“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
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It’s one of the most easily recognizable opening lines from any literary work, the Book of Genesis, a book that has been interpreted in countless ways over the thousands of years of its existence. In this episode I speak about it with an expert on the Hebrew Bible, Ronald Hendel. He explains the inception and reception of this most influential scriptural text on order to show how a text’s afterlife inevitably affects our reading of it in the present. This is the theme of his book, The Book of Genesis: A Biography (Princeton University Press, 2013). William Propp supplied seven unique illustrations at the head of each chapter of Hendel’s biography, one of which appears here.
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This ongoing series of Maxwell Institute Podcast episodes features interviews with authors of volumes in Princeton University Press’s impressive “Lives of Great Religious Books” collection. In Princeton’s series, leading experts examine the origins of books like the Book of Mormon, Genesis, or Augustine’s Confessions. They trace shifts in the reception, influence, and interpretation of these landmark texts.
As the Maxwell Institute’s mission statement suggests, we perform scholarly study of religious texts and traditions in order to deepen understanding and nurture discipleship among Latter-day Saints and to promote mutual respect and goodwill among people of all faiths. That’s why our work encompasses texts and traditions beyond Latter-day Saint religious borders. By looking at other religious texts—worthwhile in their own right—we come to understand other faiths better, as well as our own.
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Ronald Hendel is a highly-acclaimed professor of Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies at the University of California-Berkeley. He is currently working on a project to produce a new critical edition of the Hebrew Bible with the Society for Biblical Literature called The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition.
It’s one of the most easily recognizable opening lines from any literary work, the Book of Genesis, a book that has been interpreted in countless ways over the thousands of years of its existence. In this episode I speak about it with an expert on the Hebrew Bible, Ronald Hendel. He explains the inception and reception of this most influential scriptural text on order to show how a text’s afterlife inevitably affects our reading of it in the present. This is the theme of his book, The Book of Genesis: A Biography (Princeton University Press, 2013). William Propp supplied seven unique illustrations at the head of each chapter of Hendel’s biography, one of which appears here.
Special Episodes: “Lives of Great Religious Books”
This ongoing series of Maxwell Institute Podcast episodes features interviews with authors of volumes in Princeton University Press’s impressive “Lives of Great Religious Books” collection. In Princeton’s series, leading experts examine the origins of books like the Book of Mormon, Genesis, or Augustine’s Confessions. They trace shifts in the reception, influence, and interpretation of these landmark texts.
As the Maxwell Institute’s mission statement suggests, we perform scholarly study of religious texts and traditions in order to deepen understanding and nurture discipleship among Latter-day Saints and to promote mutual respect and goodwill among people of all faiths. That’s why our work encompasses texts and traditions beyond Latter-day Saint religious borders. By looking at other religious texts—worthwhile in their own right—we come to understand other faiths better, as well as our own.
About Ronald Hendel
Ronald Hendel is a highly-acclaimed professor of Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies at the University of California-Berkeley. He is currently working on a project to produce a new critical edition of the Hebrew Bible with the Society for Biblical Literature called The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition.
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