King James Version

This really isn't something you can "review" as such, so I'm just gonna scribble down some of my thoughts in no particular order now that I've finally reached the end of this eight month journey.

1. Anyone who tells you to simply "read the Bible", with the expectation that it will change your faith has gotta be more specific. Not saying I didn't learn anything, the read certainly helped me understand a lot more about where we come from as a cultural tradition, but I didn't find anything that show more challenged me spiritually or belief-wise.
2. Whoever edited this needs to take a literal page from Tolkien and move some of this stuff to the appendices. Too often an engaging narrative will be interrupted by a long-ass genealogy or extremely specific measurements for a tabernacle or a census or some other highly uninteresting minutiae.
3. I was not ready for the use of "circumcised" and "uncircumcised" as shorthand for "holy" and "not holy". Moses telling God that he was not worthy to speak of him, citing his "uncircumcised lips" THREW me.
4. Reading the Bible really brings out the absurdity of the claim that it's in any way the literal word of God, or dictated by God, or perfect and complete. It's very obviously written by human hands, many of them at that, over hundreds of years. As one of my favourite Youtube channels (Esoterica) pointed out, the Bible works best when thought of not as a book but a library.
4. The darkest part: If God tells you to enact a genocide, does that mean it's not only morally right, but morally REQUIRED to do so? What could have been an interesting question about ancient belief systems becomes highly disturbing in light of current events.
5. You know that "Rivers of Babylon" song by Boney M? It's a bop, right? Do NOT look up the second half of the psalm the lyrics are based on.
6. It slays me that one of the big conflicts Jesus had with the establishment was about him not washing his hands before eating. Like I get what you're going for with the analogy, what goes into us is not what defiles up, but what comes out, our words and actions and all that. But dude, you gotta wash your hands.
7. Paul, you had me at "interminable genealogies".
8. At times, I thought that reading this would give me the knowledge I needed to respond to people who state that the Bible supports this or that position. But then I had the depressing realisation that they probably don't care what the Bible "really" says.

Worth it? Yeah. For me at least, I'm a big fan of mythology and ancient stories. What's unusual for this one is that it has had such cultural staying power, and impact on peoples beliefs and actions until this day. A lot of "title drop" moments where I recognised a phrase or saying that's still used in everyday language.

Life changing? Nah. Not more than any other collection of literature. show less

This book routinely gets the enconium of "The Good Book", although to read it one wonders exactly why. It is neither science nor history, and as mythology it lacks originality. Even many non-believers will say what a beautiful work it is, which quite frankly mystifies me. Upon reading this as a young pre-teen and teenager, I discovered that there was beautiful poetry (Ecclesiastes comes to mind), but that much of the book was disgusting, violent, and utterly vile, and still other parts, show more large swaths, that were merely tedious. Touted as the most read book in history, it has had a substantial impact, not necessarily good, on human civilization, and has not, in fact, been widely read, as the utter lack of knowledge of its contents (other than a few favored verses) attests. This book should be required reading, as truly reading it will start one firmly on the pathway to critical thinking. It is filled with logical fallacies, internal contradictions, non sequitors, and outright mistakes. From the number of legs on a grasshopper to the shape of the Earth, it demonstrates quite handily its human origin. Actually reading this book started me on a lifelong quest for truth through critical thinking that I hope never ends until I do. show less

For better or for worse, the Christian Bible, and specifically this one translation of it is one of the most significant books in the world. You need to know the basics to be culturally competent (at least in Western cultures), and to understand other great literature, like Shakespeare. The references permeate even post-Christendom societies. You will understand a lot more of what is going on in the world and in the other books you read if you know at least the general outline and the most show more famous stories.

As for translation choices, this one was very solid for its time. Its translators were very good, but they were limited in what source material they could access, due to the technology that was available. (The manuscripts were all in different places!)

It's now hopelessly outdated to the point where you practically have to re-translate it to modern English to get the meaning, but the language remains elegant and if you've heard one translation of one Bible verse, it was probably from the KJV.

The formality is appealing to some, although it can backfire, and cause misinterpretation. For example, "thy kingdom come, thy will be done" is a casual, familiar prayer, as you would speak to a loved one. The insistence on Capitalizing All the Letters (especially pronouns referring to God) also places emphasis where none is intended. (The point of using "He/His" for God is to show respect, not to say anything whatsoever about God's gender. The KJV translators knew that God is not actually male.)

So, if you are looking for a Bible to read in order to get to know the stories and make sense of all those references, maybe try the NRSV, which is widely regarded by scholars as the most accurate translation in the same tradition. In other words, NRSV has translated KJV into modern English (while also updating the translation based on much improved access to the original texts).

But if you want poetry, or if you want to understand the history of the English language better, KJV is still unrivaled. show less

You want to know why the Bible is the real thing? For one thing, its because of its frankness and honesty. Sure, sometimes the prophets and leaders of Israel did the right things for the wrong reasons, the wrong things for the right reasons, the right things period, etc. Same with the followers of Jesus, absolutely they messed up routinely, but guess what? Those human messy bits are in here, unsanitized and unedited. If I was the disciple whose foolish mother asked Jesus to give her sons top show more positions in his Kingdom, you can believe I'd make sure it got edited out somehow and forgotten, but nope, all the facepalm stuff is there, its always been there and it always will be there. The Bible is a living masterpiece show less