I’m pleased to announce that my new book The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture is now officially scheduled for release as a September book with Cambridge University Press.
This is one of those “How to Read the Bible” books. But it’s different from most other books on the market in that it’s not about who wrote the Bible or about the literary qualities of the biblical texts. Rather, it is intended as an introduction to theideas the principal texts of the Hebrew Bible were written to advance, and to how to read the Bible if what you are interested in is the ideas of the biblical authors.
The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture is a good summary of (and introduction to) my work studying and teaching the Hebrew Bible at Shalem for the last two decades, including chapters that introduce my approach to the ethics, political philosophy, epistemology and metaphysics of the Bible. There are also chapters on the nature of biblical concepts such astruth and faith—terms which mean something very different in the context of Hebrew Scripture from what we usually take them to mean.
Although The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture has got all the references of a scholarly Cambridge book, it’s written for a general educated audience: You don’t need to believe in God to read it. You don’t need any background in Judaism or Bible to read it. And you don’t need to understand the academic jargon of any discipline. You just have to want to get a basic understanding of what Hebrew Scripture was meant to teach us, and how it goes about doing that.
So here’s some more information that may be of interest:
To Follow the Book: If you want to receive the press reviews of The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture and other news and discussion related to the book as it appears in real time, I’ll be sending these out on a special “Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture” listserv. You can subscribe to it here.
To Bring Me to Your City on Book Tour: I am scheduled to do extensive touring in the fall and winter to promote the book. If you’re interested in having me speak at your synagogue or church, university or organization, now’s the time to set that up. Please write to Suzanne Balaban: suzanne@bmmworldwide.com
To Get a Review Copy of the Book: If you need a review copy of the book write to Nicole Villeneuve at Cambridge: nvilleneuve@cambridge.org
To Order the Book: Go to amazon or barnes and noble now.
For further information on The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture (Cambridge University Press, September 2012) go to the official book page here.
Employment Notice
I am looking to hire an energetic and highly organized assistant to work with me on setting up travel, events, websites and other admin aspects of work around my book. This is a job in Jerusalem, starts immediately. If you’re interested, send a cv with covering note to hr@shalem.org.il. Please write “Yoram’s book” in the subject line.