Reading Biblical Literature: Genesis to Revelation

By: Craig R. Koester, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Craig R. Koester

Rightly recognized as one of the world's most important spiritual texts, the Bible has shaped thousands of years of faith, art, and human history. Yet for all its importance to believers and nonbelievers alike, we rarely engage with the Bible as a collection of unique narratives that were only later united into what we now know as the Old and New Testaments. And these different texts - historical narratives, dramatic visions, poems, songs, letters - speak to a broad range of experience, from joy and wonder to tragedy and mystery.

The diversity of material in biblical books like Exodus, Isaiah, Psalms, Mark, and Revelation has prompted people throughout history (from religious scholars to celebrated artists to everyday worshippers) to ponder and debate the meaning of these classic texts. To truly understand and appreciate the Bible's many perspectives on faith, war, suffering, love, memory, community, and other enduring themes, it is enlightening to use a literary approach to reading and thinking about these separate books.

Enjoy an intellectual adventure like no other in Reading Biblical Literature: Genesis to Revelation, which offers a comprehensive, book-by-book analysis of the Bible from the fascinating perspective of literature and narrative. Delivered by acclaimed religion scholar Professor Koester of Luther Seminary, these 36 lectures guide you through ancient stories, empowering you to engage with the books of the Bible as richly meaningful texts. From the lives of figures like Moses and King David to the Gospel accounts of Jesus and the formation of the earliest Christian communities, you get an unforgettably vivid sense of the Bible as a tale filled with complex characters, dramatic conflicts, universal themes, inspirational wisdom, hidden meanings, revolutionary crises, and powerful life lessons. No wonder it's considered the greatest story ever told.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2016 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2016 The Great Courses

Masterful literary overview

As a literature professor of many decades, and a lifetime biblical scholar, I appreciated this masterful overview of the Bible. It’s disappointing that a few negative reviewers entirely miss the point of a literary study of the most alluded to book in history. It’s a massive task, and this author brings a tremendous amount of knowledge, and if I may, hope to the subject. Bravo.

really enjoyable

really enjoyed this book and would strongly recommend it to everyone A pulse presentation as well

Covers the Bible as literature

I thoroughly enjoyed this presentation and perspective. It is an easy listen, but I recommend not doing too much at a time. It provides a good summary of the many books with historical and religious context. The course recognizes the stories in the Bible as literature. I do not recommend this course for fundamentalists who read the Bible as the literal word of God.

An Easy Listen

I listened to this lectures series during my morning drive to work, 20 minutes at a time over several months. The lectures are easy to follow and don't require you to go back to earlier materials in order to make sense of the current lecture. Also, this is a reasonably straightforward presentation of the bible narrative, that traditional Christians can countenance. It isn't a liberal treatment, and does not attempt to dismiss the bible as mythology.

Extremely Well Done

A great way to review the entire Bible in a relatively short period of time.