Re: Do You Read The Bible?

Jun 27, '07, 4:13 pm

Dwyer Regular Member   Join Date: February 26, 2007 Posts: 1,359 Religion: Byzantine Catholic

Re: Do You Read The Bible? Well, I would have read it, but when I attended public school (run by the state) in the United States, my high school teachers made me to read some novel by Nathanial Hawthorne about a Protestant minister who commits adultery; a modern play about a Salesman who's dissatisfied with his family and job and commits suicide; another play by the same modern playwright about Puritan ministers searching for witches and sentencing innocent people to death; some really sick and twisted modern English novel about a group of English private school students who get stranded on an island and start killing each other; and a memoir by Henry David Thoreau who lived in the woods near a large pond for a year or so and refused to pay his taxes to support the U.S. Mexican War, among other strange stories. Oh, and let's not forget the poem Dover Beach by the hack poetaster Matthew Arnold. Never had much spare time to read the Bible; although I did read Genesis and Exodus--finally at age 35.        Jun 27, '07, 4:23 pm AngelicDoctor Junior Member Book Club Member   Join Date: July 5, 2004 Posts: 396 Religion: Catholic Latin Rite Re: Do You Read The Bible? Quote: Originally Posted by Dwyer Well, I would have read it, but when I attended public school (run by the state) in the United States, my high school teachers made me to read some novel by Nathanial Hawthorne about a Protestant minister who commits adultery; a modern play about a Salesman who's dissatisfied with his family and job and commits suicide; another play by the same modern playwright about Puritan ministers searching for witches and sentencing innocent people to death; some really sick and twisted modern English novel about a group of English private school students who get stranded on an island and start killing each other; and a memoir by Henry David Thoreau who lived in the woods near a large pond for a year or so and refused to pay his taxes to support the U.S. Mexican War, among other strange stories. Oh, and let's not forget the poem Dover Beach by the hack poetaster Matthew Arnold. Never had much spare time to read the Bible; although I did read Genesis and Exodus--finally at age 35. Here here. I think that I went to a very similar public school, although I also received a heavy dose of Hemmingway as well. I actually do think that there is a benefit to reading modern literature (including American lit) because, it does highlight, to a great extent, the absence of God in our own modern culture and the psychosis that comes with such a situation. It does help you to understand the world that you seek to evangelize and engage. Still, the very fact that we were not required to read even part of the Bible (even from a purely scholarly, literary persepective) is sad. You might read Paradise Lost... but you won't know what paradise was. You might be familiar with East of Eden... but not know what that is referring to. How do you understand Shakespeare or other important literary works if you are clueless when it comes to the Bible. I think that there is a textbook that tries to promote the learning of the Bible even in secular settings as part of what is required for an educated person (I don't know who the authors are or how good it is): http://www.bibleliteracy.org/Site/index.htm (...but it seems like something that is needed).