Friday, April 5, 2024

Welcome and What's Going On Here Anyway?






For quite some time I have been aware that if I want to consider myself anywhere close to being well read, which I do, I need to add more of the classics to my Yes, I've Read That One list. Not that I am completely lacking in that regard. Dickens, Twain, Hawthorne, Whitman, Thackeray, R.L. Stevenson, Austen, Steinbeck, Tolkien, Melville, Richard Armour (look him up, great stuff), Shakespeare, Aristophanes, Ibsen, David Foster Wallace, Harvard Lampoon--you get the idea--they have all been a part of my life for decades. But one classic, in fact the one that consistently takes the Top Spot when it comes to most copies in print every single time they take that particular census, is one I've only ever dipped into, the equivalent of a toe in the stream, never actually diving in to read cover to cover.

    This puts me in the vast majority of those who were raised in the Christian church, whether it be Mainstream Protestant (whatever that means), Roman Catholic, Evangelical, or Unitarian. It also potentially puts me, and those like me, at the mercy of folks who make it a point to present themselves as not only believers but well versed (no pun intended) in the content contained in the Bible. It also puts me at a disadvantage when it comes to truly understanding and appreciating the literature and art and music and history that has been shaped in ways big and small, positively and negatively by The Good Book.

    So here I am, ready to remedy the situation, approaching my task in the best way I know how, as a reader of a book that so many have and continue to maintain contains the indisputable Truth. But I'm not interested in pursuing all manner of outside references to see what scholars current and past have had to say about this book, I'm going to read it in it's most universally accepted contemporary version and see what, if it has anything, to say to me without outside interference. My entries here will be my honest impressions of what I am reading.

    My original intention was to create an entry per book, but that got kiboshed at the starting gate when it became obvious that Genesis was going to need more than one entry. Way more. So let's just say that each book will get however many entries I feel I need and each installment should be easily readable by most folks in ten minutes or less. My source text will be the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, which I understand is as close as we're gonna get to a universally accepted version of this oft translated/revised/reworked Literal Word of God and which besides is the version I happen to have on hand. If I do find myself inspired to add another version I can tell you it won't be the one currently being hawked by a certain combover for $59.99 + S&H.

    I am not approaching this project with any premeditated motives outside of intellectual enlightenment. I'm not looking for some sort of reawakening of my faith, but neither will I reject any movement in that direction. I'm also not looking to discredit or debunk. It is not my intention to take a strictly satirical, wise-ass or "oh yeah?" skeptics approach, although readers here will soon learn that my writing style can lean in the direction of wise-ass at times. If what I read sends me in a particular direction that's the direction I will go. I want to read it as a book, recognizing that it has a history like no other book, but as a book nevertheless. If anything, I will be trying to come at it from a sort of editorial point of view, making believe I have a late draft in hand and the author(s) has solicited my feedback.

Within each entry I may try to address certain topics. Like...
  • How long is it? For example, Genesis, which I am currently completing my notes on, is somewhere around 35,000 words, most of them being names of the descendants of Ham. 
  • Is there an overall theme or structure that is easily discernible? For example, Genesis seems to be an interminable but frustratingly incomplete genealogy going from Adam to Joseph, son of Jacob of Ladder fame.
  • Does it tell a good story or stories?
    • Do the stories make sense?
  • Are the characters interesting?
    • Are they role models?
    • Are they scoundrels?
    • Would I lock the door if I saw them coming down the street?
    • Do they have cool or maybe unfortunate names?
  • Does it contain any obvious contradictions, either within itself or with anything that has come before? Obviously I won't be able to spot contradictions that pop up later, so if something in Habakkuk contradicts something in Song of Solomon I'll do my best to catch it, but if the issue is with something coming up in Haggai I'm out of luck. Until I get to Haggai, that is, if I miss it then that's my bad.
  • Did it make me laugh? Or cry? Or throw my hands up in utter despair? Or reach for something easier to make heads or tails of, like Finnegan's Wake?
  • Do I have any completely subjective quibbles with punctuation?
  • Did I learn anything/become inspired to be a better person because of what I read?
    • On the other side of the coin, did it convince me (profoundly but temporarily) that humankind is, and always will be, a lost cause, and so what's the point of picking up Max's poop when we take a walk?
  • But mostly I will address what the text inspires me to address.
    I make no promises as to how much time will elapse between entries, as I have no way of knowing how much time and effort each of these 39 (Old Testament) + 27 (New Testament) books will take. But come heck or high water (a nod to Noah) I intend to get through the whole thing and issue reports along the way. If you stick with me maybe both of us will learn something, who knows? If it's just me, I will still count it a victory as I have every intention of learning something about this most central and consequential of volumes.








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