The Bible According to Mark Twain: Irreverent Writings on Eden, Heaven, and the Flood by America's Master Satirist (Paperback)

by Mark Twain (Author), Howard G. Baetzhold (Editor), Joseph B. McCullough (Editor) "Mark Twain wrote "Adam's Diary" at the Villa Viviani, near Florence, Italy, where the family had moved in late September 1892, after a summer at..." (more)
Key Phrases: periodical repetition, mental telegraphy, autobiographical dictation, Mark Twain, Autobiography of Eve, Adam's Diary (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
The editors of this book have serious reason to believe that the Bible influenced Mark Twain more than any other book as his beliefs progressed from Presbyterianism through deism and on to Darwinian determinism. They scoured 40 years of his writings to compile an anthology of both unpublished and newly edited works, complete with appendixes of related pieces, in which Twain dealt with biblical figures, themes, or settings. The result is a fascinating contribution to the Twain canon in which we see him wrestle with the God-man relationship and take provocative stabs at the Bible's inconsistencies. Twain's styles here are as arresting as his content as he moves from biblical rhythms and rhetoric to the Pepysian bombast of the author he was reading when he wrote "Methuselah's Diary." Twain aficionados will revel in such episodes as Shem and his family sitting up all night signing autographs for their now-famous dad, Noah, while Methuselah pouts that he was not selected to build the infamous ark. A collection that offers readers a fascinating panoply of wit, satire, farce, fantasy, lyricism, heresy, the sardonic, and the controversial. Patricia Hassler --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description
Behind the humor of these pieces, readers will see Twain's serious thoughts on the relationship between God and Man, biblical inconsistencies, Darwinism, science, and the impact of technology on religious beliefs. "A fascinating panoply of wit, satire, farce, fantasy, lyricism, heresy, the sardonic, and the controversial."--Patricia Hassler, Booklist.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone (December 6, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684824396
• ISBN-13: 978-0684824390
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #93,492 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

172 of 176 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Generally, a good collection, December 24, 1999

By	John Rush (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

In the decades since his death, many of Mark Twain's writings have been reorganized into common themes such as protests, speeches, short stories and sketches, and full works of fiction in larger volumes. A recent welcome addition to these is The Bible According to Mark Twain, which includes diaries of Adam, Eve, and other Old Testament characters, various speculations on what the imaginary Heaven might be like (including Captain Stormfield's), some autobiographical dictations, a few pieces that appear in print for the first time, and, of course, Letters From the Earth.

It also contains too many of the editor's notes that plague most of Twain's posthumous releases. Here, notes take up 50 of the book's first 260 pages (10 more are blank). Why do editors feel compelled to insert their version of Twain's autobiography before every entry? If they must share this information with readers, they can do so at the start or the end of the book, without interrupting Twain's far superior writing. Granted, some of the details are worth knowing: Twain read Paine's Age of Reason while piloting riverboats. This helped shape his views toward Christianity. But other statements are extremely irritating: "...we have omitted the five-and-a-half page attack on the concept of the virgin birth (mistakenly referred to as the immaculate conception) because that discussion is not closely related to the writings in this volume." Yes it is! Claims like this make me wonder what else is missing. The rest of Twain's writings on religion need a book of their own, WITHOUT the gratuitous editorial comments.

I'll let Twain have the last word:

"From the beginning of time, whenever a king has lain dangerously ill, the priesthood and some part of the nation have prayed in unison that the king be spared to his grieving and anxious people (in case they were grieving and anxious, which was not usually the rule) and in no instance was their prayer ever answered. When Mr. Garfield lay near to death, the physicians and surgeons knew that nothing could save him, yet at an appointed signal all the pulpits in the United States broke forth with one simultaneous and supplicating appeal for the President's restoration to health. They did this with the same old innocent confidence with which the primeval savage had prayed to his imaginary devils to spare his perishing chief -- for that day will never come when facts and experience can teach a pulpit anything useful. Of course the President died, just the same."

106 of 110 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable religious satire, October 4, 2002

By	VoodooLord7 (Oklahoma, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Mark Twain promptly proves with this volume that he is, indeed, as the title states, "America's Master Satirist." Having grown up in a fundamentalist Presbyterian community, Twain knew his Bible well; and, like any thinking person, his beliefs and attitudes relating to it changed as he grew older, wiser, and more experienced. Although Twain - due to many factors, such as the death of several children and his wife and his failed investments - grew famously bitter towards the end of his life, his vision remained remarkably clear-headed, though clearly suffued with pessimism - indeed, his zest for the truth and absolute intolerance for mankind's accepted irrational beliefs became even more razor-sharp during this period. Although there are writings in this volume from all phases of Mark Twain's career, the majority of them do come from that latter period - a period in which, indeed, the exploration of these themes was the main facet of his writing. Included are such well-known items as the Diaries of Adam and Eve (as well as several other Old Testament characters), Captain Stormfield's Visit To Heaven (published here in full for the first time ever), and, of course, his masterpiece, Letters From The Earth. In these, and the other, oftentimes more obscure pieces, Twain burlesques and satarizes freely, calling mankind on both his steadfast taking to irrational and illogical beliefs, as well as on his sheer stupidity and gullibility. If one is looking for a satire along the lines of Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn, then this is DEFINITELY not the place to look; however, if you have a fondness, as I do, for the darker, more probing side of Twain, then this is a volume that you must most definitely pick up.

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Who says it's not possible to be funny when you're angry?, April 27, 1998

By	[e-mail] (San Francisco, California) - See all my reviews

The Bible According to Mark Twain gathers together a group of writings by the famous author that were either published years ago or not at all. The writings all deal with Mark Twain's intense study and understanding of the Bible. The book begins with some humorous ideas of what Adam's and Eve's diaries may have looked like during their first days together and then later after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Twain is unable to comprehend how they could be punished for doing something bad (eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge) when they still had no conception of good and bad until they ate the apple. Later works detail some thoughts on Noah and the flood and the importance of flies. It was important to preserve the disease carriers. When Twain takes a walk through Heaven you discover halos, harps, and wings are just for show. And finally he finishes up with a scathing attack on the stupidity of mankind, pointing out that statements like, Thou Shall Not Kill, and committing genocide do not go together. Or how could man conceive of a Heaven as Heaven and leave out sexual intercourse? If sanity is dangerous to your health, don't read this book.