brianentz said
Bart, 

I appreciate your New Testament work quite a bit. I’ve been on a Ehrman audiobook binge of late. But I’m wondering if you could suggest an author who covers Old Testament history, textual criticism, etc… from a perspective that is both Academic and critical and not faith based. Most of what I see resists any sort of criticism of ‘sacred cows’. I’ve learned recently that most scholars don’t actually consider Moses to be an actual historical character. I’d like to know more about that. I’d like to know more, in particular about the genesis of Genesis. Such an interesting book in terms of the history of religion. Any suggestions for me?   

Brian, Prof Ehrman doesn’t come over to this side very often.  This is for the pleasure of the members of the blog.  He regularly answers questions after his posts however.  If you don’t mind the opinions of a fellow traveler, allow me to recommend the work of Hebrew scholars James Kugel and Robert Alter, especially the latter’s excellent translation and commentary on Genesis. 

Welcome!