this was written by maria johnson, a professor of religion at the university of scranton. in this small and wonderful memoir, johnson recounts how she was asked by her university to teach a introductory course in the hebrew bible. a subject in which she felt less comfortable than her usual systematic theology. she decided to approach it the way students would a victorian november yell. she asked them to read the hebrew bible without pondering its continuing relevant today. on the way to class, she was passed by the home of the orthodox jews that lived in her neighborhood. she would hear the children call each other names. and sikora.osef she was surprised at living down the road from descendents of moses. and this indicated to johnson that the hebrew johnson was clearly more than just mere literature. the story very obviously, she writes, was alive and well. you don't run into the descendents of oliver twist or find yourself living down the road from people that trace eir ancestry back to anna karennena or huck finn. until then she had no sense of judism as a living realit