It constantly amazes me that so many people who believe the Bible never read it. My undergraduate students (to this day) have read the Harry Potter books. But when I ask if they have read the entire Bible, the answer is almost always no. And yet most of them will say the Bible comes from God. So I ask them: “I can understand why you’d want to read a book by J. K. Rowling, but if GOD wrote a book wouldn’t you want to see what he had to say?”
My puzzlement is old news to long-term blog members – I’ve talked about it before. But here’s something else that I find puzzling: Why do people who do read the Bible read it in such an unusual way?
If I want to read a short story by Mark Twain, O. Henry, or (to pick one of my modern favorites) William Trevor, I do so after having some idea of where he was from and when he was writing, and then I start with the first word on the first page and read straight through, either at one sitting or in stages, depending on the length, up to the end.
Why don’t most people read the Bible like that? Here we have a collection of sixty-six writings, most by different authors, though some wrote more than one. Why not read these individual books the way we read books?
It’s no wonder that people come away with almost no understanding of what’s actually in the Bible–for example, what the book of Amos is actually about, or Judges, or Mark, or Romans. They don’t read the books that way and they don’t usually care about who the author was, when he was writing, what circumstances he was facing, how he structures his book, what its main and repeated ideas are, how it flows from one passage to the next, and what, in the end, its actual point is.
Instead, most people who read the Bible approach it in ways they never *ever* would with any other book. Presumably it’s precisely because they believe this is one big book. I’ll be addressing that issue at the end of this post.
For now, I want to point out two of the common ways that people read the Bible. (This is on my mind because of my study of Revelation, which almost everyone misreads in part because they don’t actually read it when they read it. I’ll explain.)
FIRST,
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Excellent post, thank you. I am also frustrated by the way sincere Christians do not recognize the Bible is translated, and the problems that raises. i.e. “Hell” When you read the Greek it is not there in the way most Christians define it. I wish non-believing New Testament scholars would consider a new English translation more nuanced to the meaning of the Koine Greek, with alternative readings. A tool like that would help many of us deconstructing our own traditions, as sadly not many of us delve into the Greek enough.
I would snatch up such a translation in a heartbeat.
I began reading the Bible the normal way one reads a book and then I came to the begats. God placed a *really* large obstacle in the way of anyone who tries to read the Bible like that…
I’ve always enjoyed Bob Price’s observation that so many people are using the Bible as a ventriloquist dummy.
To me, what’s both funny and annoying about the reading of the Bible is the intellectual dishonesty of people who champion its coherence. And it’s totally indicative of the prejudice with which it’s being read. People have determined in advance what the Bible is about, according to their bias and their interests, and talk about it afterwards as if they really interpret what it’s saying and not as if they force their own a priori interpretations on it. Take this to its extreme, of course, and you can find people talking about the god inspired book, that they themselves haven’t even read.
And then there is Drosnin and his Bible code.
To me that sounds like bad comedy, but apparently he and his followers are serious.
If the Apocalypse of John happened today,
https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/revelation.png
Exactly!
And within this complex search for meaning, one must relate to the form in which the books were written. To try to extract the correct meaning from texts written in different forms such as poetry, songs, prophetic visions, etc., by using different kinds symbology, using allegory, using it as a meditative text and then probably theologizing much older traditions that are perhaps only partly based on historical events, is for non-scholars like me a challenge. It does not get any easier that you have to unify different tribal traditions about, for example, God, either like this El or Yahweh or others in a probably a polytheistic environment which they lived in even after the introduction to Yahweh.
For a non scholar like me, it is terrible difficult, so again,,I definitely agree with you!
Your reference to the Ouija board approach reminded me of an apocryphal story I heard years ago. A travelling salesman, staying in a hotel far from home, was experiencing some emotional distress and thought he might find guidance and comfort from the Gideon Bible he found in the bedside table. It was the King James Version. Not knowing where he should look, he opened the book at random and his finger landed on Matt. 27:5, where he read that Judas “went out and hanged himself.” Thinking that wasn’t too helpful, he closed the book and tried again. His finger landed on Luke 10:37, where he read, “go and do thou likewise.” Deciding to give it one more try, he landed on John 13:27, where he read, “that thou doest, do quickly.”
Hahaha. That’s a good one!
> My undergraduate
> students (to this day) have read the Harry Potter books. But when I ask if they have read the entire
> Bible, the answer is almost always no. And yet most of them will say the Bible comes from God. So I
> ask them: “I can understand why you’d want to read a book by J. K. Rowling, but if GOD wrote a book
> wouldn’t you want to see what he had to ay?”
I don’t think people are approaching the bible that differently from the way they approach other sources. Take climate change, for example. How many people that are worried about climate change have actually read any scholarly articles about global warming? Or even a good survey of current research, such as you find in Scientific America or the New York Review of Books? I think most people with views about climate change have come to them in the same way that you describe as the “Jigsaw Puzzle” approach, one verse from CNN, another from Yahoo News, or alternatively, one verse from Fox News, another from Breitbart.
If you want to believe it literally, it probably helps a lot not to read it, and just digest it in the consolidated form of TV movies and Sunday homilies. (I believe that by the time I had finished my junior and senior high school religion classes, I had read the full Bible at lest 4 times. Now, I would be hard pressed to even remember all of the names of the books. As I recall, Leviticus and Numbers were very dull reading.)
I believe that the answer to your question is, because that’s the way we’ve been taught. For most of us, our first and most enduring (and perhaps only) exposure to the Bible is the brief readings we hear in church, followed perhaps by an entire sermon built around those few cherry picked verses. The unspoken lesson is that that is the way to do it. Out of respect, we stand when the Gospel (with Jesus own words) is read, but it’s OK to sit through an Epistle lesson, and so on.
Thus, your question is one for historians: when and how did the common order of service develop?
Good question. I don’t know, but liturgical historians could tell you off the top of their heads.
Unfortunately, I am guessing that most of us who grew up in the church were taught these methods early on. When I was young, my church would go through a read the Bible in one year program. It was starting with Gen 1:1 and going straight through to the end. I am guessing most people were lost somewhere in Leviticus! 🙂 The “Jigsaw Puzzle” approach reminds me of the chain reference approach that was popular around 40 years ago. The idea being that all parts of the Bible reference to one another.
Did you use these methods back when you were a young Christian?
Of course!!!
Isn’t a big part of the problem that the churches cover so little of the Bible in their Sunday readings? And that the readings are very selective? So people assume they’re getting a representative sample of the most important stuff? How many Sundays would it take to go through the whole Bible? And maybe the congregations could be asked to read a modest amount on their own each week–rather than the whole being read out loud on Sundays.
That points up another problem with the use of the Bible in church services. So often there is no context within which to understand a weekly reading. It’s not part of a bigger story. Entire books are not read in the order from beginning to end. Each reading makes a stand-alone point–which leads to proof texting among other things. As you often say the gospels are all mashed together together to suggest they’re all saying the same thing.
If nothing else, it would be pretty easy to ready to read an entire gospel, in order, in a single year, wouldn’t it? Do you know of any denominations that do this?
I don’t know of any denominations, but a number of churches use reading programs for anyone interested to read the whole Bible in a year, with the suggested readings set out to make it simple, though one needs the daily dedication. But hey, plenty of people are committed to sit coms and soaps!
I think it’s a great question. Perhaps part of it is the cultural/historical tradition of having someone of authority who understands the “doctrine” of the Bible to read it and preach it to the masses on at least a weekly basis. That might be part of the DNA so to speak of Christianity? Perhaps most Christians “get their fill” of it in that way? It’s just not read as traditional literature. I also think parts are read and even memorized to confirm certain doctrines or beliefs of Christians.
Here’s the best theodicy I’ve come up with: (1) God is extremely powerful but not omnipotent. (2) God suffers with us-as much or more than we do-as indicated by the crucifixion. (3) The cosmos is a struggle between good, including God, and evil, including the negative effects of nature’s indifference (which might be the biggest part of evil). (4) Hopefully, good is at least a little bit stronger than evil and ultimately prevails-whatever “ultimately” means.
It’s important to note that there is not necessarily a sharp dividing line between good and evil. For example, practically everyone is a blend of the two (perhaps even God?).
Except for the reference to the crucifixion, this actually sounds more like Zoroastrianism than any other religion I can think of. Didn’t Zoroastrianism influence Judaism and thereby Christianity, ie, during the Babylonian exile? If feasible could you briefly summarize Z’s effects?
Any comments about the theodicy, from you or blog members, would be appreciated too.
Yup, I’d say it’s a bit Zoroastrian with a bit of Process theology thrown in. THe “God is suffering with us on the cross” was a big theme in Protestant circles when I was in seminary in the late 1970s.
Hi Dr Ehrman!
In 1 Corinthians 11:7 Paul stipulates that men shouldn’t cover their heads but women should. In Jewish tradition however, men wear yarmulkes and women do not.
1. Where did this Jewish tradition come from?
2. Why did Paul subvert it?
Thank you!
It’s a much later tradition but I don’t know when it started. Early Middle Ages is my wild guess But I bet someone else on here knows…
Saul Paul followed his creative imagination to create a living plot which is known as Pauline Christianity. Those convictions got him to teach to subvert many Judaic traditions not only the head covering.
As for head covering for men, it was practiced in other areas like Egypt.
I think it started to protect from the sun ☀️ & aesthetically to cover the boldness then gradually crept into religious men & became a uniform.
You can see the similarities like the stripes & the bluish laced themes between the Yarmulkes & Pharaonic era head covers
Thanks John!
“If God wanted to reveal the secrets of the end time, then it all has to be secret, right? It can’t be straightforward.”
Sounds like they turn Christianity into a mystery religion. Why should the Mithraists have all the fun?!
What constantly amazes me in reation to the NT is how often we forget the early church were people running a business and in a rather cruel manner.
Paul started as a second of Barnabas that paid a property for his “apostle” license (Acts 4:36-37)
Ananias and Saphira wanted to do the same but they cheated the Jerusalem church and both ended up killed.(Acts 5:1-10)
Who was the murderer? The holly spirit or one of those “angels of the Lord” that could kill King Herodes (Acts 12:23) and make Peter invisible in a Frodo-like way to perform a fabulous jailbreak (Acts 12:4-11)?
I think Peter was good as cutting ears (John 18:10) as cuting throats and bribing jail keepers.
The message is clear, we don’t care if you are man or a woman, steal us and we will kill you.
So with Paul.
Try in Ephesus to get into the business of driving out evil spirits invoking the name of the Lord Jesus without paying a share to Paul and he will send you a bully to beat you up (or even worst because you will ended up naked).
Don’t you believe me?
Ask the Seven Sons of Sceva (Acts 19:13-16)
Dear Bart. Your points are very good and I like the term ‘Ouija board approach’ to reading the Bible! Deliberately ironically crafted to make the point and to get some hackles up! I approve wholeheartedly! However, I think the the Biblical authors, men and women of prayer and passion for ‘the good’, were able, at times, to see something of the nature and will of the creator. When it comes to apocalyptic writings, I take the straightforward view that these writers were not just trying to concoct a scenario that fitted in with their prior beliefs using apocalyptic literary techniques. So when they say “I saw” or “I was shown” or “then X or Y appeared to me”, I believe that these writers were honestly trying to report what they saw. People have similar visions today without knowing the apocalyptic literary devices. For reasons this have been explored in literary works, there would be problems if we knew exactly what was going to happen. Even having a glimpse of the future in apocalyptic metaphors, can influence the present. This may be one of the reasons for apocalyptic obfuscation.
This fascinates me. I’ve long been bothered by quotes taken out of context and strung together, but I never really thought about it in the way you describe it, and how that is pretty contrary to how people read any other single piece of literature. The only other thing I can think of like that might be the US constitution. People cherry pick that and misrepresent it all the time, but it’s also not a book length piece of literature either.
Seen the way you describe, even the literalists are taking the bible literally. Because had they been doing that, this sort of thing would be beyond the pale. A true literalist would take the whole book around his or her desired quote and think about that, and what the whole thing says.
Sometimes it pays to stop and think about what people are saying and see if the words they are using actually match up to the behavior. Even with biblical interpretation.
This reminds me of the chap who looked in the Bible for guidance. The first verse he came to was Matt.27:5 which said: Judas went out and hanged himself.
A little perturbed he tried again, coming to Luke 10:37 which said: Go and do likewise.
Alarmed, he tried a third verse, hitting on John13:27 which said: What you are about to do, do quickly.
I’ve also often thought with the Ouija board approach that if God can speak to you through verses or parts of verses taken completely out of context, you don’t really need the Bible. Surely any other book (or yesterday’s newspaper) could serve equally well?
How do your suspect Paul read scripture? I suspect, especially given the “scroll” format in vogue for the Hebrew Bible, he read the books as books, but in reading some of his own output, he seems to be a jigsaw reader, too.
He certainly didn’t read it the way we read books today! He was following traditional modes of reading in the Judaism of his day, which also would seem weird to most people today. The interesting thing is that he almost certainly wsan’t writing his own letters thinking anyone should read them that way!
Thankyou for this – really some quite basic observations together with fairly simple logic & resulting questions, all of which seem to elude many / most / all of those involved! It similarly baffles me how the Bible often appears to be used like a book of self-serving magic & spells (or coded prescriptions, if I am kinder), yet the mere suggestion of which draws howls of indignation & condemnation! I am often reminded that we should never forget that humans cannot be objectively removed (nor should we want to be) from our own biology or psychology, and the psychology behind this idolatry of the Bible is both fascinating & troubling. Another example to me of Einstein’s wise observation about stupidity, fear & greed.
I think its easier to read the bible as a complete book if it includes the NT. With just the OT it reads as unfinished.
The OT/NT starts off with paradise being lost and the tree of life locked away in Eden protected by cherubim and a flaming sword. And ends with the tree of life being offered back to humanity as a free gift to whoever accepts it.
I’m not sure how one can say that without seeming anti-Jewish….
Really? I think the orthodox Jewish opinion is that the Messiah is yet to arrive so that the full story is still to be told.
I’m not sure how one can say that without seeming anti-Jewish….
Ok, Professor, you asked for it. Why i have my issues with “historians” (fake literary scientists/materialists) who PRETEND that they are doing a science with human writings, and that history wasn’t sanctioned by the victors, as we all well know. You are correct as far as you go. They don’t read often poorly translated (into modern day english, although I won’t argue for “Good News to Modern Man” which was the fad in our day) so how can we blame them? Especially as composed or approved and arranged by …you say 368 Athanasius or thereabouts, and his aftermath church fathers/enforcers. And for the OT? Whatever. My point is this. HISTORY is NOT the gender wars thing between his OR hers. It’s a bunch of…you know what. You may say “but it’s the best we can do or have.” (former debate champions beware). In which case, look at the essay that you just wrote and imagine the rejoinder. Holes in it. Standing on shakey ground, imo. Best of luck to you. Your target was easy…like imaginary “high” ground at the moment. Riddled just to ridicule imo.
Sorry — it’s a bit hard for me to understand what you’re criticizing.
Hi, Bart, I’m going to ask a tangential question.
Have you ever heard of a 2005 book called “The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus” by a Jewish (but Karaite) scholar named Nehemia Gordon?
According to the descriptions, it claims to revolutionize our understanding of Jesus as an observant Jew by comparing the Greek text of Matthew with the Hebrew text.
Except I thought there *were* no original Hebrew sources of the Synoptics surviving!
Any idea what might be going on here?
I haven’t read it but almost certainly he has either translated the Greek into Hebrew and then interpreted the HEbrew or, more likely, is using the Medieval translation into Hebrew and claiming that it’s “original.” Yeah, it’s not. Every book, on Jesus, of course, claims it is revolutionizing our understanding….
so does every new denomination of Christianity, as far as that goes…
I grew up in a (I now realize) overly liberal Methodist church so liberal that adult Wed. night old Testament Bible study was taught by the Senior Rabi of the nearby Reform Temple.
After my mother reported that the good Rab’s conclusion was that the OT/Hebrew Bible was really a bunch of stories made up to teach a people about their God and their culture… I jumped to the wrong conclusion that the NT was written by the same tribe and so it was all stories on stories written in archaic King James English, about as easy to read as Shakespeare, with the sole purpose of political influence. For that reason I have ever some 60 years hence preferred to read books about those books by people such as yourself on the presumption that if I read from multiple authors I will cancel any bias and enjoy sn analysis superior to any I might make! Ps: I’m often academically lazy!
Many people also make the occasional attempt to read the whole Bible, as if it is a single book, from beginning to end, just to have done it, but not actually looking for meaning or understanding.
Sorry.. Another random question I thought about. Why is the gospel of John so clearly anti-Jew and the Book of Revelation clearly anti-Rome if they were written around the same time?
I so want to believe that Revelation was written around 70 AD by a Jew. That would make so much sense.😂
Many books written at the same time have different views of things. Think of today. It was the same in antiquity. The two books were written by different authors, who had different situations, different concerns, and different views
When fundamentalists (whether Judaic, Christian or Muslim) use this way to receive the divine guidance, they confirm this interesting 🧐 reality.That this Cosmic Deity (God) is suffering so much from communication impediment 🤯 that it has to communicate through a Cosmic Morse code with its followers using a so called “inspired” collection of ancient books called Bible or Quran, etc.
But hey, it is God & even though it is stuck in ancient time material. It is timeless, omniscient & omnipotent 😳.
Clearly people who don’t read the Bible, don’t believe in God. They just think they do. It’s the same with sin.. If people really believed in God, they would never sin. It’s the same with death. If people really believed in God they would be happy to see a child die in its youth. If people really believed in God we would not recognize the world.
I”m not quite sure what you mean. Lots of believers never read the Bible. Lots, in fact, cannot read!
Saw a bumper sticker the other day that proclaimed:
“If it aint King James it aint Bible”.
Reminded me of the line in Inherit the Wind when Brady proclaimed “ I don’t think about the things I don’t think about” to which Drummond asked “ Do you ever think about things that you do think about?”
Yes, the jigsaw approach drives me nuts, especially with certain issues like the Rapture, which I assume will be addressed in your book? A few years ago I had a devout Christian friend admit that he’d never read through the major prophets because he found those books so tedious. So, the ouija board or jigsaw approach is much easier – and more fun! Look what I found in today’s horoscope, I mean, Scripture reading!
And this is why it is the most dangerous book in history. There are consequences when millions believe in something as important as the battle that will supposedly culminate in Sky-Daddy flying out of the sky rescuing believers. They vote. They expect action from authorities. They block vaccinations of deadly diseases. Just tell tell them to read Harry Potter. At least he won’t get us all killed.
Isn’t saying the Bible is the most dangerous book in history a little like saying guns are inherently dangerous? I fear the Bible not at all. I fear what people do with it, what they believe about it, and what behavior they use it to justify.
Fire is dangerous too. It’s among the most dangerous things we have ever tried to harness, and yet without it we are lost. To say something is dangerous in the sense you are using it, isn’t really descriptive, I don’t believe.
As an aside, I think if we are going to worship something, it should be fire. Fire has helped more people (and hurt more people) than the God of the Bible ever will, and more directly. I’m not advocating this. I’m just making a comparison.
QLIPPOTHIC,
If someone with Bart Ehrman’s level of knowledge of the Bible can so completely misconstrue Jesus as a failed Apocalyptic prophet, what hope has the average reader of the Bible got of understanding it?
The entire thing is about mystic soul liberation, with the New Testament a false, tendentious Church aberration of that.
Billions of people have mistaken it for a handbook to God-realization and been sadly left out. Many have been killed or disadvantaged in its name, the reason I said ‘dangerous.’ The only purpose of the New Testament was to hide the coming of successor James. I’m not first to point out Judas covers James. Dr. Robert Eisenman was. I just explained for him WHY. Paul and friends wanted James gone, so they could form a new, false religion. They succeeded – and wildly so. The Catholic Church became the most lucrative and powerful organization in history. It killed millions and destroyed cultures all across the world.
Have scholars identified stages of idea development within both Judaism and Christianity? Basically how did ideas within both of these religions evolved over the centuries? I know that this is a broad subject so if there is a book that identifies the stages I would be interested in it.
Yes the development of both Judaism and Christianity has been a major source of scholarship for 200 years or so, many hundreds (thousands?) of books addressing one aspect of it or another. As one very simply example out of, well, hundreds or thousands: my book How Jesus Became God is written for a general audience to explain how the view of the divinity of Jesus developed over time; and there I was dealing only with the first four hundred years (less, actually). And there are lots and lots of such topics in both Judaism and Christianity.
What about all the Catholics and Orthodox who read the Bible (or hear it in Church) guided by tradition?
That of course was THE principal way to read it until the Protestant Reformation.
Hi Bart, re fundamentalist Bible “scholars”: my question is – when is a Bible scholar not a Bible scholar and who is qualified to make a judgment on the matter? Also, I get the impression that you have a lot of “Bible Colleges” in the US and I am wondering about the qualifications of the the lecturers and the quality of the degrees offered by these institutions. Could you enlighten us on that matter, please? Is there any official regulatory body to monitor these so called universities or colleges?
Right — it completely depends on what one means by “scholar.” There are very learned experts on the question of the (actual) state of the world before Eve ate the forbidden fruit (the prelapsarian state). Would, say, a research university faculty look upon that person as a scholar? Yeah, probably not. There are accreditation organizations for fundamentalist Bible colleges, but they would be very different from those used in regular liberal arts colleges and universities.
Right — it completely depends on what one means by “scholar.” There are very learned experts on the question of the (actual) state of the world before Eve ate the forbidden fruit (the prelapsarian state). Would, say, a research university faculty look upon that person as a scholar? Yeah, probably not. There are accreditation organizations for fundamentalist Bible colleges, but they would be very different from those used in regular liberal arts colleges and universities.
Hello Bart,
I’m a new member and wanted to say thank you for your work! You’ve expanded my knowledge of the bible and the context it was written in!
I have a burning question about a discovery that I haven’t seen acknowledged by biblical criticism but I find quite remarkable! The discovery of cannabis in the holies of holies in the temple at the Judahite Shrine of Tel Arad hasn’t gotten much coverage, but I wonder what you make of this discovery? Are there passages in the old testament or new testament that allude to the use of cannabis as part of spending time in the temple or communing with god? Here’s a direct link to the research paper on the discovery: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03344355.2020.1732046
Thanks! I can’t read the article, but you should be very careful about alleged discoveries; it’s best to check them out in disinterested news sources. There are always scholars (and others) who want to argue for the use of various substances for ancient worship, but most of the time it’s based more on speculation (wishful thinking?) than evidence. But aain I’m not familiar with this article. And no, there’s no evidence of the use of cannabis in teh Bible.
Another possible reason for the presence of apparent apocalyptic elements in prophetic visions is that if you happen to have had a vision of happenings far into the future, you might not recognise what you are seeing. Columns of fire and smoke (cf Joel 2) prior to the nuclear age would might not ring any familiar bells. “Calling down fire from heaven” might be interpreted, these days, as the possibility of a missile strike for example. As for ‘the jigsaw puzzle approach’ (which I think might be better termed ‘the collage approach’), if different prophets, whatever their historical context, have seen different elements relating to the very end time (the great and terrible day of the Lord), then attempting to reconcile them into a collage is not unreasonable.
Yet, I think there is this amazing, seemingly quasi-supernatural cohesion to all the books that seems unexplainable.
I can’t help but see this progressive, unfolding drama of redemption that brings the books together. There does seem to be a unified world view that is like a thread that is woven throughout all the books. I guess that’s what has been termed “systematic theology.”
Eg You see God creating mankind in his likeness to reflect his glory, with a free will to ultimately allow darkness/suffering to enter the universe. He starts with Abraham, eventually revealing himself mysteriously in a way nobody expected or anticipated. He brings redemption by chosing to suffer along with us and ultimately will bring redemption and healing to the entire universe.
Imo, it’s such a beautiful worldview that I want to believe , even though it has its’ holes.
And, although I certainly could be biased, that Christo-centric thread/world view does seem to run consistently throughout all the books. And that’s where the jigsaw puzzle type of reading comes in.
This takes nothing away from your argument talking about INDIVIDUALS sparknoting & going nuts with with it. I get it. ‘Jigsaw’. So great.
You have demonstrated to all of us time and again that really it wasn’t written to be read as a Book though. Wasn’t it a bunch of folks (at first Jews) gathered and a Rabbi came in and read a few verses or Chapters and discussed them and “Ouija Boarded” (great conceptualization) it to their, heh, Masses. So, really aren’t at least the traditional Jewish/Christian Services using it “correctly” as most of the Letters/Books were written to be read? You read a Chapter or a few verses and discuss/get preached to?
In the end, weren’t they developed specifically out of a Ouija Board tradition and meant to be used/read that way?
I can’t help but think that the NT authors (or whoever originated the NT stories) were doing the same thing when they frantically searched the OT verses for meaning in Jesus’ crucifixion. I guess the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree.
I took the “Ouija Board Approach” to reading the Bible back when I believed the Bible was the word of God. I really wanted to believe the Bible was the word of God; that was more important to me than anything back then.
I know a much weirder way to read the Bible. I have a DVD documentary on “The Bible Code,” which claims that everything that has happened, and presumably everything that will, is encoded in the Bible, but that it must be picked out by lining up the letters and looking backwards and sideways, like a word scramble. (It is, indeed, very much like picking out a face from a scribble.) There is even software that helps with this ridiculous process, which claims to find vague references to everything from the American Revolution to the Kennedy assassination to 9/11. It presumably works best on the old testament, in Hebrew, which has no written character for vowels and thus allows for more word combinations. What is funny in the documentary is to see Jewish “scholars” claiming validity of the preposterous idea, while denying the same claims made for the new testament by Christian “scholars” doing the exact same thing (I believe with English translations), and with the same presumptions of authority.
People don’t read it at all like a book, but they read it a lot like a canon, maybe that’s a core part of the problem.
Maybe a canon inherently encourages “ouija-ing” by asserting every work within it is of the same special, incomparable quality. And encourages “jigsaw-ing” through the Kuleshov effect: all these stories placed together must imply a message greater than the sum of their parts.
In my English Lit classes, we didn’t read the Norton Anthology front to back. Many of us didn’t read even a single work within it front to back 🙂 That never stopped any of us, students or professors, from drawing broad narratives about literary history out of the very small dataset we were studying. Now no one has accused Mr. Norton of being infallible, but if we can’t even read his canon unproblematically, how can we process “god’s” little literary anthology?
Yes, we used Norton’s anthology in my English major as well. But we didn’t find meaning by pointing our figure down on Wordsworth or Tennyson at random, or combine lines from Donne and Lewis Carroll willy nilly! But you’re right, many people aren’t taught how to read at *all* — even educated ones.
I once belonged to the “new religion” of Sun Myung Moon and his “Divine Principle” theology. Your posts deepen my understanding about how Moon used the Bible in a way perhaps similar to early Christians: They to explain how a crucified figure could be the messiah and Moon to explain how a Korean peasant could be the new messiah (a jigsaw puzzle that, voila, arrives at the conclusion that he is). Before this series of posts it never clicked how different the DP is from Christianity. I asked at my Baptist church, what if Jesus had lived. And a familiar question, why does an all-powerful God allow suffering? The DP says Jesus should have married and adopted humanity. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, God allows suffering, hoping humans will return on their own (becoming eternal children). Lucifer, who became Satan by causing the fall, battles for control, encouraging sin, therefore human misery. God moves the dial forward limited by a cosmic numerological principle (a puzzle piece in the explanation). If an “end time” happens it will be that humans utterly failed to follow the third Adam: Adam-Jesus-Moon. The ancient writings are a glimpse of it.
“Most people don’t assemble the jigsaw themselves.” What a true statement that is. When I think of my days in the Mormon church, most members, carried/possessed a Book of Mormon bible. Oddly, very few read it, as you alluded to. They waited for the elite speakers to tell them what it was all about, and noone ever questioned the explanations. They totally believed that the speaker was revealing God’s inspired word. I remember asking a friend, also a member, do you really believe Joseph Smith was a prophet? With no hesitation his response was ,” without a doubt”. I then asked, how do you know? He replied, ” I prayed about it and asked God if the Book of Mormon is true. That’s it, he was convicted. I did the same for eight wonderful years and never received this revelation. Jews are taught by High Priests/Rabbi’s,Catholics by Pope’s/priests, Muslims by Imams, Mormons and JW’s by high ranking leaders, my take is, these teachers are great orators/intellectuals and have a profound effect on it’s members, hence the lack of participation. It is easier to listen then to study. Good post!
I am well familiar with the ‘jigsaw’ approach, having grown up as a Jehovah’s Witness. I always thought that JWs use the Bible like it’s a convoluted riddle. They draw (mainly) on the books of Revelation, Daniel and Matthew to weave together their doctrine: the End Times started in 1914 and Armageddon is imminent, followed by the Resurrection, the Millennium and finally an everlasting earthly paradise. C.T. Russell, the founder of the JWs, was heavily influenced by the Adventist movement of 19th century America. William Miller used scripture in a similar manner to deduce that the Second Coming would happen in 1844.
My question, Dr. Ehrman: Is this ‘jigsaw’ approach a relatively new one (as in, the last few centuries), pioneered by the likes of William Miller and other contemporaries of his? Or has this been a common phenomenon throughout the two millenia that the Bible has been in circulation?
Good question. The approach itself is very old — it goes almost all the way back (stringing one verse together with another at will); but it’s application to “the end of all things” has become prominent only in modern times with the rise of evangelical Christianity in the 19th century, especailly toward the end of it and the rise of fundamentalism.
I wonder how many people have read Obadiah.
It takes about 5 minutes, tops!
And it says “Saviors” will ascend Mt. Zion, not just one. —
Obadiah 1:21.
Speaking of the “Ouija Board approach”, my mom had a little ceramic cardholder in the shape of a loaf of bread which was labeled “Bread of Life” on the sides. The cards contained Bible verses. So, you could pick a card of random and get your “message from God” without even having to open your Bible!
This had the advantage that the makers picked inspiring verses, so you avoided opening your Bible and getting something like “Joktan begot Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab,” which I am pretty sure never inspired anyone.
Ha! My mom had that too!
Prof Ehrman,
You pointed out what has been on my mind for some time now – at least, over the past couple of weeks. I have wondered why some readers of the Bible are least interested in what the authors of the books had to say. It looks like they read for every other reason but for the reason of understanding the intent of the authors. Its really a baffling one.
Do you think it is so because some doctrines may fall apart when such contextual approach is encouraged?
I think that’s part of it — and also because many readers don’t want to go to the trouble of reading and thinking seriously. It is easier simply to be told what to think about it at a glance.
I agree with you…..However, the Bible is capable of use as was Vergil’s Aeneid in a sortes reading–a virtual ouija board. I was faced with an overwhelming domestic situation; I was placed in a disgusting group living arrangement. I picked up the bedside Bible out of curiosity about which translation and my eyes fell on “There were two prostitutes….” Now, I’m gonna read that! It was the Judgement of Solomon and it spoke directly to the decision facing me in my life–a decision I was unable to make on my own. This had never happened to me before. I did not go to the Bible expecting answers or comfort or any personal, spiritual experience. But I cannot deny what happened. Thank you for the clarity of your views.
Bart
If I want to read a short story by Mark Twain, O. Henry, or (to pick one of my modern favorites) William Trevor, I do so after having some idea of where he was from and when he was writing, and then I start with the first word on the first page and read straight through, either at one sitting or in stages, depending on the length, up to the end.
Steefen
Have some idea of where the author was from and when he was writing, then read from beginning to end.
The Catholic Study Bible does have reading guides for each book of the Bible. Then when you go to that book of the Bible, there is an introduction before the text begins.
Shouldn’t you admit there are Bibles that do provide introductory information?
I”m not sure what you’re asking. It’s a fact that there are Bibles that do that.
You’re saying there are people who do not have some idea of where the author was from and when he was writing.
I mentioned The Catholic Study Bible read by some Catholic high school students are not targets of that criticism.
You answered the question by saying: it’s a fact that there are Bibles that do that.
Maybe if you run across more people who do not have some idea of where the author was from and when he was writing, you can recommend the Bibles that do provide that information.
Do you have a bible you can recommend that has reading guides for each book of the Bible and an excellent introduction before the text of a book of the Bible begins? If I come across a person who wouldn’t buy a Catholic bible, I’d like to have an alternative.
Let’s correct the problem you raised.
Sincerely,
Steve Campbell
Author of Historical Accuracy
Yes, my students as a rule have no clue. In my courses we use the HarperCollins Study Bible, which I like best. Another good option is the Oxford Annotated Bible.
I am despondent that you had no comment on my post. Does that mean it is unworthy?
Oh dear! I try to answer all the questions I get, if they are answerable. If I didn’t answer yours, go ahead and send it again. (I don’t comment on posts unless there is something to comment on; most comments are simply comments) (The only ones I don’t post are either rude, irrelevant to the blog, or proselytyzing. Few comments are any of the above).
So what is the ‘best’ way to read the Bible? Beginning to End? Chronological order? Is there a subset of books more important than others? thanks
Yup, I think the best way is beginning to end. But so many people get bogged down in “the Law” (end of Exodus, all of Leviticus, e.g.) that they give it up. So anohter way is to read the NARRATIVES of Genesis, parts of Exodus, parts of Numbers, and getting then on to Joshua, while dipping around a bit in the legal moaterials. Unless, like lots of the rest of us, you find that really interesting too.