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Title: Understanding The Bible by Stephen Harris ISBN: 0-7674-2916-8 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages Pub. Date: 30 July, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $52.90 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.57 (7 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Author wants to debunk the Bible
Comment: We used this book in our "Understanding the Bible" course and I just could not believe what I was reading in this book.
Harris is apparently determined to discredit everything in the Bible that he can. Throughout the book, he would explain some stuff then say, "oh, by the way, 'recent scholarship' has shown that most of the stuff here is false/inaccurate/biased."
And I just got so tired of it. I hate the fact that the author does not once admit his bias. (He is obviously biased against believing anything in the Bible.) I agree with another reviewer that this sort of "liberal" book on the Bible can be dangerous to a new or uneducated believer. But it can be an interesting to those who wonder what an unbelieving mind can come up with.
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
Rating: 1
Summary: Learn the Bible from a Heretic?
Comment: That may sound harsh, but that's what I see it as. There is nothing in this book that you couldn't read from a secular scholar which leads me to believe Harris may NOT be a believer. If hypothetical theory and one-sided interpretation are what interest you...this is your book.
I find some of what Harris writes humorous in that he gives no reasonable proof for his assumptions; one can only laugh at his inconsistency. I am moved by reason more than most, but I object to anyone who ascerts theory as truth. Harris gives nothing but "shocking" theories - theories (not his own, but supported by him throughout his book) based on no proof that send shockwaves through a believing community - and he continues to write as though some of the theories are truth. He seems more concerned with his own agenda - possibly with getting published at one time, thus assuming a liberal perspective - than writing a sound book on the bible and its background.
As a believer, I think one should be taught the Bible - a book which must be interpreted in faith - from someone who has believes in God and the supernatural. Is there an explanation for every miracle? Is there only one way to look at scripture (He likes the Documentary Hypothesis)? What Harris leaves out of this book is room for mystery and the supernatural; there is no such thing as biblically inspired scripture, the authority of scripture rests on man and his infallability. Harris, if he is in fact a believer, abandon's his beliefs in order to appear "scholarly".
If you view the Bible as the Word of God, this book will give you little more than hypothetical theories which tear that belief down. If you see the Bible as merely a historical book to be explained or treated as mythological, this book will treat you to a variety of theories - however far-fetched they may be.
This book is dangerous for anyone who is immature/new to the faith. As a believer: I see this book as offensive to God and what he revealed in his Word. Scholastically: this book is average at best - even here he falls short of the credence necessary to accept theory as possibility.
Rating: 4
Summary: fine textbook
Comment: This book has been required reading in my Bible as Literature class for 15 years. It provides a good, basic introduction not only to each book of the Bible, but also to such topics as the formation of the cannon, the Documentary Hypothesis, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Harris quite sensibly has little to say about theological matters. His concerns are literary, historical, and archaeological.
I do agree with a previous reviewer that Harris has packed a bit too much into the most recent editions -- but that is my only complaint.
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Title: The New Oxford Annotated NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha, Third Edition by Michael D. Coogan, Marc Z. Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, Pheme Perkins ISBN: 019528478X Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: February, 2001 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: New American Bible Student Text Edition by Nelsonword ISBN: 0840712898 Publisher: Nelson Bibles Pub. Date: 01 September, 1987 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
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Title: The Oxford Study Bible: Revised English Bible With Apocrypha by M. Jack Suggs, Katharing Doob Sakenfeld, James R. Mueller, Katharine Doob Sakenfeld ISBN: 0195290011 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: March, 1992 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: The Source by James A. Michener ISBN: 0449211479 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 12 March, 1986 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: HarperCollins Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version (with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books) by Wayne A. Meeks ISBN: 0060655801 Publisher: Society of Biblical Literature Pub. Date: 1993 List Price(USD): $44.00 |
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