Originally Posted by
Monkeyfly
The
Rational Bible series by Dennis Prager.
Prager is known as a radio commentator but he is a Hebrew scholar.
He is not really a scholar, which usually requires an academic doctorate.
The Bible Unearthed by Israel Finkelstein,
Who Wrote the Bible by Richard Freidman, and
Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography by John Dominic Crossan are excellent introductory texts for a scholarly view of the bible and its protagonists.