with Steven Weiss on The Jewish Channel about my book. My three minutes begins at 4:00.
Two other reviews appeared the other week in newspapers:
More Reviews
Reviews of How the Bible Became Holy have begun to appear. Here are the ones that I know about:
The Jewish Daily Forward: http://forward.com/articles/200343/how-we-know-the-bible-was-written-by-human-hands/?p=all
Commentary: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/missing-the-text/
Los Angeles Review of Books: http://lareviewofbooks.org/review/timely-history-timeless-story
There has also been a surprisingly sophisticated discussion of the book appearing in less formal web venues, which is especially gratifying.
Some of the reviews raise serious issues that deserve response. Despite my desire to respond to them as they come out (I am practically jumping out of my skin with the desire to do so), I do believe that the “author is dead” (metaphorically!) – I have had my say and now rather than attempting to steer the conversation I want to hear the reactions of others. At some later point I will prepare a unified response, probably to be posted here. Should you have any other reactions that you wish to share, by all means feel free to leave them as comments here or to email me directly (but better if they are left as comments).
Also, there is an interview with me appearing on The Jewish Channel this week. I will post the entire interview when it appears, but highlights are contained in the clip above beginning at 6:37.