Don't Know Much About the Bible: Everything You Need to Know About the Good Book but Never Learned (Paperback)

~ (Author) "My Bible or yours?..." (more)
Key Phrases: empty piety, New Testament, Old Testament, Near East (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Bible, author Kenneth Davis explains, fits that definition of a "classic" offered by Mark Twain: a book that people praise and don't read. But this entertaining historical study will likely compel listeners to reach for their dusty copies of the world's most-owned but least-understood anthology once again. And not simply because the author reminds us of the drama and intrigue, the tales of rape, impaling, and ethnic cleansing routinely found in its pages. Davis paints the larger historical context in which the Bible was written, providing a sense of the culture and environment in which the familiar stories came to life. Calling on new research and scholarship into the Bible's composition, he provides fascinating background to dimly remembered stories that gives them renewed impact. Using a series of easy-to-follow questions and answers, he offers explanations about when and by whom the Bible was written; how the stories of other traditions influenced the Judeo-Christian teachings; where the Garden of Eden might have been located; why an earthquake may have played a part in the "walls tumbling down" at Jericho; why Jesus may not have said everything we think he did, and much more. He also points out that mistranslations from the original Hebrew have made their way into modern versions of the Bible, explaining where and how they occurred. Conceding that his program will anger some, as it challenges many cherished but mistaken assumptions about the Bible, Davis also hopes that listeners recognize that Christian belief and uncovering the truth are not at odds in this program, but rather that learning and wisdom, even when they reach unsettling conclusions, can ultimately complement faith. (Running time: six hours, four cassettes) --Uma Kukathas --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Davis (Don't Know Much About History) attempts to teach us everything we need to know about the Bible but never learned. Davis brings to life the world of the Bible by putting it in historical context and attempting to clear up misconceptions and mistranslations. He summarizes Bible stories and parables, adding his own interpretive insights. Among his claims: Joseph didn't own a coat of many colors (the words have been mistranslated); Moses didn't part the Red Sea; Jonah wasn't in the belly of a whale; King David didn't kill Goliath, nor did he write the Psalms; Jesus probably wasn't born in Bethlehem; Jesus performed three resurrections besides his own. Davis also identifies which biblical teachings he thinks were appropriate for a semi-nomadic desert tribe but are no longer applicable to life at the dawn of the 21st century (e.g., the prohibition in Leviticus against planting your fields with two different kinds of seeds). While Davis's engaging volume offers little for biblical experts, it serves as an good introduction for Bible novices.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380728397
• ISBN-13: 978-0380728398
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (140 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #96,716 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light and easy to read, October 18, 2003

By	SPM "scott_maykrantz" (Eugene, Oregon) - See all my reviews

Davis writes like Isaac Asimov. He wants to educate you. In this book, he gets in and gets out fast --- which is good. He tells you the story of Job, for example, in one page. He knows he has a lot to cover, so he hits each point in a page or two. If you want more detail, you can read one of hundreds of other books after this one.

His coverage of the New Testament is good even though it's shorter than his Old Testament section. This makes sense because the New has less content --- fewer details, parables, people, and places.

Davis uses bad jokes and awkward pop culture references half a dozen times. These don't help. I don't need references to Madonna, Baywatch, Jedi knights, and (of all things) The First Wives Club. The references age fast. Some of them come across like the work of an amateur comedy writer.

Other than that, it's a really good book, as good as Asimov's Guide to the Bible. As an introduction to the Bible, it can't be beat. Sure, it's a secular approach, but if it wasn't, it would be twice and long and would no longer qualify as an introductory text.

92 of 107 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Consumer Warning! A Shock Hazard., August 21, 2002

By	Proctor S. Burress (Lexington, KY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Davis has written a superb work of commentary on the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. It far surpasses the prosaic two volume work by the late Dr. Asimov which, in the main, paraphrases traditional commentary.

Don't let the keen Davis sense of humor put you off. His sources, both popular and scholarly, nail down most every issue in keeping with what is known today in my opinion. Most of us in the Judeo-Christian tradition will find this book both useful and enlightening. Fundamentalists will wish to avoid it as it contains many corrections to opinions offered as fact by under-informed persons in past generations.

Do get this book if you are frustrated with your reading of the Bible. If you are beginning to understand you cannot understand the Bible by simply reading the Bible, Davis' insights will be very useful to you. After all, Davis' research may prove to be more valuable than direct revelation. For example, he provides a glossary that did not come with the original. His "Introduction" and "Whose Bible Is It Anyway?" is not to be skipped. Also, many Sunday School teachers in synagogue and church owe their classes the knowledge this book imparts. This is popular journalism of a very serious subject at its very best. Interestingly Davis does it all without footnotes or even chapter notes. It is very likely that he could have provided such. Both he and his editor decided in favor of ease of reading instead.

Only the wonderful commentary on the "Hebrew Scriptures" by the late Rabbi Sandmel exceeds the insights offered in this book particularly for the Old Testament. However, that tremendous rabbinical scholar was writing to a somewhat different audience.

The Introduction covers a number of matters not usually discussed in Sunday School. However, he does not mention that Isaiah went about Jerusalem naked for three years. Nor does he mention the gruesome occurrences of Lamentations 4. Some of his dating may be questioned as good reasons may cause it to be for generations to come.

There are also two matters that Davis does not explore at least not sufficiently. Both relate to his depiction of current understandings of the Bible. One is: How is it that we have any sort of Bible at all... handed down through the centuries to us... if his contrasts, complications and contradictory interpretations are true? He seems to begin an answer to this with his comments on "power."

Second and related to the first: How did such revered writings become transformed by translators and clergy into the very "Word" of God? Hint: How might the Reformation have brought this about? Both of these issues are being avoided by dozen of interpreters and popularizers. Serious students of the Bible should ask why?

One caveat. Davis clarifies uncountable issues and Biblical circumstances in highly readable and accessible prose. Most of the "what" in the Bible is addressed. Those looking for more... than clergy have provided through the ages... on the "how" and "why" will want to look further. Re-call these comments began with a warning about "shock hazards!"

Davis' tone will seem iconoclastic and anything but reverential to most readers. His insights will shock any number of readers. Then we have his conclusion which seems dramatically askance from his straight ahead commentary. He uses a quote that he...or his editor...chose to conclude (page 472) this work.

Unfortunately, it is possibly more controversial than anything else he has asserted. Thus we are pushed to the very edge of the supreme controversy of western civilization with no healthy discussion to brace us. Another book...or two...could be written right here! Is the "Afterword" really Davis' concluding thoughts alone?

8-18-02 psb rev 8-21-02

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't Know Much About The Bible? Start Here., June 25, 2000

By	William G Evans (Mid Levels Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

Kenneth C. Davis' breezy survey is aimed at a general reader interested in learning more about the Bible without necessarily accepting the predominant theological interpretations. Davis presents a neat summary of over 3,000 years of the history of the Near East, Israel and her people, the life and death of Jesus, and the early Christian church. This is not a scholarly work of Biblical criticism, and the more astute observations are taken from the work of more authoritative authors. In borrowing liberally from a diverse body of opinion, Davis manages to present generally balanced, informed views.

In this continuation of his "Don't Know Much" genre, Davis' pithy commentary sometimes suffers from an overreliance on pop culture analogies and his occasional aw-shuckisms. Nevertheless, in adopting an easy, accessible style, he manages to spark interest and add entertainment value to what could have been an exceedingly dull book.

Some will undoubtedly take issue with Davis' presentation of the controversies surrounding authorship of certain Biblical books, as well as his observations on the capricious, jealous, and sometimes violent God of the early Hebrew scriptures. Davis shows us how God apparently "matures" over the course of the Bible and speculates that God may have grown up alongside his most flawed creation, the human race.

Perhaps Davis himself draws particular inspiration from certain portions of the Bible. The book contains the NRSV version of Jesus' moving, deeply inspirational Sermon on the Mount, from the gospel of Matthew. The appendices contain The Ten Commandments, the Twenty-Third Psalm, and the Lord's Prayer. Each chapter contains several scriptural passages that accompany many of the key points in the text.

Smming up the book in his Afterword, Davis muses that it would be easy to dismiss the Bible as nothing more than a collection of myths and fairy tales that our ancestors conjured up to explain things they did not understand. He seems to come down, albeit rather ambivalently, on the side of faith.

This book, despite being over 500 pages, is a fairly quick read. The bibliography provides a good starting point for further study, as does the Bible itself. In all, this book delivers what it promises: after reading it, you will certainly know more, both the good and the bad, about the Bible.