Customer Reviews

The Bible Tells Me So: Uses and Abuses of Holy Scripture

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"The Bible Tells Me So: Uses and Abuses of Holy Scripture," by Jim Hill and Rand Cheadle, is a compelling book. The co-authors have collected excerpts from a huge body of historical documents in order to show how the Judeo-Christian Bible has been used to support a variety of positions, many of them contradictory.

As Hill and Cheadle show, verses from the Bible have been used to justify both slavery and its abolition, to promote persecution of the Jews, as tools in the deadly witch hunts in the 16th and 17th centuries, to both persecute and empower homosexuals, to support both Afrocentrism and white supremacy, to both justify and oppose war, to "prove" that the earth is the center of the universe, and more.

The book includes numerous quotes, sidebars, and illustrations. There are extensive bibliographic notes on each topic for those interested in further research.

This book should be required reading for all Christians (and for those non-Christians who may find themselves the targets of Bible-justified bigotry).

Sadly, the narrow-minded ideological fundamentalists who use the Bible to justify their positions will probably not be moved by this book; they will probably write it off as a Satan-inspired deception. But for the rest of us, this is a fascinating resource. Next time you hear someone use the phrase "But the Bible says..." in an argument, whip out this book.

Want to encounter the Bible minus the funda-babble of televangelists (and the guy at work who thinks the Authorised Version was written by Saint James)? Here's a great place to start. Innoculate yourself against the wiles of biblical-literalists. Even better, lend a copy to a young person who might otherwise be easy prey to the siren call of the legions of self-proclaimed authorities who tout their wares in the media marketplace. You'll never see Oral Roberts or Benny Hinn in quite the same light again.

This isn't a densely written scholarly work. In fact it's extremely readable. You can dip into it at your leisure and still learn a lot. Thoughtful Christians won't be offended by this book, but they may be challenged to think a little more deeply about the way they use the Bible, and the assumptions they've inherited.

This book isn't meant to be a scholarly, detailed account of all of the various ways the Bible has been "used and abused" to justify various activities. It's really not fair to criticize it for not being such. What this book is is a solid, well-researched basic overview of the most common ways the Bible has been used in various social causes. It's presented in a fun, easy-to-read layout, with some really great historical illustrations that help bring home the messages.

Reading this relatively small book will give you as much "fuel" in arguing scripture as most fundamentalist Christians -- "The Bible Tells Me So" gives you all the various passages that these folks have conveniently forgotten or never been taught. It will probably whet your appetite for more detailed books (I know it did for me).

But if you are a Christian, don't be intimidated by this book, don't think it's something you shouldn't read, and don't think it's an attack on Christianity. While this book will bring to your attention Bible passages that might make you very uncomfortable, and ways these passages have been used to oppress people, it will also bring to your attention many verses of the Bible that may give you a lot of comfort and increased strength in your faith, and some verses that may surprise you, such as the verses that support homosexual marriage (yes, that SUPPORT such).

As the Foremost Authority On All Things Biblical, I find this little Biblical How-To a must-have for any Christian (Baptist) woman. This how-to guide is priceless when preparing Sunday School lessons, planning a post prayer meeting soiree, and perfect for rebuking in a pinch. It's compact size makes it easy to tuck into a full sized handbag or evening clutch.

I keep at least two copies with me at all times; One for show and one to go. Makes a divine gift for the secret pal on your list or for the servant who has everything. I plan on buying them for all my friends for CHRISTmas.

YIC,

Sister Taffy

The more I read about America's past history in dealing with social issues, the more convinced I become that what we are witnessing today (i.e. culture war) is not unusual and certainly not unique. For sure, the issues are different, but the type of argumentation used to defend and oppose various causes has not changed all that much. When I hear some of the rhetoric coming from the Religious Right, I can now say with certainty, that I have indeed read that in a history book somewhere. Those on the right need to know this and so I would encourage anyone of that political persuasion to do themselves and society a favor by examining the successes and failures of their bible-toting predecessors.

This book was an excellent primer on what bible verses have been influential to the christian world. The book doesn't go too deep with the ideas that it presents, but I don't think that it was meant to be more than just a primer. Though it would have been nice if it had presented more of the arguments between any two opposing lines of thought rather than just presenting them as somewhat isolated.

This book isn't as damning of the bible as one would think. It talks of "the uses and abuses" of the bible, but doesn't dwell too much on what is the difference between "use and abuse". Personally, what I got from this book is that "uses and abuses" are just points of view from which side of an issue that you stand and not really a matter of wether the bible was interpreted correctly in context or not. The bible doesn't have a wholistic context so standing behind one bible verse is just as good as standing behind its contradictory verse.

An issue that this book seems to stir up but not really address- "What context should the bible be read in?"

One of the most popular excuses for horrendous bible verses that caused much suffering is that they were taken "out of context". Nonsense. The bible supports slavery, sexism, racism, homophobia, anti-semitism, genocide and in particular the mass murdering children (go ask the Amalekites if you don't believe me) and many other silly things like burning witches. When people say that a bible verse is taken "out of context" what they really mean is that you should ignore that verse and pay more attention to another verse that contradicts it. The bible is a bunch of books that were mostly never meant to be put together. They have contradictory views from many different people from many different places with only a basic tradition holding them together. Trying to logically put them all together is folly. Christianity is the perfect generic religion - whatever you want to believe in is supported in the bible, and you just say that the contradictory verses to your belief are taken out or context and are either metaphors, just symbolic, or only applied along time ago and not now.

Slavery was condoned by christianity for 1800 years and slavery is totally supported in the bible, with only a few bible verses having anything bad to say about it. This is supported in this book. The history of slavery in the west has christianity all over it. Saying that the bible does not support slavery is ridiculous. You would have to say that christians misinterpreted the bible for 1800 years. Slavery didn't end when people finally "correctly interpreted" the bible. Slavery ended when people became more moral INSPITE OF the bible.

This is a good introduction to Bible criticism, believe it or not. Basically you will be exposed to Bible contradictions by being shown contradictory views of the Bible in different chapters, and the authors remaining silent that the views oppose each other. Then, you get the historical basis for the Catholic Church and Christians in general for committing morally outrageous acts justified by the Bible. If you found this book interesting, you should look towards The Encyclopedia of Biblical Errancy, and even Ken's Guide to the Bible for more. If you already have either of those books you won't need this one, as it is fairly short and leaves out alot.

I gave this three stars only because it was a bit fluffy. Though a more substancial book would've been almost as long as the NT itself, this is sufficint for the uninitiated, for it shows how contradictory and unfair the "Good Book" can be. The bible's underbelly is divided into six sections: 1. people and their place in society, 2. power of the church, 3. behavior (pretty sick one here!), 4. guilt, crime, and punishment (this section is even sicker!), 5. way things ought to be, and 6. science, medicine, and the world. The only section they left out is faith and belief!

I couldn't help but feel some better biblical quotes had been left out in this edition. This is especially true of topics that are a red flag for me (science, women roles, etc. - I am a female engineer). But this basic book is a good one add to your bookcase because it will remind you never to take the bible too literally.

This is a good book, but unfortuately the people who most need to read it (fundamentalists, etc) wouldn't touch it. It shows how the Bible has been used and abused to justify slavery, laws against blacks, women, jews, gays and foreigners. Wish I'd read it before the election!

This matter-of-fact approach to the many controversies that arise from disagreements over the meaning of the Bible is very refreshing. Read it if you are truly interested in studying this subject from an academic standpoint, not if you are just looking for another source to support your own views. This is a wonderful book to zero in on the specific passages in the Bible that have led to disagreements and how those disagreements have played out in history. It takes neither a liberal nor conservative stance, so anyone will find it useful.