Judaism: Born Divided?
Below the Bible Belt – Part 2.

Join a year-long inquiry into the forgotten family feud between the rival kingdoms of Israel and Judah—and the ways it still shapes our reality. This epic Iron Age clash over territory and theology helped define the Bible and continues to influence Jewish and world history, even though most of us have never really heard this story told clearly.

Across the year, we’ll use biblical texts and critical scholarship to explore the ties and tensions between these tribal and global narratives in light of today’s growing gaps: religious and secular, literal and liberal, Zionist and diasporic. Why does this matter? By exposing these layers we can decipher how we got here, name and honor our ideological differences, and seek common ground toward more empathy, pluralism, and peace.

This course grows out of Below the Bible Belt’s first phase, which took over 2,000 readers on a 42‑month journey through all 929 chapters of the Hebrew Bible (2022–2025), with daily posts, weekly videos, and monthly livestreams. As political turmoil and war intensified alongside those readings, one theme kept surfacing: an ancient civil war whose legacy still shapes our religious, political, and societal schisms—and may offer clues for healthier paths ahead.