Friday, February 24, 2017

Bible Reading Results


Completing a year of bible reading along with taking courses on the Old and New Testaments as well as  companion reading has given me a different way of looking at both the Hebrew and Christian religion.  Instead of looking at the Word or possible philosophy or interpretation of what this or that prophet meant it was interesting to look at the writing of the Bible from a historical perspective.  As an historian the first thing one must do is suspend any belief in the writings come directly from God.  That was easy for me but for others I know that is a hard one to deal with.  Just do it in order to get a new perspective.  Why would you want that new perspective, you may ask.  For me the answer was to then be able to understand people from both sides of that perspective as well as understanding how religion(s) evolved; not necessarily to debunk religion.
I’ve always had problems reconciling the Old and New Testaments but when you understand the theory of how the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) was developed it becomes much easier to appreciate the differences in the 2 testaments.  Furthermore when you take the step to analyze the different Gospels in the New Testament you can again understand the conflicting messages both between the Old and New Testaments but also within the New Testament. itself  Looking at the Bible from a historical perspective is fascinating and enlightening.
More to come on this tomorrow.

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