The Dude Abides
`Tis the season … for re-examination, apparently.
Each year, publishers roll out dozens of new religiously themed books in the months and weeks leading up to Easter.
This season, several high-profile releases—coinciding with the 400-year anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible—take a critical (and sometimes controversial) look at how the Bible came to be, who wrote it, how and why, and what kind of cultural impact the holy text has had on civilization.
Whether you are interested in learning more about the Bible’s origins, dismissing its veracity, or simply considering alternate views on how it can be understood, this season’s offerings will not disappoint.
“Verily, Verily: The KJV—400 Years of Influence and Beauty” (Zondervan)
By Jon M. Sweeney
“I’ve buried quite a few Bibles in the last decade.”
So begins Sweeney’s engaging, breezy look at the King James Bible and its enduring influence.
Sweeney’s is easily the most accessible (and refreshingly humorous) of the three most recent books taking on biblical authorship and interpretation, based on months Sweeney spent delving into the 1611 English version of the Bible often referred to as, simply, “The Authorized Version.”
The result is an astute and deeply personal meditation on the “thee and thou” version of the Bible that he, like some many readers, found impenetrable as youths.
So why has Sweeney been burying Bibles? “That’s what you’re supposed to do with no-longer-needed holy books,” he writes.
His Vermont church holds an annual book sale and Sweeney is in charge of donations. A dozen or so Bibles invariably turn up—nearly all of them copies of the KJV.
“They always appear well-worn, with tattered edges on the old leather covers,” he writes. “No one wants to buy them. I usually can’t even give them away. … I carry the leftovers home and get the tall shovel out of the shed … and make a hole large enough for a dead pet. In they go.”
Sweeney provides a rapid, educational and entertaining history of how the KJV Bible came to be, as well as an overview of the KJV’s influence on classics of the English language (Shakespeare, Milton, etc.) and its meaning for historical figures as diverse as Abraham Lincoln, Emily Dickinson and Mark Twain.
In the chapter titled “Lo, the Humor!,” Sweeney focuses on some of the more chuckle-worthy passages in the KJV, such as an incident in Second Kings involving a gang of kids taunting the prophet Elisha.
“There came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, ‘Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.”
Neener-neener, baldy! Ha!
Sweeney’s charming exploration of the KJV, which joins several other recent titles celebrating its 400th birthday — including David Crystal’s “Begat” and Derek Wilson’s “The People’s Bible” — made me want to blow the dust off my copy and have another look.
“Forged: Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are” (HarperOne)
By Bart Ehrman
The latest offering from biblical bomb-thrower Ehrman, professor of religious studies at the University of North Caroline, Chapel Hill and author of the bestselling “Misquoting Jesus,” among other titles, is “Forged: Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are” (HarperOne.)
Not one to shy away from provocative or sensational takes on the Bible’s history and veracity, in “Forged,” Ehrman argues that the authors of the Bible are not who they say they are and that other scholars claims that it was an accepted practice in biblical times to write under someone else’s name are spurious at best.
The “issue of modern hoaxes brings me back to a question I have repeatedly asked in my study of forgeries: ‘Who would do such a thing?’” Ehrman writes in the conclusion of the book. “I hope by now you will agree with my earlier answer: ‘Lots of people.’ And for lots of reasons. And not just modern people.
“We have instances of Christian forgeries not only today, but also in the Middles Ages, in late antiquity, and in the time of the New Testament. From the first century to the twenty-first century, people who have called themselves Christian have seen fit to fabricate, falsify, and forge documents, in most instances in order to authorize views they wanted others to accept,” he says. “Possibly they felt that in their circumstances the Golden Rule did not apply. If so, it would certainly explain why so many of the writings in the New Testament claim to have been written by apostles, when in fact they were not.”
Hey, Happy Easter everybody!
“The Rise and Fall of the Bible: The Unexpected History of an Accidental Book” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
By Timothy Beal
In its starred review of Beal’s “The Rise and Fall of the Bible: The Unexpected History of an Accidental Book” Publisher’s Weekly said Beal “presents a convincing case for a radical rereading of the text, an honest appreciation of this sacred text.”
Beal, a religion professor at Case Western Reserve University, does not begrudge the Bible’s influence or inspiration (be it divine or human). Instead, he turns to our cultural understanding of the Bible and how it has changed and evolved over time.
“The idea of the Bible as a divine manual for finding happiness with God in this world and salvation in the next is so familiar to us today that we might well assume … it is as old as Christianity itself,” Beal writes. “But it’s not. In fact, its genesis was in 19th-century Protestantism.
“Rooted in nostalgia for the mythical, romanticized image of 16th- and 17th-century Puritan piety, this movement believed that the Bible was the solution for all modern social, familial and individual ills.”
Thus was born, he says, the image of the Bible as cultural icon.
A version of this post originally appeared via Religion News Service.
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