I taught at the University of Southern California for 28 years. During that time I developed a number of courses including "The Bible as Literature," the first such course in the country. which subsequently proliferated in universities around the country. I taught the course for ten years, which attracted upwards of 100 students every semester, deepening my research and knowledge of the Bible and my insights into the Bible's influence on Western Civilization. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is the most obvious evidence of the Bible's artistic inspiration. Michelangelo spent years on his back producing his frescos depicting scenes of the Bible. The ubiquitous presence of the Bible and its influence on virtually every facet of Western Civilization have no equal. Yet few are sufficiently familiar with the text to recognize its ubiquity. This book intends to correct that innocence.

I taught at the University of Southern California for 28 years. During that time I developed a number of courses including "The Bible as Literature," the first such course in the country. which subsequently proliferated in universities around the country. I taught the course for ten years, which attracted upwards of 100 students every semester, deepening my research and knowledge of the Bible and my insights into the Bible's influence on Western Civilization. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is the most obvious evidence of the Bible's artistic inspiration. Michelangelo spent years on his back producing his frescos depicting scenes of the Bible. The ubiquitous presence of the Bible and its influence on virtually every facet of Western Civilization have no equal. Yet few are sufficiently familiar with the text to recognize its ubiquity. This book intends to correct that innocence.