On
ExChristian, a person outlined a plan for studying the Bible and asked for text suggestions. The following draws on my own studies and research.
It looks like you've outlined yourself a university or seminary program, Phanta. Very interesting. I got myself a batch of books, yet to be read but I would recommend them, by Bart Ehrman. He wrote
Misquoting Jesus: Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, but also several others on the history of the development of the scriptures:
There are also lectures online about
Misquoting Jesus:
According to the
wikipedia article, Bart Ehrman changed his position from "Evangelical Christian to New Testament textual critic to agnostic." This article contains a nice overview of Ehrman's life and works.
Another book I got is Robert M. Price's (
Official Robert M. Price Website)
Inerrant the Wind: The Evangelical Crisis of Biblical Authority.
Wikipedia says Price self-identifies as a Christian atheist.
N. T. Wright is a fundamentalist theologian and priest of another stripe--he's Church of England and differs from American fundamentalism in his views but I find him just as rigid. For the opposite end of the spectrum, read retired Episcopal priest John Shelby Spong's
The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love. Spong is radical left-wing, and in my opinion blurs the line between atheism and theism. See
Bishop John Shelby Spong on "Terrible Texts of the Bible" on these forums. Of interest: Though Spong and Wright probably do not represent the average American and English versions church in their respective countries, the Episcopal Church is the American version of the Church of England.
The common theme of all those books/authors is that they provide a specific view of the Christian Bible. I am thinking Ehrman might be helpful to the person who wishes to learn how to study the biblical text scientifically but, as stated, I haven't actually read his books yet.
The version of the Bible used for the OT course I took (and enjoyed) was
Harper Collins Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). I liked this text because it has a lot of study notes and these study notes are cross-referenced. NRSVs are not necessarily study bibles; be sure to check for that. NRSV is supposed to be a scholarly accurate translation.
A major source of scholarly input is Anchor Bible. If you do a Google search you will find many references. From
wikipedia:
The Anchor Bible project, consisting of a Commentary Series, Bible Dictionary, and Reference Library, is a scholarly and commercial co-venture begun in 1956.... [O]ver 1,000 scholars—representing Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, secular, and other traditions—have now contributed to the project.... The works bring advances in science and technology to bear on biblical materials, making historical and linguistic knowledge related to the interpretation of the biblical record available to experts and students alike.... Yale [University Press] now publishes backlist titles and new titles as the Anchor Yale Bible Series.
Bible dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, and commentaries in general are very helpful; one might want to go outside one company's--e.g. Yale's--books for a variety of viewpoints. The library at my school had an entire section for biblical studies. If you are close to a university, large liberal church, or public library, you might be able to find "Bible Helps/Aids." I would go for the most recently published books, journals, and articles because they contain the most recent study and build on the work of predecessors (if it is honest scientific mainstream scholarship; in my experience, evangelicals tend to deny the existence of literature they don't want you to know about). Mainstream scholars tell about opposing views and why they do not accept those views.
A word about using the terms "science" and "scientific" with regards to theology and religion. If we wish to say, for example, that Jesus existed as a historical person who was physically born in a town called Bethlehem two thousand years ago, we need to establish that such a place existed for him to be born in, and that it existed at the time he is supposed to have been born. Archaeology and history are two of the scientific disciplines that deal systematically with the material that can prove or disprove that this town existed at the time necessary for the biblical account to be historically true/accurate as we in the 21st century understand historical accuracy.
Another example is Noah's Flood. Time and again, someone or other claims to have found evidence (or relics) of Noah's Ark. If these things can be scientifically proven correct, then we have scientific basis for a theological or religious tenet. A major example that has been disproven is the Genesis accounts of creation; evolution has been proven correct and spontaneous creation has been proven wrong. See the
Stickies in the Science section of these forums. The
Livius.org website shows how archaeology and history can help us understand the ancient world.
While you may not want to use wikipedia itself as a source, the sources wikipedia uses may lead to good books. My professor approved of using wikipedia as a way to find sources. I looked at the bibliographies of articles. When you are studying, you will come across names of other authors and titles of other books--these may lead to important information. I habitually look up footnotes and endnotes to get a sense of the quality, source, and type of scholarship. The evangelicals absolutely hate it when I do this with their writings because their work does not stand up to this level of scrutiny; they are less than honest. Bibliographies of books and articles lead to more works.
Reading the Amazon website will lead to more titles in your field of interest. For many books you can "look inside" and read several pages before buying. If you don't want to buy all the books you can check local libraries (university or public). Also, if you click on a book, Amazon will tell you, "Customers who bought this book also bought these books" and show several suggestions. This can lead to other important ideas and insights.
WARNING: This also calls for decision-making and prioritizing because on one thing the Bible is right--there is no end of books you can buy.
When I was working on my thesis, I felt I had to read about three books on any certain theory in order to get a decent handle on the general view of it. For a dissertation, I think you'd have to read about a dozen.
Re Amazon, if you're not in the US, you may want to look up
amazon.com just to see what's out there. Then check to see whether the book is available in your own country, or find out how it can be made available. For example, I'm in Canada and there are items on amazon.com that are unavailable to me. I'm best off if I buy from amazon.ca (Amazon Canada). There are other companies out there besides Amazon. However, I'm of the impression that amazon.com carries practically every title in the world that is published in English. Most ancient books of English translation, and many books whose copyrights have expired, are online by now.
Here are a few links for online books:
I think that is a fair representation of evangelical, mainstream Christian, pagan, and secular thought, though possibly not all from the same time period. I know there are many others online, including the Greek Philosophers, Josephus, the Early Christian Fathers, and the Vedas.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
