I bought a King James Bible a few months ago intending to read it, not as a religious text, but as a literary work of great power which has influenced English literature for centuries. I started Genesis and just couldn't get into it. It just didn't speak to me in any way; it felt like a chore, not a pleasure, and there's really no point in reading something in that case. And, of course, I just have such a violent antipathy to the theology.
But Daniel Plotz, "a proud... but never a terribly observant Jew," has decided to read the Bible and blog about the experience. His manifesto: "My goal is pretty simple. I want to find out what happens when an ignorant person actually reads the book on which his religion is based. I think I'm in the same position as many other lazy but faithful people (Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindus). I love Judaism; I love (most of) the lessons it has taught me about how to live in the world; and yet I realized I am fundamentally ignorant about its foundation, its essential document. So, what will happen if I approach my Bible empty, unmediated by teachers or rabbis or parents? What will delight and horrify me? How will the Bible relate to the religion I practice, and the lessons I thought I learned in synagogue and Hebrew School?" What results is an ongoing and fascinating journal. Highly recommended!
(Via Bread and Circuses)
2 comments:
It will be an interesting read, since I've been half-heartedly attempting the same thing.
I've got a King James and find it a fucking chore and the language tedious. Get the New Oxford Annotated (w/Apocrypha) NRSV version. It's a great story from start to finish written to be understood with terrific footnotes and scholarly explanation. Although it does end badly for many in it as well as reading it.
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