Tagged: Bible

Alter on writing The Art of Biblical Narrative

Robert Alterisa scholar and translator whose rendition of the Pentateuch into English we read in the first-year Core humanists as The Five Books of Moses. Earlier this year, in January, Alter was invited to deliver a lecture to students in Brigham Young University’s program in Ancient Near Eastern Studies. In his talk, he discusses The […]

Esposito introducing Bible lecture with Elie Wiesel

This past Tuesday, September 9th, Prof. Michael Zank of the Department of Religion lectured to students in the first-year Humanities about the Hebrew Bible. His talk was introduced with some very moving comments by Prof. Stephen Esposito (Classics), the course coordinator. Prof. Esposito has agreed to let us republish his introduction here on the Core […]

Book the Size of a Ladybug Contains Genesis I

The University of Iowa library contains over 4,000 books that can fit into one’s palm. One book, however, has come to the attention of The Atlantic. This pea-sized volume measures a mere 0.138 inches square and 0.04 inches thick, so tiny it cannot be read with the naked eye. Recently library staff put the miniature […]

Moses Parting the Red Sea

Earlier this week, Prof. Eckel lectured to the students of CC101 on the Book of Exodus. As an introduction to the topic, he showed the clip above from the 1956 feature film, The Ten Commandments.

MLK: “I have been to the mountaintop”

Prof. Eckel, during his lecture on the Book of Exodus this morning for the students of CC101, showed a clip of Martin Luther King, Jr., speaking on the night before his assassination in 1968.

Six Quotes: Knust on Genesis

“We can think of Genesis, not as a book with a beginning and an end, but rather as an archive.” “God’s covenant with Noah is one-sided. God does not ask for anything in return but he makes a rule that no one is to kill each other but the covenant is not dependent on the […]

Six Quotes: Zank on Genesis

“Genesis starts with ‘In the beginning’; and that is always a great place to start.” “The Bible’s stories, laws, and beliefs decisively influenced the western imagination; biblical heroes became models for kings and commoners, and taught westerners how to act, what to pursue, how to govern and rule.” “The Bible has been many a person’s […]

Analects of the Core: The Old Testament on dust

For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. – Genesis 3:19