[A] masterful literary study of ancient biblical exegesis...Kugel makes a compelling case for the existence in antiquity of a broad intercommunal communication regarding the meaning of biblical texts...While the formulation and modes of transmission of such a tradition remain a mystery, the rich literary evidence assembled here will give many historical scholars food for thought.
   --Martin S. Jaffe, Religious Studies Review

Kugel's own wit and imagination reveal the inventive brilliance of those anonymous, forgotten readers [of the Bible], and our own reading will never be quite the same afterward.
   --Wayne A. Meeks, Yale University

Illuminates with sensitivity and elegance the unfolding of narrative from scriptural exegesis...Kugel traces the career of these post-biblical stories through their complicated and fascinating permutations. This book will interest students of narrative as much as it will Bible scholars.
   --David Stern, University of Pennsylvania

James L. Kugel is a Professor at Bar-Ilan University.

Read More by James L. Kugel:

• Traditions of the Bible: A Guide to the Bible As It Was at the Start of the Common Era
• The Bible As It Was
• Studies in Ancient Midrash
• Prayers that Cite Scripture: Biblical Quotation in Jewish Prayers from Antiquity through the Middle Ages