The Moses Chronicles
The Moses Chronicles is dedicated to the first five books of the Bible—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, often called the Pentateuch, or the Torah—and how to read them. I’ll bring you knowledge about the cultures in which the Torah is embedded, the genres in which it was written, and the literary craft that is evident on every page. I’ll show you how it was implicated in ancient politics, and how it remains relevant for modern politics—it has a lot to say about how (and how not) to exercise power and show leadership. I’ll also talk about the future of pentateuchal studies (and biblical studies in general) — how, where, and why we study the Torah.
This is serious stuff, but my goal is to make it accessible and fun. Whether you’re here to learn more about an important text in your faith tradition, curious (or angry) about how the Bible has been used (and abused) in politics, or you just love great literature, you are welcome.
The title of The Moses Chronicles honors the fact that the Torah is in one sense a biography of Moses. A lot of its richness and beauty can be found in how it develops the character of this king, priest, and lawgiver par excellence, who has lit the imaginations of writers, artists, and thinkers across the centuries.
Free subscribers will get weekly insights and hot takes on how texts from the Torah (and what scholars have to say about them) might be relevant to our times. Paid subscribers will get a deeper dive, with longer reads and sneak peeks at work in progress, at least once per month. They will also be able to join the community and post comments and get access to occasional live video chats.
Subscribe to The Moses Chronicles
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The text carved on the wall of the Siloam tunnel in Jerusalem is thought to be a watershed in the history of Hebrew prose because it signals a “deictic shift” in West Semitic inscriptions “from the king to the message itself” and gives credit for this engineering marvel to the ordinary people who labored to…
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Last week I wrote a bit about why Spinoza was interested in interpretation of the Bible — in a nutshell, the better we do it, the harder it is for people to abuse Scripture to their own ends. We see them advancing false notions of their own as the word of God and seeking to…
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The Moses Chronicles has been on a bit of a hiatus. I’ll spare you the details, but the world is a bit of a wreck at the moment, and middle age has hit hard. Anyway, I am hoping now to post more regularly. Thanks for sticking with me. I am in the process of wrapping…