What people are talking about

Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible by David Plotz

If you haven't heard about this book, you will. I've seen it mentioned several places this week, and it sounds like an interesting read in a noncontroversial sort of way. This totally sounds like something that would've sparked a good debate between my comrades on the debate team in college. We loved this kind of stuff.

David Plotz claims to be an agnostic jew who attended Hebrew School and an Episcopalian high school but reads like an evangelical christian. Confused now? Plotz is the editor of the online magazine Slate. He supposedly got bored at a cousin's bar mitzvah, picked up a torah, and started reading the story of Dinah's brothers avenging their sister's rape. This stuff is in the bible? He figured it would surprise most people, and he started blogging his way through the Old Testament in a few different versions.

Some interesting tidbits in his book (taken from a few online sources):

*The Bible is the fundamental work of western civilization. To be educated, one must read the bible to understand culture and perspective. He says it should be taught in school for that reason alone.

*The Old Testament doesn't paint a pretty picture of God. Christians have the New Testament to finish the story, which is a very comforting continuation of the story. He says much of the New Testament brings order to the Old.

*There's much more there than a source of morality. There's shocking consequences and justification in Judges, a poignant short story in Ruth, and a erotic tale in Song of Solomon.

*People don't talk about the questionable parts: "The world is messy. People do immoral things. In Joshua, we see the slaughter of innocent people. Why isn't that the subject of the discussion rather than the celebration of the land?"

* The joy and the richness of the Book come from fighting with it, and we should look at people like Abraham, Gideon, Job, and Jonah. Their questioning, difficulty, contentiousness, and argumentation are the moments that should inspire.

I'll have to wait awhile before reading this one. I'm number 164 on the library list for it....if I don't buy it first.