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the bible

11 Jun 2006

Hitchens on the bible (from this interview):

You are not educated if you don’t know the Bible. You can’t read Shakespeare or Milton without it, even if there was nothing else of it. And with the schools now, that’s what I hate about secular relativism. They’re afraid of insurance liability. They don’t even teach it as a document. They stay out of the whole thing to avoid controversy. So kids can’t quote the King James Bible. That’s terrible. And I quite understand Christian parents who want to protect their children from a nihilistic solution where there’s no way of knowing what’s been discussed.

It’s for this reason that I’ve tried (and failed) several times to read the bible.

Comments

Doug Orleans — June 12, 2006 at 04:32 · reply

Try the Jefferson Bible. I like how it ends.

Tobin — June 12, 2006 at 17:25 · reply

Having read bits and pieces of the King James, it actually is not that bad. I dunno if I could read all in one go. But it is a nice and well written example of the writing style at the time it was made. Fun bit of fiction for bedtime reading.

dkw — June 12, 2006 at 19:02 · reply

I’d recommend The Unvarnished New Testament, translated by Andy Gaus, fascinating because he tries to preserve the simple and common tone of the original Greek. Take a look at the comparison here (under “Clarity”) between the King James version and Gaus. I know of no Old Testament translation in a similar spirit, but if one exists I’d sure like to hear about it.

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