Synopses & Reviews
TEN YEARS AGO, Harvard professor James Kugel was diagnosed with an aggressive, likely fatal, form of cancer. and#8220;I was, of course, disturbed and worried. But the main change in my state of mind was that the background music had suddenly stoppedand#8212;the music of daily life thatand#8217;s constantly going, the music of infinite time and possibilities. Now suddenly it was gone, replaced by andlt;Iandgt;nothing, andlt;/Iandgt;just silence. There you are, one little person, sitting in the late summer sun, with only a few things left to do.and#8221; andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Despite his illness, Kugel was intrigued by this new state of mind and especially the uncanny feeling of human smallness that came with it. There seemed to be something overwhelmingly andlt;Iandgt;true andlt;/Iandgt;about itand#8212;and its starkness reminded him of certain themes and motifs he had encountered in his years of studying ancient religions. and#8220;This, I remember thinking, was something I should really look into furtherand#8212;if ever I got the chance.and#8221; andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;andlt;Iandgt;In the Valley of the Shadow andlt;/Iandgt;is the result of that search. In this wide-ranging exploration of different aspects of religionand#8212;interspersed with his personal reflections on the course of his own illnessand#8212;Kugel seeks to uncover what he calls and#8220;the starting point of religious consciousness,and#8221; an ancient and#8220;sense of selfand#8221; and a way of fitting into the world that is quite at odds with the usual one. He tracks these down in accounts written long ago of human meetings with gods and angels, anthropologistsand#8217; descriptions of the lives of hunter-gatherers, the role of witchcraft in African societies, first-person narratives of religious conversions, as well as the experimental data assembled by contemporary neuroscientists and evolutionary biologists. andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Though this different sense of how we fit into the world has largely disappeared from our own societies, it can still come back to us as a fleeting state of mind, and#8220;when you are just sitting on some park bench somewhere; or at a wedding, while everyone else is dancing and jumping around; or else one day standing in your backyard, as the sun streams down through the trees . . . and#8221; Experienced in its fullness, this different way of seeing opens onto a stark, new landscape ordinarily hidden from human eyes. andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Kugeland#8217;s look at the whole phenomenon of religious beliefs is a rigorously honest, sometimes skeptical, but ultimately deeply moving affirmation of faith in God. One of our generationand#8217;s leading biblical scholars has created a powerful meditation on humanityand#8217;s place in the world and all that matters most in our lives. Believers and doubters alike will be struck by its combination of objective scholarship and poetic insight, which makes for a single, beautifully crafted consideration of lifeand#8217;s greatest mystery.
Review
"Propounds a stark and challenging thesis, namely that contemporary Bible readers are confronted with two radically different ways of approaching Scripture and that both approaches are impressive and admirable—and fundamentally incompatible. Professor Kugel is a rare master of both approaches...The journey is fascinating." —The New York Times
Review
"Awesome, thrilling...Kugel aims to prove that you can read the Bible rationally without losing God. A majisterial, erudite, yet remarkably witty tour." —The New York Times Book Review
Review
"This is wonderfully interesting stuff, extremely well presented...Kugel's lucid explanation is a major contribution to popular understanding." —The Washington Post
Review
"This retired Harvard professor is one of the most engaging writers and lecturers in any discipline, and the rarest of Biblical scholars: brilliant, witty, humble. 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
Review
"Kugel has the great critic's knack for making difficult poetry seem much easier than it is...When he talks openly about his new, chagrined grasp of his all-too-human condition, he adds something raw and beautiful to his exegetical prowess." —
The New York Times Book Review "Kugel has used his wide-ranging knowledge to affirm religious faith,doing so richly." —
Publishers Weekly "[Kugel] is a powerful academic mind...a captivating miscellany of sweetness, hope, information, scholarship, sobriety, uncertainty and humour...His elegant prose, his extreme literary competence, and his tone -- not at all maudlin -- together make watching him tenaciously pursuing the fleeting a welcome pleasure." —
Winnipeg Free Press "Rich with original, exciting ideas...[
In the Valley of theShadow] is about a man's sense of wonder as he ponders being aself-contained being in a vast universe."
—The Seattle Times "Kugel has always worn his great erudition not just lightly but alluringly, anda memoir/polemic frees him as never before." —
America Magazine "Written with eloquence suitable to a scholar of Biblical poetry,
Kugel's memoir-cum-meditation will appealto thoughtful Jewish and non-Jewish readers alike." —
Library Journal Review
“A powerful hybrid of memoir, scholarship, and speculation…an unflinching look at that greatest of mysteries, our own death.” --Commonweal
Review
andlt;Bandgt;Praise for andlt;Iandgt;In the Valley of the Shadow:andlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/Bandgt;andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;"Kugel has the great critic's knack for making difficult poetry seem much easier than it is...When he talks openly about his new, chagrined grasp of his all-too-human condition, he adds something raw and beautiful to his exegetical prowess."
Review
"Kugel has used his wide-ranging knowledge to affirm religious faith,doing so richly."
Review
andlt;divandgt;"[Kugel]
Review
"Rich with original, exciting ideas...[andlt;Iandgt;In the Valley of the Shadowandlt;/Iandgt;] is about a man's sense of wonder as he ponders being a self-contained being in a vast universe."
Review
"Kugel has always worn his great erudition not just lightly but alluringly, anda memoir/polemic frees him as never before."
Review
"Written with eloquence suitable to a scholar of Biblical poetry, andlt;a name="HIT_5"andgt;andlt;/aandgt;andlt;a name="ORIGHIT_5"andgt;andlt;/aandgt;Kugel's memoir-cum-meditation will appealto thoughtful Jewish and non-Jewish readers alike."
Review
andlt;divandgt;"[Kugel]
Review
"[Kugel] is a powerful academic mind...a captivating miscellany of sweetness, hope, information, scholarship, sobriety, uncertainty and humour...His elegant prose, his extreme literary competence, and his tone -- not at all maudlin -- together make watching him tenaciously pursuing the fleeting a welcome pleasure."
Synopsis
Insights about life, death and the human place in the world derived from the author dealing with the likelihood that he would die from cancer.
About the Author
James L. Kugel is Starr Professor of Hebrew Literature at Harvard University, and a regular visiting Professor of Biblical Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.andnbsp; He is the author of a number of books of biblical scholarship, including andlt;iandgt;How to Read the Bible andlt;/iandgt;(2007), for which he won the National Jewish Book Award for best bookandlt;iandgt;,andlt;/iandgt; andlt;iandgt;The Great Poems of the Bible andlt;/iandgt;(1999), and andlt;iandgt;The Bible As It Was andlt;/iandgt;(1997).andnbsp;In 2001, Kugel was awarded the prestigious Grawemeyer Prize in Religion.andnbsp; He lives in Jerusalem, Israel, and in Cambridge, Massachusetts.