About
The book, the scribe, and the letters
The book
Why the Bible Began
Every card here comes from Why the Bible Began: An Alternative History of Scripture and Its Origins (Cambridge University Press, 2023).
Why did no other ancient society produce something like the Bible? The answer in this book is that the Bible was written by a conquered people. Forged after Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, it makes not victory but total defeat the foundation of a new idea of belonging — a blueprint for a community that could survive the loss of its king and its land. That is why it reads as literature for the losers of history, which is to say, for most of us on most days.
The book won the 2024 PROSE Award in the humanities from the Association of American Publishers and was named to The New Yorker’s “Best Books we read in 2023.”
The scribe
Jacob L. Wright
Jacob L. Wright is professor of Hebrew Bible at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, where he is also an associate faculty member at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion. Before joining Candler in 2007 he taught for several years at the University of Heidelberg; he earned his doctorate at the University of Göttingen.
To read his articles, go to Academia.edu
The letters
The Daily Scribe
One short letter each morning from the Hebrew Bible: a passage, a reflection you can read in about two minutes, and one question to carry into the day. A year of them, each month taken up with one practice of living together.
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While you wait, all 1,000 cards are here and free to scroll, and you can build a reading plan of your own.
A year of practices
- JanuaryBeginnings
- FebruaryTrust
- MarchResponsibility
- AprilMemory
- MayJustice
- JuneHospitality
- JulyWilderness
- AugustLeadership
- SeptemberRepentance
- OctoberLament
- NovemberGratitude
- DecemberHope