A HISTORY OF JUDAISM

At a leisurely pace, narrator Derek Perkins makes Oxford professor Martin Goodman's history accessible and engaging to listeners. His focus is the development of Judaism from the time of Josephus, who lived in Roman times. With a British accent and an appropriate vocal pitch, Perkins smoothly pronounces Hebrew terms and makes clear where explanations appear in his delivery of theological/legal texts. This work is unusual because it follows the history of the religion rather than the more frequently documented history of Jews as a people or the first centuries of emerging monotheism. Listeners may be pleasantly surprised to discover some behavioral rules applicable to contemporary social life regardless of one's faith. F.M.R.G. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2019]