Why the Bible Began

An Alternative History of Scripture and Its Origins

By: Jacob L. Wright

Narrated by: Jim Denison

Why did no other ancient society produce something like the Bible? That a tiny, out of the way community could have created a literary corpus so determinative for peoples across the globe seems improbable.

For Jacob Wright, the Bible is not only a testimony of survival, but also an unparalleled achievement in human history. Forged after Babylon's devastation of Jerusalem, it makes not victory but total humiliation the foundation of a new idea of belonging. Lamenting the destruction of their homeland, scribes who composed the Bible imagined a promise-filled past while reflecting deeply on abject failure. More than just religious scripture, the Bible began as a trailblazing blueprint for a new form of political community. Its response to catastrophe offers a powerful message of hope and restoration that is unique in the Ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman worlds.

Wright's Bible is thus a social, political, and even economic roadmap—one that enabled a small and obscure community located on the periphery of leading civilizations and empires not just to come back from the brink, but ultimately to shape the world's destiny. The Bible speaks ultimately of being a united yet diverse people, and its pages present a manual of pragmatic survival strategies for communities confronting societal collapse.

©2023 Cambridge University Press & Assessment (P)2024 Tantor Media

The “Why” frames the Biblical Narrative

Well written and well researched. Easy to read/listen to. Understanding one theory on the “why” makes the narrative coherent or at least puts the inconsistencies and conflict in context. It explains disparate views and stories and brings rationality to reading them as a common cultural narrative.