How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now [Paperback]

James L. Kugel (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 21, 2008

Scholars from different fields have joined forces to reexamine every aspect of the Hebrew Bible. Their research, carried out in universities and seminaries in Europe and America, has revolutionized our understanding of almost every chapter and verse. But have they killed the Bible in the process?

In How to Read the Bible, Harvard professor James Kugel leads the reader chapter by chapter through the "quiet revolution" of recent biblical scholarship, showing time and again how radically the interpretations of today's researchers differ from what people have always thought. The story of Adam and Eve, it turns out, was not originally about the "Fall of Man," but about the move from a primitive, hunter-gatherer society to a settled, agricultural one. As for the stories of Cain and Abel, Abraham and Sarah, and Jacob and Esau, these narratives were not, at their origin, about individual people at all but, rather, explanations of some feature of Israelite society as it existed centuries after these figures were said to have lived. Dinah was never raped -- her story was created by an editor to solve a certain problem in Genesis. In the earliest version of the Exodus story, Moses probably did not divide the Red Sea in half; instead, the Egyptians perished in a storm at sea. Whatever the original Ten Commandments might have been, scholars are quite sure they were different from the ones we have today. What's more, the people long supposed to have written various books of the Bible were not, in the current consensus, their real authors: David did not write the Psalms, Solomon did not write Proverbs or Ecclesiastes; indeed, there is scarcely a book in the Bible that is not the product of different, anonymous authors and editors working in different periods.

Such findings pose a serious problem for adherents of traditional, Bible-based faiths. Hiding from the discoveries of modern scholars seems dishonest, but accepting them means undermining much of the Bible's reliability and authority as the word of God. What to do? In his search for a solution, Kugel leads the reader back to a group of ancient biblical interpreters who flourished at the end of the biblical period. Far from naïve, these interpreters consciously set out to depart from the original meaning of the Bible's various stories, laws, and prophecies -- and they, Kugel argues, hold the key to solving the dilemma of reading the Bible today.

How to Read the Bible is, quite simply, the best, most original book about the Bible in decades. It offers an unflinching, insider's look at the work of today's scholars, together with a sustained consideration of what the Bible was for most of its history -- before the rise of modern scholarship. Readable, clear, often funny but deeply serious in its purpose, this is a book for Christians and Jews, believers and secularists alike. It offers nothing less than a whole new way of thinking about sacred Scripture.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kugel's tour de force of biblical scholarship juxtaposes two different ways of reading the Bible: the ancient biblical interpretations, ranging from the Book of Jubilees to Augustine, that he explored in The Bible as It Was, and the modern historical approach that challenges the historical veracity of scripture and seeks instead to find its writers' original sources and purposes. It can be a jarring journey for those schooled in traditional views, but what emerges is a fresh, even strange, and very rich view of everything from the Garden of Eden to Isaiah's dream vision of God. Refreshingly undogmatic and often witty, Kugel brings an intimate knowledge of the Hebrew Bible to illuminate small points as well as large. He discusses who the ancient Israelites were; the resemblances between YHWH and Canaanite gods; the unique role of the prophet in Ancient Near Eastern religions; the nature of ancient wisdom literature; and what the Bible means when it calls Solomon the wisest of men. The result is a stunning narrative of the evolution of ancient Israel, of its God and of the entire Hebrew Bible, contrasted with ancient interpretations that aimed to uncover hidden meanings and moral lessons. So, for example, for the ancients, the story of Cain and Abel is a tale of good versus evil. For the moderns, it was originally a story of origin, about the relation between ancient Israelites and the fierce Kenites to their south. While Kugel is a traditional Jew, he sees the modern approach as compelling, so the dilemma is whether a person of faith can read scripture in both the old way and the new. Drawing on Judaism's nonfundamentalist approach, Kugel's proposed answer is that the original purpose of the texts and their lack of historical accuracy matters less than their underlying message: to serve God. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Kugel intends his book as a tour through the Hebrew Bible based on an introductory course he taught at Harvard University for more than 20 years. His first aim is to acquaint readers with the contents of the Bible itself, and he points out that by the end of his introductory course, readers will have met all the major biblical figures: Abraham and Sarah, Moses, Miriam, Aaron, and Solomon, to name just a few. The book also covers all the major events, from the story of Adam and Eve to the Exodus from Egypt, the Babylonian exile, and Israel's eventual return to its homeland. The book not only focuses on what the text says but on the larger question of what a modern reader is to make of it. Geared to both the specialist and the general reader, this is an indispensable guide to a complex subject. Cohen, George --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 848 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; Reprint edition (October 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743235878
• ISBN-13: 978-0743235877
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.9 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Sacred Writings > Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)

More About the Author

James L. Kugel, Starr Professor of Hebrew at Harvard from 1982 to 2003, now lives in Jerusalem. A specialist in the Hebrew Bible and its interpretation, he is the author of The God of Old and The Great Poems of the Bible. His course on the Bible was regularly one of the two most popular at Harvard, enrolling more than nine hundred students.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

136 of 144 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for dummies December 23, 2007

By mrliteral TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

At first glance, a book titled "How to Read the Bible" would seem like one of those "for Dummies" books that offers simple explanations to an often mysterious tome. It is quickly apparent that James Kugel's book does not actually fit into this category: instead, it is a much more in-depth and insightful look into the Bible (which is to say the Jewish Bible, or to Christians, the Old Testament).

The overall premise of this book is that through the course of history, there have been two general methods of reading the Bible, and that these two methods are often in conflict. First, there is the method of the ancient interpreters, which despite its name, was the dominant methods until relatively recently. For these interpreters, Biblical reading was based on four general assumptions: (1) the Bible is cryptic; that is, what it seems to say may be different from it actually means; (2) the Bible is a book of lessons for readers in their own day; it is not merely a historical text; (3) the Bible is perfect and without contradiction; any seeming error can be explained (assumption #1 is helpful with this); (4) the Bible is the divine word of God.

Modern interpretation, which really began in the nineteenth century, does not adhere to the ancient assumptions. In particular, the modern interpreter views the Bible as a text written by men, with all the flaws that are associated with mortals. This interpreter views the Bible in the larger context of the ancient world to determine how it was constructed.

Take, for example, the story of Jacob and Esau. An ancient interpreter would view the stories of this brotherly conflict as leading to the general hostility between Israel and Edom, the two nations that the siblings were the founders of. A modern interpreter would view things in the opposite direction: to give historical justification to the Israel/Edom conflict, the Jacob/Esau legend was composed.

Obviously, the modern interpretation of the Bible can cause problems for certain devout people, and the ancient method has been far from retired, particularly among fundamentalists. Kugel himself is an orthodox Jew who has his issues with the modern method, but overall, he presents a balance view, showing the flaws in both sides.

Think about how much trouble we Americans have with deciding what the First or Second Amendments of the Constitution mean. Depending on political bent, we derive our own meaning from these passages. And these amendments were written in English, only two centuries ago. Furthermore, we have plenty of supporting documentary material from the era it was written. Yet, even now, we can't reach a consensus on what the right to bear arms or have a church-state separation means. If we can't even agree on that, how much more difficult is it to definitively interpret a text that was written more than two millennia back in another language that didn't even have punctuation or vowels.

It is inarguable that the Bible is the most important book in history, with an influence that extends over thousands of years and, at this point, all over the world. Whatever your faith - Jewish or Christian or Hindu or Wiccan or other - or even if you're a Deist, agnostic or atheist, it is worth your while to know the Bible (even if you don't believe in it). Kugel's book is not a fast read (it is too packed with information to read at a quick pace), but it is a fascinating one and a great way to learn a lot about the Bible.

76 of 84 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely scholarly and easy to read, a combination difficult to find November 21, 2007

By César González Rouco

Format:Hardcover

Kugel's "How to read the Bible" is a masterful work that will join a number of important new works on religion this Fall (for instance, Rodney Stark's " Discovering God: The Origins of the Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief " or Charles Taylor's massive "Secular Age"). I felt like buying it because it offers a comment on the bible from a Jewish scholar point of view, which is a novelty for someone brought up in Spanish Catholic traditions.

After reading this book I much agree with DAVID PLOTZ's review [...], particularly when he states: "Though Kugel surely did not intend this, in its own way, his book proves as devastating to the godly cause as any of the pro-atheism books that have been dominating the best-seller lists in recent months". In my opinion, this is because the author is intellectually honest given that i) although one realizes he does believe in the God of the Bible, however ii) he clearly shows that the ancient interpreters' and the modern scholars' way of understanding the Bible clearly contradict each other; before that iii) he escapes from [in his opinion] non-well argued apologetics to save such a contradiction; and then iv) if I understood him correctly, he tries to square this circle in the last few pages, in the section called "The Very Idea of the Bible" (whether he achieves it or not, or whether his answer may please those who do not follow the Jewish path I let it to each one to decide on his own).

In any event, Kugel's work is a pleasure to read, which is very important for a book 700 pages long plus notes [plus an appendix and bibliography which are available at the author's web site, jameskugle.com]. And the proof that I have liked it a lot [deeds speak louder than words] is that I have ordered another of his books, "Traditions of the Bible: A Guide to the Bible As It Was at the Start of the Common Era", which is even lengthier than "How to read the Bible".

Other books on religion that I would recommend to read would be the following: "The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach," by Moojan Momen and "Shamans, Sorcerers, and Saints: A Prehistory of Religion" by Brian Hayden (both of them astonishingly encyclopaedic and readable); "Islam. History, present, future" by Hans Küng (the best and the brightest on Islam, a masterpiece); and (more or less related to the matter) "A Social History of Dying" and "Experiences Near Death: Beyond Medicine and Religion" by Allan Kellehear.

Additionally, as a complement to Kugel's book (and hoping that will be of use for those looking for a broad framework to understand the past) I would also recommend to read the following works, whose scope is amazingly global: 1. Agrarian cultures: "Pre-industrial societies" by Patricia Crone; 2. Economy: "The world economy. A millennial perspective" (2001) plus "The world economy: Historical Statistics" (2003) by Angus Maddison (a combined edition of these two volumes is to appear on December 2007); 3. Government: "The History of Government" by S.E. Finer; 4. Ideas: "Ideas, a History from Fire to Freud", by Peter Watson; and 5. War: "War in Human Civilization" by Azar Gat.

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Study of Old Testament Scholarship. Buy it Now! December 17, 2007

By B. Marold HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

`How to Read the Bible' by the former Starr Professor of Hebrew at Harvard University is about as different from the similarly titled `How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth' by New Testament professor, Gordon D. Fee and Old Testament professor, Douglas Stuart, and still be a superb read for anyone, especially lay readers, who are interested in understanding the Hebrew scriptures.
Yes, this book deals exclusively with Professor Kugel's specialty, the Old Testament, while the Fee / Stuart book deals with both Hebrew and Christian scriptures.
Another huge difference is that Professor Kugel not only advises us on how to read the scriptures today, he outlines how they have been read since they were first gathered together, sometime around the return from the Babylonian exile in 538 BCE. The big surprise to us lay readers is that these scriptures were not taken as the perfect inspiration from God, with every statement literally, or at least figuratively true, given the right amount of interpretation. Professor Kugel does not make this comparison, but I suspect that the attitude toward much of the scriptures was very similar to the Achaeans' (early Greeks) attitude toward Homer's `Iliad' and `Odyssey', as national epic poems. Even without modern archeology, it would not have been difficult to detect anachronisms and downright errors when, for example, a Psalm attributed to King David describes events which happened 500 years after his death.
The attitude of `high reverence' for the scriptures developed shortly after the last book, `Daniel', was added to the canon, the era of the last prophet Ezra, and the Maccabean revolt. This fits remarkably into the picture we have of the state of Judaism at the time of Jesus, and Jesus criticisms of the priests and Pharisees for their excessive dedication to a strict reading of the scriptures and the intense interpretation to which the scriptures, especially the law of the Torah was put.
The overall plan of the book is based on instructing us on how to read the scriptures `by example'. Of the 36 chapters, all but the first and the last deal with books, such as Psalms, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel and individual episodes from books, such as chapters on the episodes of Cain and Able, Noah and the flood, and the tower of Babel from Genesis.
The first chapter introduces us, in a novel fashion, to the rise of modern Bible criticism over the last 200 years, by recounting the trial of Professor Charles Augustus Briggs by the ruling body of the American Presbyterian church, for making strongly positive comments about the type of scholarship he saw in Germany, where the strong tradition of Luther fueled critical studies of both old and new Testaments.
The last chapter summarizes all the points detailed in the individual studies throughout the rest of the book.
It is easy for those whose Christian beliefs run to the more conservative to dismiss this book and its findings out of hand. For those, I may point out that Professor Kugel is a devout Orthodox! Jew, now living in Jerusalem, who has no problem maintaining his faith and his analytical approach to his subject.
For the lay reader, Kugel's text is eminently readable, as almost all the scholarly impedimenta are relegated to endnotes and the usual index to the scriptures in an appendix. For the Christian reader, there is much here to enlighten. Even Luther had deep interest in much of the Old Testament, especially Genesis and Psalms. It would be really interesting to read Luther's commentary on Genesis in the light of Kugel's information.
If there is anything in this book which reaffirms my own inclinations to Bible study, it is the attention to external archeological information. This is most famously represented by the discovery, in the early 19th century, of the Mesopotamian epic of Gilgamesh, which has a flood episode which predates the writing of Genesis by almost a thousand years. And, many passages in Genesis' account of the flood seem to almost be copied idea for idea, from the Gilgamesh. This `borrowing' is made more plausible by the fact that while the sub-desert heights of Judea received very little rainfall, the delta of the Tigris - Euphrates probably floods quite often, albeit not as often as the dependable Nile.
Anyone with any interest at all in understanding the Old Testament really needs to read this book to have the advantage of the broadest possible perspective on issues regarding the origins and interpretation of these scriptures.