The Making of the Modern Jewish Bible explains how Jewish translators, commentators, and scholars made the Bible a keystone of Jewish life in Germany, Israel and America. In each site, a particular need -religion, nationalism, ethnicity -drove the enterprise of Bible study as scholars wrestled with the demands of the non-Jewish environment and their own indigenous traditions. Contrary to popular conceptions, the author argues that the modern period has been the golden age of Jewish Bible study.

IntroductionChapter 1: Spinoza As Jewish Bible CriticPart I. The Emergence of Modern Jewish Bible Studies in GermanyIntroduction: Starting with GermanyChapter 2: Mendelssohn's Bible: The Ideal of Jewish Self-SufficiencyChapter 3: Samson Raphael Hirsch: The Chimera of Self-Explanatory ScriptureChapter 4: Benno Jacob and the Call for a "Jewish" Bible ScholarshipChapter 5: The Martin Buber-Franz Rosenzweig Bible: Culture or Religion?Part II. Zionism and the Creation of a National BibleIntroduction: The Bible in Modern IsraelChapter 6: Early Zionism and the Bible: Ahad Haam and His OpponentsChapter 7: The Bible As National Linchpin: David Ben Gurion and His OpponentsChapter 8: Nehama Leibowitz's Bible: Returning Tradition to the TextPart III. The Flowering of Jewish Bible Studies in North AmericaIntroduction: America and the Jewish BibleChapter 9: Finding A Jewish Voice: Nahum Sarna & Robert AlterChapter 10: Seeking An American Jewish BibleConclusion: Is There A "Jewish School" of Modern Bible Study?NotesSelective BibliographyIndexAbout the Author