The Artistic Legacy of the Hebrew Bible

In this opening episode, Dr. Wisse explores why art became such a popular medium for depicting scenes from the Hebrew Bible, and why it is so well-suited to capturing Scripture's content and spirit. He also provides a general background on the role of art in Western society, the practical reasons and ways in which biblical art was produced, and how it affected the West's understanding of Hebrew Scripture.

There is no more dramatic story in the Hebrew Bible than the Binding of Isaac, when God ordered Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son on Mount Moriah. That drama, so sparingly told in the actual text of Scripture, has inspired a host of stunning artistic interpretations throughout history, most of which are focused on the psychology of each character. Dr. Wisse shows how the artwork about this episode offers visual depictions of Abraham's inner struggle, and why different artistic eras and traditions emphasized different parts of the story.

Jacob's wrestling match with the angel in the Book of Genesis, which concluded with his being given the name "Israel," is one of the Hebrew Bible's most mysterious stories. It is a critical turning point in Jacob's development, and has offered rich source material for many artists. Professor Wisse suggests that the episode's lack of clarity inspired artists not just to investigate the larger meaning of the story, but to assess and question the nature of artistic representation writ large.

The Hebrew Bible's narrative of Moses, in particular his ascent of and descent from Mount Sinai, is one of the most difficult of tales for artists to represent. As Dr. Wisse shows in this episode, that has led to a wide array of works that emphasize different aspects of these stories. Each piece is especially dependent on the context in which it appeared and the ideas of the artist who created it.

Queen Esther's appearance before her husband, the Persian king Ahashverosh, is not the most dramatic moment of the Book of Esther, yet it inspired an unusual number of artistic works. In this episode, Dr. Wisse tries to explain why through a survey of those works. He suggests that, given how different artists' interpretations of the story were from the actual biblical account, we can learn something enduring about the nature of the Hebrew Bible's artistic legacy.

More than any other character in the Hebrew Bible, the prophet Jeremiah dealt with the challenges of recognizing evil, identifying its impact in the world, and relentlessly enjoining others to combat it. This made artists eager to take up his story, and as Dr. Wisse argues in this episode, to create a visual legacy of his character that is nearly independent from the text that inspired it.