How To Read The Jewish Bible By Marc Brettler Analysis

In his book How to Read the Jewish Bible, Marc Brettler (2005) introduces the reader to the Bible employing the methods modern biblical scholars use to understand the Hebrew scriptures. How successfully he does this depends not only on the content of his book, but also on the intended audience. In order to ascertain how well Brettler accomplished the intended goals of the book, one must first decipher what the goals of the work are. In the preface to the paperback edition of the book Brettler asserts that he wishes to introduce the Jewish Bible to a wider audience than is normally brought into the circle of biblical scholars (Brettler, 2005, vii). His second objective is to present a “Jewishly sensitive” contribution to …show more content…
Considering the significant diversity in religious affiliation and scholarship within the class, it would be impossible to find a text which could meet each pupal where they are. However, considering the fact that all but one student are non-Jews, it is fairly safe to assume few are well versed in Jewish biblical scholarship and so this introductory book fulfills all the same goals Brettler intended by familiarizing the reader to the Hebrew Bible texts through a historical-critical lens and from a Jewish point of view. From a personal perspective I will put forward my own impressions, as well as where I think the book falls short generally. I must start with a confession. I struggled through a great deal of this book and I have not been entirely clear why. After a significant amount of reflection I have to conclude that the majority of the issue lies with me, rather than the book Brettler has written. The language and specific biblical terminology is new to me and I found it a difficult adjustment. I was not familiar with much of the Hebrew Scriptures and found that