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

I have the same background as the author -- late 30s and never actually read the bible. It sounds like it would be an irreverent book, maybe even borderline disrespectful. I didn't find it to be either, although it's a bit sarcastic at points and rather funny. The author essentially writes down his thoughts every chapter or so, but he is adept at continuing an overall impression of a book or series of chapters because he comments on what he's already read with an uncanny memory for past readings. In addition to his own thoughts, he supplements his commentary with other information, such as what current beliefs are, or what the common Jewish or Christian interpretation of a passage might be. This supplementation offers a nice balance from his less-experienced view, although for someone who never studied the full bible, he really pulls it off. In any case, I really enjoyed this book. It covers a lot of ground, but it doesn't ever linger in any one spot too long. As there's always a good "stopping point" not far off in one's reading, it makes it easy to put down and pick up again quickly later. It also helps that there are enough inconsistencies pointed out in the bible that you don't necessarily need to keep track of where you left off, although I did find a couple of spots where biblical characters were introduced rather hastily and that made it hard to keep track of them even in a shorter reading session. I wouldn't call it so much as the author's interpretation, although that may be what it is, he definitely comes at this as a blank slate and with an open mind. If anything, this book has actually stimulated a desire inside of me to actually read the bible, even with his wonderful "interpretation".

First off, make no mistake: This is Slate's Blogging the Bible series, expanded. But having read both, there are passages lifted directly from the Slate series. This didn't bother me so much as the recycled material was pretty minimal, and generally the "greatest hits" in any case. The main thing to remember is that this is not Bible scholarship. If you're looking for a serious examination of the Bible, they're out there. (I'd suggest the Oxford Annotated Study Bible). What this book does do is give a high-level overview of the material, a lay comment, and then moves on. the chapter is noted in case you want to read it yourself, and draw your own conclusion. And when you take it like that, it's a light romp through a pretty dense subject that will, for most people who have never actually read the Bible, increase their literacy of it.

When I was in a seminary, all the books I was referring were written by scholars who have assumed authority in interpreting the scripture. And that is where I was looking if I needed any help. But all that has changed as I was reading "The Good Book," by David Poltz. I ask, Is there a right way to read the Bible? The author, who is the editor of Slate, was thumbing through the Hebrew Bible when he came across the gruesome story of Dinah (in which a young woman is raped, betrothed to the rapist and then widowed thanks to her brothers' murderous rage). Plotz, a mostly unobservant Jew, was aghast--both at the bloody, morally ambiguous plotline and at his own ignorance of its existence. He realized that his biblical education had been woefully insufficient. "Needless to say," he writes, "this isn't a story they taught me at Temple Sinai's Hebrew school in 1980." So he challenged himself to sit down and read the Hebrew Bible from beginning (Genesis) to end (Chronicles). He read a verse or two a day and blogged about it. Amusing, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, "The Good Book" succeeds because its tone straddles the line between irreverent and awestruck. Plotz as a lay reader is wandering in a strange land full of eccentric people and incomprehensible rules. From Samson and Delilah, he takes away these lessons: "1. Women are deceptive and heartless." And "2. Men are too stupid and sex-crazed to realize this." The story of Abraham and Isaac brings him--as it does everybody with a beating heart--to his knees: "As a father, I find this nearly impossible to read. Abraham does not try to distance himself from Isaac, to separate himself from the child he must kill. Isaac remains 'my son,' 'my son'." Questions of authority will inevitably come up, especially among Jewish and Christian conservatives. Who is this Plotz?, readers may wonder. What right has he to interpret the Bible for the rest of us? Plotz, to his credit, does not claim any credentials; he flat-out confesses his ignorance. Still, my teachers at the seminary might caution against Plotz's offhand approach: a young man, a computer, a Bible and a big cup of coffee with no regard for traditional interpretation method with no theological background. But I am reminded here of the Protestant Reformation, which took "right" interpretations out of the hands of church authorities and gave the Bible to the people--in the languages they spoke at home. It was a revolution. The Bible has of late been so mired in conversations about who's got it right and who's got it wrong that regular people who don't have a stake in the culture wars may have forgotten what a revelation it is to read. It's fun. It's inexplicable. It's dramatic. It's bloody and violent. Though I don't agree on some of the author's interpretation, reading the "The Good Book" made me in complet agreement with Plotz, "The worst thing to do with a Bible," he says, "is to leave it on the shelf, thinking that someone else may have a better

This is a hilarious, insightful, and fascinating journey thought The Book all of us should have read and most of us haven't. With great wit, Plotz explodes our assumptions about the Bible, helps us see our our favorite stories fresh, and takes us to parts of the Bible we've been afraid to enter alone. Good Book is a great book that will enhance your understanding of religion, art, and most of all, life.

There is a 1 hour discussion with the author, regarding this book, at Bloggingheads TV (check on Google) posted on March 3. You can also read some of his journal, called 'blogging the bible' available at Slate online magazine. Check it out, if you - like me - are interested in understanding more about the author's perspective before you buy the details of his journey. He is an extra-ordinary author, but you will want to understand that he is coming to the Bible as a cultural re-discovery for a secularized audience.