Reviews for How to Read the Bible:
“Who should we believe about the Bible—our Sunday school teachers or our university professors? James Kugel cuts through this dilemma with a breathtaking new look at the world’s most popular book. . . No writer on the Bible has wrestled so profoundly with the most basic, important questions raised by our conflicting knowledge and desires.” —“The Best Books We Read This Year,” The Onion
A “tour de force of biblical scholarship… It can be a jarring journey for those schooled in traditional views, but what emerges is a fresh, even strange, and very rich view of everything from the Garden of Eden to Isaiah’s dream vision of God. Refreshingly undogmatic and often witty, Kugel brings an intimate knowledge of the Hebrew Bible to illuminate small points as well as large. . . The result is a stunning narrative of the evolution of ancient Israel, of its God and of the entire Hebrew Bible.” —Publishers Weekly
“This would be the college course you never got to take about the Bible… It may be the best popular book about modern biblical critics ever written; it’s certainly one of the best popular books on the Bible in many years.” —Haaretz
Kugel has a fine ear for narrative, a lifelong scholar’s discipline, and a wonder and confidence fed by his beliefs. His gathering up of a life’s work gives readers a chance to brush up against genius, and perhaps examine those beliefs we claim for ourselves.” —The Seattle Times
Reviews for In the Valley of the Shadow:
“A powerful hybrid of memoir, scholarship, and speculation…an unflinching look at that greatest of mysteries, our own death.” —Commonwealth
“Where Kugel is really brilliant…is in teasing out of his own brush with death, as well as out of religious texts and artifacts, an account of what intimations of God feel like.” —The New York Times
Rich with original, exciting ideas. . . In the Valley of the Shadow is about man’s sense of wonder as he ponders being a self-contained being in a vast universe. —The Seattle Times
Reviews for The Bible As It Was:
“Wonderfully rich and learned … Using a staggering number of sources, Mr. Kugel evokes the manner in which the Bible was understood at the time of [early] interpreters; he also traces the origins of many of the explanations that have remained standard over the millennia. Mr. Kugel’s enormous undertaking is likely to be seen as a milestone in the long critical history of Bible studies … But while Mr. Kugel’s book is deeply grounded in scholarship, it is written with a straightforwardness and even an occasional wryness that makes it widely accessible, a pleasure to read.” —Richard Bernstein, New York Times
“It is the general reader who Kugel has in view throughout [his book], and his aim, in which he admirably succeeds, is both to provide such a reader with a first-hand acquaintance with some examples of ancient biblical interpretation and also to show how these make sense, once the writers’ assumptions and exegetical techniques are grasped … The Bible As It Was is an enjoyable work. It is beautifully produced, clearly set out, so that, in spite of its size, it is easy to use, and is written in a lively, often racy, style; it displays that expository mastery of a complicated subject which is the mark of a distinguished scholar, and it will make the readers to whom it is directed feel at home in an unfamiliar world.” —J.R. Porter, Times Literary Supplement
“[A] fascinating study … To cull material from these diverse sources requires no small expertise as a sleuth and a scholar. Kugel is equal to the task … He tackles his chosen subject with erudition and enthusiasm … Compellingly written.” —Phyllis Trible, New York Times Book Review
Reviews for The Ladder of Jacob:
“The Ladder of Jacob is one of the most readable and attractive introductions to the general style of traditional Jewish reasoning from Scripture. It captures the strange combination of playfulness with deadly seriousness that characterizes this exegetical tradition.” —John Barron, Times Literary Supplement
“Whether discussing Reuben’s sin with Bilhah or the priesthood of Levi or Judah and Tamar, Mr. Kugel moves easily from moral dilemmas to textual enigmas.” —Eric Ormsby, New York Sun
“Biblical scholar Kugel offers an in-depth study of some of the more difficult stories of Jacob and Jacob’s family … [A]ny biblical researcher can profit from understanding the questions raised by these texts and analyzing the answers they provide.” —Library Journal
Reviews for On Being a Jew:
“Ideal for students, parents, and rabbis, and those who wish to resolve what it means to be a Jew.” —Judaica News
“This book is more than a highly readable presentation of the basics of Judaism. It is a provocative and persuasive argument that the true meaning of being a Jew has been obscured for many Jews today as well as a stirring reflection on some of the deepest themes in Jewish practice and belief.” —Jewish Star
“A compelling introduction to being a religious Jew.” —Moment
“An honest, provocative and important work.” —Jewish Libraries
“No apologist, and no fan of what he terms the ‘halfway affair’ of American Judaism, [Kugel] demonstrates the deepest continuities of Jewish history.” —Economist
“I hope that readers will not only savor Jim Kugel’s engaging conversation about Judaism, but will participate in it.” —Adin Steinsaltz
Reviews for The Great Poems of the Bible:
“Mr. Kugel’s commentaries … are marvelous – fresh, original, deeply thought, deeply felt. They are the responses to the Bible of a scholar who, far more than just a scholar, is above all a reader and knows that, even more than knowledge, taste, and discrimination, the most important thing to bring to a text is oneself: not a part of oneself, but the whole, entirely focused and entirely open, ready to give and take all. To be more able to read in this way is a rare gift, and Mr. Kugel, who can also write, has it.” —The Forward
“This fascinating book includes familiar texts like Psalms 23 and 137, and Ecclesiastes 12, as well as some that are less well known to modern readers. Throughout, James Kugel’s linguistic and historical learning, modern literary sensibility, love of poetry in all languages, and special commitment to biblical interpretation frame this exciting examination of the power and energetic meaning of the great writing of the Hebrew Bible.” —John Hollander, coeditor of The Best American Poetry 1998 and winner of the Bollingen Prize in Poetry
“[Kugel] has produced both beautiful translations of beloved passages from the Hebrew Bible and inspired essays on ‘the spiritual reality’ those passages evoke.” —Commentary
Review for The God of Old:
“Once again my colleague James Kugel presents us with an irresistible book about the Bible. The lost world of the Bible has been made accessible to us by an expert, and again we stand in the debt of a gifted scholar and gregarious guide to the land and look of God.” —Peter J. Gomes, Harvard University, author of The Good Book
Praise for James Kugel:
“[Kugel,] far more than just a scholar, is above all a reader and knows that, even more than knowledge, taste, and discrimination, the most important thing to bring to a text is oneself: not a part of oneself, but the whole, entirely focused and entirely open, read to give and take all. To be able to read in this way is a rare gift, and Mr. Kugel, who can also write, has it.” Hillel Halkin, The Forward
“Mr. Kugel’s enormous undertaking [The Bible As It Was], is likely to be seen as a milestone in the long critical history of Bible studies. . . But while Mr. Kugel’s book is deeply grounded in scholarship, it is written with a straightforwardness and even an occasional wryness that makes it widely accessible, a pleasure to read.” Richard Bernstein, The New York Times
“Perhaps the most famous living controversial Apikores [heretic] in the world is Professor James Kugel, formerly of Harvard University, and now teaching at an Israeli University.” Voz Is Neias (Yiddish: What’s News?), an internet blog.