The Bible
 

My most recent poem originally began with the lines "Let's not talk about the ancient gods / and all that crap". The line didn't last long. I've been doing some soul-searching. I realised that a lot of my dislike of biblical (and to a lesser extent classical) references in poetry is my own issue and is probably just down to chippiness. Not all, but some of it. I was never taught that stuff, certainly not the Classics and, despite a Catholic education, not much reading of the actual Bible seemed to happen either. Lots of hymns and incense. Then I became an insufferable atheist in my teens and dismissed the whole thing. I still am, though I try to be less insufferable.

But I've been reading some big old books recently, probably as a panic-response to turning 50, and I reckon if I can do Proust, Ulysses and The Odyssey I can tackle the big one. And I also realised, in following the discussion on Glenn's recent Abraham and Isaac poem, that I barely know anything beyond the Illustrated Comics/Cecil B DeMille version of even the most famous stories. So, I'm going to read The Bible. For profit and pleasure, hopefully both, possibly neither. King James version, Everyman Edition. The whole thing, Old and New. (I've read most of Genesis before and Matthew's Gospel all the way through a couple of times). The first bit of the Good Book is definitely good. Of course, I knew this bit...

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.


I mean, that's incredible.

I literally just started ten minutes ago.

So, my questions/general talking points are: who here has actually read this thing cover to cover? (be honest) If so, why? If not, why not and will you ever? What are the best bits? Where will I struggle and wish the Lord to smite me down?

And anything else really.

I read it years and years ago. I was a teenage flirting with joining the cult. Recently though I’ve in one of my obsessive learning periods with the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible. I’m not reading it cover and probably won’t. Revelations, for example. It shouldn’t have been included imo. It’s about hating the Romans after the destruction of the temple in 70 ce. Most of my reading and reading about the Hebrew Bible with secondary sources is focused on the Pentateuch and Isaiah. Well, I do spend time with poor old Saul that ambitious maybe sociopathic David.

There is a man on YouTube named Dan McClellan who has a doctorate in the Hebrew Bible from Oxford who is great at helping navigate it. There are other scholars if you’re interested.

I used The New Oxford Annotated Bible. It has fascinating notes and introductions to each book. It also has the Apocrypha, the books leftout. I also spend some time with the so-called Gnostic Gospels, but not much. If you don’t want the annotated you should use the latest Oxford New Revised that isn’t annotated.

This is a lot. I get carried away when I’m into something.

I acknowledge that others are religious and may have a different approach. I’m not offending anyone. I’m presenting it from my perspective. They’re free to present from theirs.

Hope this helps. I can recommend some good books to read along if you want. “God: An Anatomy” is great about the beginning of the Hebrew and early Yahweh, the desert god of the southern Levant.

Hope this helps you get started.

The Book of Job is one of the eternal poems of all human life.

Yes, Cam. You’re right. It’s also one of the most misunderstood. IMO, there is no understanding Job. Every attempt to understand it tears it apart. It’s to be experienced, not understood, like all great art.

I'd recommend speed reading, unless you want to be a little bored for long stretches. Scan the text, dive more deeply into what resonates.

It's also far more of an interesting text when you recognize that the Hebrew God and monotheism has roots in Hinduism and Brahman. In that way the traditionally Western and Eastern forms of religious thought have significant parallels. So try not to read it as an isolated, Western religion, filtered through the modern era.

The text itself also has a fair amount of parallels with other holy books. It turns out that many of the morals and themes contained within are human universals, that were 'discovered' in many different times and places.

For my money I like the later Zen Buddhist texts like Dogen's Shobogenzo, and Sekida's translation of The Blue Cliff Record. But if you want to study Buddhism these are the final texts you want to read, likely not the first ones.

Also indoctrinated as a Catholic, I never read the Bible until taking a Sacred Scriptures course as a freshman at Notre Dame. Wow. Interesting and subversive stuff.

My friend has a good lecture on it:
https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/meandering-fortune-graphs

I tried as a teen but got bogged down in one of the later Mosaic ones, maybe Numbers. I read most of the New Testament (some of John in Greek!). It's generally less poetic, since it was largely written by less educated people than the Old Testament, but I'd recommend it after Genesis since it is so key to a lot of art.

A great aid to approaching the Bible for the first time is Fr. Mike Schmitz’s The Bible in a Year podcasts. He presents 365 podcasts, about 20-25 minutes each, and goes through the whole thing explaining the background and making necessary connections. His style is warm and engaging.
Good luck, Mark!

I mentioned The New Oxford Annotated Bible above. My wife bought it for me at Christmas. The type is small, particularly in the notes, and the paper is so thin it can be frustrating turning pages, but it’s a wonderful book if you’re interested in the text in its context. That’s particularly true with the Hebrew Bible. It is much more profound than the other mythologies. I would love to read the stories before they were so heavily revised in the sixth century. Before the monotheists tried to edit the gods and goddesses out of the original stories. El, father of Yahweh, had seventy sons and each had a job. But this is what we have now. Hopefully there will be more findings like the Urgatte one.

Anyway, if you want more of an entire reading experience spring for Oxford Annotated. It’s worth it. You can read it for the rest of your life.

When I was in college, I took a class called The Bible as Literature. It was a great introduction to all of the riveting stories in the Bible and to the poetry of the lines. We used the KJV, and we didn't read every word, but did focus on all of the parts that keep showing up in literary allusions and artistic representations. It has been invaluable to me as an English professor and a reader and viewer of art. We also learned the historical context of the writing of the Bible, as well as some of the interpretive issues.

Susan

I tried this some years ago, probably at a similar climacteric to yours, Mark. Only got so far. (How far? Can't exactly remember, but probably to about Kings 2 or thereabouts.)

I couldn't help thinking of Randolph Churchill's comment, in the late stages of WW2, when Evelyn Waugh and a friend bet him £20 that he could not read the whole Bible in a fortnight.

I'd be interested to know how far you get. I found Joshua particularly trying.

Well, I'm nearly through Leviticus. Long way to go. Goodness, God liked to keep things in order didn't he? The ultimate micro-manager.

John, I really do understand how much more I might be getting out of this with a more modern translation and lots of footnotes. I am going to stick with my nice King James Everyman, though. I am alternating it a bit in the car with David Suchet reading the NIV on YouTube. The whole Bible on YouTube read by Poirot! What a world! I enjoy just letting it seep into me and engaging with what I can and doing my own occasional googling. It's all absolutely fascinating and I'm determined to finish. Maybe then I'll dig deeper. The Oxford book does look good. I've really enjoyed our back and forth about this off the Sphere and I'll get back to you.

Cameron, I'm looking forward to Job. I will have gained something of his patience by the time I get there. You are blessed to count Alice Oswald as a friend btw. Her Oxford Lectures were superb and she's a brilliant poet. I have her first book, The Thing in the Gap-stone Stile and the remarkable Dart.

Glenn, I had a look. He's a little too invested in Catholicism for me and I really wasn't too keen on some of his other videos I found with regards to the Church's stance on gay people. I'd like someone with a more objective approach to hold my hand through it, I think, rather than someone who sees The Bible as a guide book, which I just can't get on board with. Thanks for the good luck!

David, yes, "Isn't God a shit?" wasn't it? Haha. Exodus was a whole lot of fun. I'm ploughing on.

Thanks to everyone else who commented.

Hi Mark,

If you're looking for a side-quest ...

Quite a few years back I picked up a copy of "The Art of Biblical Poetry" by Robert Alter in a charity shop. I didn't finish it, but it was interesting enough that I read a fair chunk of it. What most interested me at the time was his treatment of parallelism and how that worked in Biblical verse. But there are chapters on other aspects of Biblical poetry, and also specific books of the Bible. One the book of Job for example. Another on the Song of Songs.

Anyway, just thought it might be an interesting companion on your journey. Published 1985 but still in print.

-Matt

For anyone interested in a nice study copy, I've found the Thompson Chain-Reference version pretty good:

https://www.amazon.ca/Thompson-Chain.../dp/0310459974

My copy is from the 80s so I can't speak to the current one, but I found mine very easy to read. And there is a reference system.

Mark, you're right to stick to the King James Versioin. Whatever one thinks of the contents, some of it is very fine as literature. And 'Genesis' is probably the first work of fantasy-fiction.

Whether you read Alter or not (and it sounds like good advice), do read something about parallelism in Hebrew poetry when you get to “Psalms.” I’ve heard and read psalms all my life, but never suspected the poetic principle they’re based on.

What a quiet shock of unexpected domestic drama the Book of Ruth is, after all the massacres and razing of cities. It serves, no doubt, to introduce the lineage of King David. I suspect he's going to be a major player.

The Old Testament is more of a linear narrative than I thought it was going to be. Not sure what I expected but I'm enjoying it. Anyway, ploughing on. I'm sure there's more smiting to come.

Thanks for all the reading recommendations.

I taught Genesis many times, latterly in the Crumb/Alter version. It was an eye-opener for the students. Especially stories like Dinah.

Shouldn’t have posted

I confess to being endlessly fascinated with the story of King Saul, who seems to me to be the most maligned man in the Bible. It's been my observation that novelists love the David story and playwrights love the Saul story, and if I get one more incarnation, I will write a story with Saul as the tragic hero.

Update: Kings 2

Occasionally, I may read something that I just have to share.

I’ve no doubt that Bible scholars will claim there’s more than meets the eye here — symbolism etc, mistranslation perhaps — but as a high school teacher with a bald patch that’s been expanding since my early 30s, I think I’ll read this one literally. You go Elisha! That’ll teach ‘em!


(I know this post has usurped the thread for Annie. Somehow, I think she might approve)

Clearly it's a prophetic foreshadowing of the English homonyms "bare" and "bear," Mark.

I'm struck by the anticlimactic next line:

I guess Carmel and Samaria would have seemed pretty ho-hum, after the bloodbath in Bethel, but they are dutifully recorded anyway.

I wonder how fast each bear would have to be moving to each catch and kill (on average) 21 feisty youngsters. And how long it took to count their bodies. I assume one would just count the heads and ignore the rest of the body parts that the tare-ifying she-bears tare.

I'd also really like to learn more about the apparent alliance between the two she-bears. Do female Syrian brown bears typically hang out together, and possibly even co-parent? Or could that be considered part of the miracle? Wikipedia doesn't say, but they seem to be blond and petite, with white claws:

As I recall, Rudyard Kipling's "The Female of the Species" has a lot to say about she-bears, too.

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