It always breaks my heart to see how simplemindedly the Hebrew Bible is discussed in the media. David Plotz, editor of Slate, has a new book out about the experience of trying to read the Bible straight through — apparently with no serious Jewish commentary, an impossibility for adults, I would think. Without the oral tradition that explains the Torah and the rest of the Bible, how could anyone take that stuff seriously?
The result sound predictably juvenile and depressing, a la A.J. Jacobs’s The Year of Living Biblically. He has an interview in The New Yorker. Excerpt:
My favorite bits of the Bible tend to be those that show human beings behaving in our flawed, weak ways: Jonah whining about God’s mercy to Ninevites; David sexually misbehaving and expecting God’s forgiveness; Elijah playing the dozens with King Ahab; Moses whacking the rock in frustration.
Sigh. No wonder you have atheists like Sam Harris (who is Jewish too, by birth) rejecting Biblical religion — talking snakes in the Garden of Eden and all that — not realizing that the Bible he finds worthy only of contempt I would also find contemptible if it were the authentic Jewish understanding of Scripture.
Do you really think that the Bible as it stands, without explanation, is worthy of adult consideration? Seriously?
Read Previous Post