For awhile now David Plotz has been writing a series for Slate called Blogging the Bible. From time to time I'd check in on it because I enjoyed his revulsion at some new atrocity that he had discovered. I also really like the honest searching that he, as a non-religious Jew, was doing into his heritage. I respected his hope for something noble to be found in the powerful cultural force that is the Bible.
Now that he has completed the project, he is releasing a book about it. Could be interesting. In the Slate article about the book, Plotz also makes a good argument for everyone reading the Bible. The Bible has had a profound and far reaching influence on western culture. It is
pervasive. We get everything form figures of speech "the writing on the wall" to a deep seated fear and loathing of homosexuality from the Bible. For those who are Biblically illiterate (this includes a huge number of nominal Christian) it could be enlightening to discover where these cultural features are derived from. If everyone was familiar with the details of the Bible it may even help to clear up the misguided notion that it is all beautiful, noble, lofty and ultimately moral.
This is one of the reasons that I don't resent my religious education. I'm no great bible reader, but I rarely come across something that I had no idea was in there. Because I spent so much time in church school I know the facts of the Bible better than lots of people who believe but have only a passing familiarity with what they say they base their beliefs on.
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1 comment:
Too bad the same exposure to the other side wasn't true for people who refuse to understand things about science and evolution. At least try, right?
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