 Alter wrote that the Deuteronomic assumptions about historical causation may seem problematic or even untenable, but the powerful notion of the urgency of moral choice continues to resonate.Professor James Kugel of Bar Ilan University wrote that the words of resounded in the ears of generations of Jews and Christians.Kugel taught that in a sense, all Jewish and Christian devotion — religious services, prayers, the study of Scripture, and dozens of other acts intended to carry out God's will — find at least part of their origin and inspiration in these words.