From Literal to Literary: The Essential Reference Book for Biblical Metaphors [Paperback]

James R. Adams (Author), Hannah Bonner (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2005

Over 150 metaphors are examined in an effort to reveal the insights of the scriptures to the skeptic as well as the conventional Christian. The volume includes an index to Hebrew and Greek words, an index of Bible citations and a pronunciation guide for transliterated Hebrew and Greek words.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...shows how multiple translations of the Bible color our attitude toward some of the most basic concepts..." -- Anatoly Liberman, Professor of Germanic Philology, University of Minnesota and author of Word Origins... And How We Know Them - Etymology for Everyone

"An exceptionally fine book... a very relevant resource for recovering the rich resonances of biblical and Christian language." -- Marcus Borg, author of Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time

"Those who try to defend the claim that the Bible is the literal Word of God will be undone..." -- John Shelby Spong, author of The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love

About the Author

James Rowe Adams is past president of The Center for Progressive Christianity and a member of both the Honorary Advisory Council for the Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity and the Advisory Panel for the Faith Futures Foundation, which has offices in the U.S. and Australia. Adams retired from parish ministry in 1996 after serving for nearly thirty years as rector of St. Mark's Church on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Prior to St. Mark's, he served at St. Christopher's Church in Lanham, Maryland -- first as vicar and later as rector. His first post was curate at St. John's Church, Georgetown, in Washington, D.C. He is the author also of So You Think You're Not Religious? A Thinking Person's Guide to the Church (Cowley, 1989) and of So You Can't Stand Evangelism? A Thinking Person's Guide to Church Growth (Cowley, 1994), as well as several earlier publications.

Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: Rising Star Press (November 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0933670133
• ISBN-13: 978-0933670136
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,949,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Reference Material, October 30, 2007

By 

John Erickson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From Literal to Literary: The Essential Reference Book for Biblical Metaphors (Paperback)

This isn't the kind of book that's meant to be read cover to cover, but that's exactly what I did, because I'm a freak. Basically, it's an encyclopedic reference of biblical terminology (terms like sin, kingdom, son of man, etc.). Each entry includes the original Greek and/or Hebrew words/phrases from which the English term is translated, several examples of the term being used in the bible, and an explanation of what the term originally meant. In many cases, it's drastically different than how we use the term today. For example, the terms we translate as "repent" really just mean "to change one's mind." And the term "born again" has a double meaning that would have been apparent to the original Greek-speaking audience but is completely lost in translation. The ward "again" in Greek is also the word for "above," (and it's used in both senses elsewhere in the scriptures) so "born again" also means "born above."

Because so much of the text involves explaining the Hebrew and Greek, Literal to Literary could have been rightly called The Essential Reference Book for Biblical Language. But the theme of metaphors features consistently throughout. In some cases, the metaphors are overt, like in Jesus' parables for example. In other cases, the authors present metaphorical interpretations of passages and themes that are presented literally. This approach seems to be aimed toward agnostics and non-fundamentalist Christians, who do not believe the bible is literally true or inerrant, but don't discount it outright either.

My only reservation about this book is that the authors interject too much of their own opinions and bias into the text. Although their biases are very much like my own, I prefer a reference book to be more neutral in tone, and I think the interjection of opinion will keep this work from being embraced by some of the people who would get the most out of it. On the whole though, I highly recommend From Literal to Literary to anyone interested in the bible, whether religiously or historically.