God's Favorites
Judaism, Christianity, and the Myth of Divine Chosenness
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Narrated by:
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Jeff Zinn
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By:
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Michael Coogan
About this listen
A noted biblical scholar explores how the claim of divine choice has been used from ancient times to the present to justify territorial expansion and prejudice.
The Bible describes many individuals and groups as specially chosen by God. But does God choose at all? Michael Coogan explains the temporally layered and allusive storytelling of biblical texts and describes the world of the ancient Near East from which it emerged, laying bare the power struggles, the acts of vengeance, and persecutions made sacred by claims of chosenness.
Jumping forward to more modern contexts, Coogan reminds us how the self-designation of the Puritan colonizers of New England as God’s new Israel eventually morphed, in the US, into the self-justifying doctrines of manifest destiny and American exceptionalism. In contemporary Israel, both fundamentalist Zionists and their evangelical American partners cite the Jews’ status as God’s chosen people as justification for taking land - for very different ends. Appropriated uncritically, the Bible has thus been used to reinforce exclusivity and superiority, with new myths based on old myths.
Finally, in place of the pernicious idea of chosenness, Coogan suggests we might instead focus on another key biblical concept: taking care of the immigrant and the refugee, reminding the listener of the unusual focus on the vulnerable in both the Hebrew Bible and New Testament.
©2019 Michael Coogan (P)2019 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Those interested in biblical interpretation and in American religious history will find this to be a helpful work.” (Library Journal)
“What does it mean to be chosen by God? The biblical promise of the covenant has become the basis for remarkable political movements, both of liberation and xenophobia, freedom, and oppression. Tracing the history of this key concept from the Bible to the present day, Michael Coogan brilliantly brings to life the extraordinary journey of this complex religious idea.” (Susannah Heschel, Eli Black professor of Jewish studies, Dartmouth College, and author of The Aryan Jesus)
“God’s Favorites traces the negative effects of the idea of the divine chosenness of a particular people. Starting with an overview of ideas about divine chosenness in the Bible, the book shows the concrete, violent, and oppressive ways this idea of chosenness has been used. It has shaped exclusive ideas of American exceptionalism, undergirded the beliefs of fundamentalist Zionists, and inflamed debates about immigration up to the present day. A timely and important book.” (David M. Carr, author of Holy Resilience: The Bible’s Traumatic Origins)
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- By: David Nirenberg
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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This incisive history upends the complacency that confines anti-Judaism to the ideological extremes in the Western tradition. With deep learning and elegance, David Nirenberg shows how foundational anti-Judaism is to the history of the West. Questions of how we are Jewish and, more critically, how and why we are not have been churning within the Western imagination throughout its history. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans; Christians and Muslims of every period; even the secularists of modernity have used Judaism in constructing their visions of the world.
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Great Book: Terrible Narrator
- By LB on 12-29-16
By: David Nirenberg
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David Lynch
- The Man from Another Place (Icons)
- By: Dennis Lim
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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At once a pop culture icon, cult figure, and film industry outsider, master filmmaker David Lynch and his work defy easy definition. Dredged from his subconscious mind, Lynch's work is primed to act on our own subconscious, combining heightened, contradictory emotions into something familiar but inscrutable. No less than his art, Lynch's life also evades simple categorization, encompassing pursuits as a musician, painter, photographer, carpenter, entrepreneur, and vocal proponent of Transcendental Meditation.
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Essential listening for Lunch fans
- By Michael P. Mesaros on 08-14-18
By: Dennis Lim
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The Misunderstood Jew
- The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus
- By: Amy Jill Levine
- Narrated by: Donna Postel
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Misunderstood Jew, scholar Amy-Jill Levine helps Christians and Jews understand the "Jewishness" of Jesus so that their appreciation of him deepens and a greater interfaith dialogue can take place. Levine's humor and informed truth - telling provokes honest conversation and debate about how Christians and Jews should understand Jesus, the New Testament, and each other.
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Courageous
- By Tad Davis on 07-27-17
By: Amy Jill Levine
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Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy
- A Journey into a New Christianity Through the Doorway of Matthew's Gospel
- By: John Shelby Spong
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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A man who has consciously and deliberately walked the path of Christ, John Shelby Spong has lived his entire life inside the Christian Church. In this profound and considered work, he offers a radical new way to look at the gospels today as he shows just how deeply Jewish the Christian Gospels are and how much they reflect the Jewish scriptures, history, and patterns of worship.
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understanding the jewish thoughts in the Gospels
- By John on 08-30-18
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Understanding the Bible
- By: John R. W. Stott
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Understanding the Bible will provide you with a foundational comprehension of the entirety of Scripture with a focus on broadening your vision of Jesus Christ.
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Excellent exposition of the Christian faith
- By GW on 02-25-12
By: John R. W. Stott
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The Evolution of God
- By: Robert Wright
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 18 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In this sweeping narrative, which takes us from the Stone Age to the Information Age, Robert Wright unveils an astonishing discovery: there is a hidden pattern that the great monotheistic faiths have followed as they have evolved. Through the prisms of archeology, theology, and evolutionary psychology, Wright's findings overturn basic assumptions about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and are sure to cause controversy.
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Very heavy reading
- By Stephen on 08-07-09
By: Robert Wright
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Paul and Jesus
- How the Apostle Transformed Christianity
- By: James D. Tabor
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Historians know virtually nothing about the two decades following the crucifixion of Jesus, when his followers regrouped and began to spread his message. During this time the man we know as the apostle Paul joined the movement and began to preach to the gentiles. Using the oldest Christian documents that we have - the letters of Paul - as well as other early Christian sources, historian and scholar James Tabor reconstructs the origins of Christianity.
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Paul or Jesus?
- By James on 01-29-13
By: James D. Tabor
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The First Paul
- Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church's Conservative Icon
- By: Marcus J. Borg, John Dominic Crossan
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Paul is second only to Jesus as the most important person in the birth of Christianity, and yet he continues to be controversial, even among Christians. How could the letters of Paul be used both to inspire radical grace and to endorse systems of oppression - condoning slavery, subordinating women, condemning homosexual behavior? Borg and Crossan use the best of biblical and historical scholarship to explain the reasons for Paul's mixed reputation and reveal to us what scholars have known for decades: The later letters of Paul were created by the early church to dilute Paul's message.
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A Liberal Paul
- By Kayla on 05-12-20
By: Marcus J. Borg, and others
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God and Empire
- Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now
- By: John Dominic Crossan
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In contrast to the oppressive Roman military occupation of the first century, Crossan examines the meaning of the non-violent Kingdom of God prophesized by Jesus and the equality advocated by Paul to the early Christian churches. Crossan contrasts these messages of peace with the misinterpreted apocalyptic vision from the Book of Revelation, which has been misrepresented by modern right-wing theologians and televangelists to justify US military actions in the Middle East.
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Smart Book
- By Wesley Bishop on 07-01-22
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Understanding the Koran
- A Quick Christian Guide to the Muslim Holy Book
- By: Mateen Elass
- Narrated by: Don Reed
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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A quick non-technical introduction to the Koran designed to help Christians understand a hidden book revered by 1.3 billion Muslims, covering the background on its writing, a summary of its contents, a perspective on how it’s used and viewed by Muslims, a comparison of differences and similarities to the Bible, and some suggestions on how it should and should not be used in conversations with Muslims.
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Favors Christianity
- By Dianne on 12-18-15
By: Mateen Elass
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Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Bart D. Ehrman
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Dan Brown's immensely popular New York Times best-selling The Da Vinci Code is one of the most successful books of recent history. It has captivated millions the world over with its enthralling suspense and its provocative questions about the true nature of Jesus' life.
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A historian's approach to the Da Vinci code
- By John Mertus on 01-23-05
By: Bart D. Ehrman
What listeners say about God's Favorites
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Trevone
- 07-27-24
I was asked the question why did God choose the Israelites the book was great 👍
I loved the book. Answerd many questions I even shared what I was reading even before I I finished
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Overall
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Performance
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- Muriel F. Jones
- 09-28-23
Essential quotes became tedious in print. The Audible version helped me though the book.
Great information and thoughts about an important concept. Favoritism was referenced and discussed by a scholar. I began reading doubting favoritism but ended with many logical pieces of background information and reasoning.
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