Is it a waste of time to read the bible for literary purposes now a days?
Which version would be the most “correct” to the original version in English.
Is that the best one to read or is it better to go with the classic King James for the best literary experience?
If you have an iPhone many of the free Bible apps contain many, many translations and updates of the Bible to choose from, including more than one Greek version.
As far as it’s literary value… some of the Old Testament books are close to becoming … archaic. Many of the stories off the well beaten path of mainstream Bible study seem to have fallen off the Bible map. They’re almost never referred to, and whatever parable or point they’re trying to make is usually redundant with another book, or the point it makes seems contradicted by ethics of the situation which by today’s standards are discomforting.
You would be hard pressed to find a single book with more gravitas and weight in all of Western literature.
whatever parable or point they’re trying to make is either redundant with another book.
Is this meant as a joke?
Dude, some of the books of the Bible in the Old Testament vs. other books from the Old Testament, not “the books of the bible” vs. “books that are not the Bible”.
And that was just my gut reaction after starting to read/reread the Bible in recent months. Many of those Old Testament books are just… extraneous. I could go off on the Koran too if i need to be Fair and Balanced.
Oh god, we need a bibliography thread right here and now.
I recently helped my son go through and research parts of the Torah and other texts for his Bar Mitzvah (different religion, yeah, but close enough for literary purposes so hang in there), and I have to say that it was a fascinating experience. There are some really surprising, unusual things to be found that help elucidate not only the earliest foundations of certain religions but also speak directly to the nature of ancient society (especially in the Middle East).
Obscure texts can be fantastic reads from a literary perspective, but can certainly throw you off the beaten path and potentially miss the point from a conceptually modern theological standpoint.
“Genesis, Exodus, Duderama, Leviathan”
In my high school English class we took the Bible and were instructed to read it like it was a regular book we were assigned. It was awesome. The lineage crap was hard to get through, but it was the first time a lot of us were asked to actually read a religious text like it was just a text and we had a fantastic time pulling the stories apart and analyzing them. I don’t know that I’d ever decide to sit down with it and read it now, but I remember it was fun and inspiring at the time. Though probably not for reasons the Church would like.
I had to read the Book of Job in high school, and I’ve never been so bored. Page after page after page of God saying “Job, did you invent the motherfucking oceans? No, I did. Did you let there be light? Me again. Did you invent cats? Fuck no.”
I think he said Exorcist. Ha! Best line in that episode.
Edit: Found the quote.
“You’ve never read the Bible,have you,Shawn?” “Please. Genesis,Exorcist,Leviathan,Do the right thing.”
I took a course on New Testament History and Literature in college - it was very fascinating to learn about the history of the texts, the theoretical Q text, the Gospel of Thomas, and the different authors. I really loved the Gospel of Mark - there was something so plain and simple about it. Luke seemed very elegant to me. The Gospel of John is just psychedelic and gorgeous and insane. Paul, however, I have no use for.
Because three of the gospels most likely have a shared ancestor, the Q text, there’s a lot of repetition. You can only read a parable about mustard seeds so many times. I wish I could remember the name of a book we used, but it had the synoptic gospels side by side for comparison.
(My mother, a militant atheist, was FURIOUS that I took this course.)
I also read every entry in Blogging the Bible, which would probably point you in the direction of some good stories: http://www.slate.com/id/2150150/
What’s a good Edition, hard cover, lots of maps, lots of notes?
I’d be interested in getting one of those.
I was thinking of reading this eventually (in my backlog). Does anyone have a quick plot summary?
Our high school English class also did a bit of study including the Bible, primarily analyzing it as a source of literary plot and character archetypes, though I’ve long since forgotten exactly which ones. It was definitely worthwhile as a source for that kind of literary analysis, even without any religious overtones. I still remember being terribly bored by it, but English wasn’t exactly my strongest subject, either…
Isaac Asimov released a guide to the Bible that treats it as an ancient history book, albeit one with huge omissions and dubious accuracy. It’s fascinating, and I recommend it if you are interested in reading the Bible from a non-religious perspective.
If you want some good background info and analysis on the contents (from religious scholars), I seem to recall The Collegeville Bible Commentary is a good resource.
dude is a dick until he has a son and loses that son due to his overbearing nature, then he becomes a bit chilled out
Also there’s the Rated-M-For-Mature section with this dude Solomon who’s into a chick with tits like towers with catapults and shit. I think she’s a Transformer.
dude is a dick until he has a son and loses that son due to his overbearing nature, then he becomes a bit chilled out
Sounds good. I’ve heard it’s a bit preachy though.
Not sure how books that are not in the bible is relevant to the discussion of the bible’s literary relevence, but clearly you have an opinion. Is it too much to ask for an explanation?