People & books,
in context.

Not a list of names: each record connects a person or work to arguments, passages, historical periods, questions, and further reading.

A–ZC F H J M N R S

Biblical scholar · 1883–1951

Umberto Cassuto

An Italian-Israeli scholar of the Hebrew Bible and ancient Near East who engaged critically with documentary theories.

Archaeologist · 1949–

An Israeli archaeologist whose work on settlement patterns and Iron Age chronology is central to contemporary debates about ancient Israel.

Poet and philosopher · c. 1075–1141

A medieval Jewish thinker whose Kuzari develops a distinctive account of history, testimony, and religious knowledge.

Historian · c. 37–c. 100 CE

A first-century Jewish historian whose works are major sources for the Second Temple period and the Jewish–Roman wars.

Legal scholar and philosopher · 1138–1204

Rabbi Moses ben Maimon was a major codifier of Jewish law and an influential philosopher of revelation, language, nature, and providence.

Commentator and legal scholar · 1194–1270

Rabbi Moses ben Nahman was a biblical commentator, legal authority, and theologian in medieval Catalonia.

Biblical and Talmudic commentator · 1040–1105

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki authored foundational commentaries on the Bible and Babylonian Talmud.

Biblical scholar · 1923–2005

A biblical scholar known for historically informed literary study of the Hebrew Bible.