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A review by matthewcpeck
The Bible: A Biography by Karen Armstrong
4.0
Thank God/Yahweh/Allah for Karen Armstrong. In our current culture of overly aggressive atheists and primitive fundamentalists, Armstrong's writings on Western Religion are a sanctuary of sanity and clarity.
'The Bible: A Biography' is, just as its title promises, an account of the 'life' of the most discussed, argued-over, influential tome of them all. The first half runs through what we know of the history of the composition and origins of the Old and New Testaments, and the second half provides an account of its exegesis and interpretation by Jews and Christians from the beginning of the millenium to the present day. The fact that Armstrong attempts to cover all of this in less than 230 pages may frustrate some readers - some sections may seem rushed and some important subjects and figures given a scant couple of paragraphs. But there are centuries of literature and educational materials about the Bible out there for the reading, and this book is an accessible, continually fascinating and admirably structured introduction to a complex topic. Armstrong is incapable of writing a weakly worded sentence.
One of many interesting facts gleaned from this book: Pat Robertson-style Christian fundamentalism is actually a modern phenomenon. The bible scholars of centuries past understood that the Bible should not be taken literally. What happened?
'The Bible: A Biography' is, just as its title promises, an account of the 'life' of the most discussed, argued-over, influential tome of them all. The first half runs through what we know of the history of the composition and origins of the Old and New Testaments, and the second half provides an account of its exegesis and interpretation by Jews and Christians from the beginning of the millenium to the present day. The fact that Armstrong attempts to cover all of this in less than 230 pages may frustrate some readers - some sections may seem rushed and some important subjects and figures given a scant couple of paragraphs. But there are centuries of literature and educational materials about the Bible out there for the reading, and this book is an accessible, continually fascinating and admirably structured introduction to a complex topic. Armstrong is incapable of writing a weakly worded sentence.
One of many interesting facts gleaned from this book: Pat Robertson-style Christian fundamentalism is actually a modern phenomenon. The bible scholars of centuries past understood that the Bible should not be taken literally. What happened?