The Bible, we are constantly reminded, is the best-selling book of all time.
It does not provide a simple worldview: what the Bible says on a given topic is multi-faceted, sometimes even contrad.
It is full of surprises and contradictions, unexplained impossibilities, intriguing supernatural creatures, and heroes doing horrible deeds.
In A Most Peculiar Book, Kristin Swenson addresses the dirty little secret of biblical studies � that the Bible is a weird book.
The Bible many of us think we know is a pale imitation of the real thing.
But how well do we really know it? The Bible is so familiar, so ubiquitous that we have begun to take our knowledge of it for granted.
It is read with intense devotion by hundreds of millions of people, stands as authoritative for Judaism and Christianity, and informs and affects the politics and lives of the religious and non-religious around the world.
The Bible, we are constantly reminded, is the best-selling book of all time.
Making ample room for discomfort, wonder, and weirdness, A Most Peculiar Book guides readers through a Bible that will feel, to many, brand new.
Rather than dismiss the Bible as an outlandish or irrelevant relic of antiquity, Swenson leans into the messiness full-throttle.
And is all the more marvelous and powerful for it.
A collection of ancient stories and poetry written by multiple authors, held together by the tenuous string of tradition, the Bible often undermines our modern assumptions.
Swenson helps readers look at the text with fresh eyes.
Yet, Swenson argues, we have a tendency to reduce the complexities of the Bible to aphorisms, bumper stickers, and slogans.
It does not provide a simple worldview: what the Bible says on a given topic is multi-faceted, sometimes even contradictory.
It is full of surprises and contradictions, unexplained impossibilities, intriguing supernatural creatures, and heroes doing horrible deeds.
In A Most Peculiar Book, Kristin Swenson addresses the dirty little secret of biblical studies that the Bible is a weird book.
The Bible many of us think we know is a pale imitation of the real thing.
But how well do we really know it? The Bible is so familiar, so ubiquitous that we have begun to take our knowledge of it for granted.
It is read with intense devotion by hundreds of millions of people, stands as authoritative for Judaism and Christianity, and informs and affects the politics and lives of the religious and non-religious around the world.
The Bible, we are constantly reminded, is the best-selling book of all time
