Status Updates From Judaism: History, Belief an...

This textbook has two parts: part 1 is History, part 2 is theology and practice. I just now got to part 2. It's super dense but very interesting. I learned a lot in part one about the Bible that I had never heard before.

This has to be one of the most fascinating books I have ever read about history. It is 100% Non-fiction academic history textbook, but yet the author does a good job of keeping the chapter short and to the point. Using dates and images/maps to help the reader really get the material. The only thing that I don't really understand is the last section of each chapter dictated as 'sources', they never really seem to help

I have Chs 1-4 and I really love this book. I am taking a class at Athens with the same name as the book. It has already taught me answers to really indepth questions about the originality of the Abrahamic faith compared to the Ancient Near Eastern religions. Like the book says "Judaism wasn't born in a vacuum. However, he comes to conclusions I don't. For ex that ancient Israelites stole from surrounding cultures.