The Oxford History of the Biblical World

By: Michael D. Coogan - editor

Narrated by: Scott R. Pollak

In this impressive volume, leading scholars offer compelling glimpses into the biblical world, the world in which prophets, poets, sages, and historians created one of our most important texts—the Bible.

For more than a century, archaeologists have been unearthing the tombs, temples, texts, and artifacts of the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean world. Using new approaches, contemporary scholars have begun to synthesize this material with the biblical traditions. The Oxford History of the Biblical World incorporates the best of this scholarship, and in chronologically ordered chapters presents the listener with an integrated study of the history, art, architecture, languages, literatures, and religion of biblical Israel and early Judaism and Christianity in their larger cultural contexts. The authors also examine such issues as the roles of women, the tensions between urban and rural settings, royal and kinship social structures, and official and popular religions of the region.

Understanding the biblical world is a vital part of understanding the Bible. Broad, authoritative, and engaging, The Oxford History of the Biblical World will illuminate for any listener the ancient world from which the Bible emerged.

©1998 Oxford University Press (P)2023 Tantor

Lots of Information

There is a lot of useful information in this book. It can give you a point from which to do more research. The one thing I disliked about the book was that it sometimes presented in a more modernistic view that the Bible is not always an accurate source of historical knowledge.

 A comprehensive history 

As I’m not a scholar, I found this to be very readable and enjoyable. I have enjoyed reading history for years and found this to provide a nice wide vision of the world during the biblical times. I don’t agree with all the writers, but the overall understandings provided have been very informative.  this work was definitely worth the time and effort to get through. 

Great content but also repetitive

Solid critical examination of the cultures surrounding and influencing events in the Bible.
They could have had some sort of system of planning so the different writers didn’t cover the same topics at length. On the other hand, hearing the same events described again helps memorization and sometimes new perspectives broaden understanding.

Bleh

Disliked everything about this colossal pile of excrement of course can’t return it now thanks audible