Don't Know Much About the Bible
Everything You Need to Know About the Good Book but Never Learned
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
“Reading Davis is like returning to the classroom of the best teacher you ever had!” —People magazine
A completely revised and updated version of the classic book Don’t Know Much About® The Bible
Nine out of ten Americans own a Bible, but how much do they know about the one book that has influenced human history more than any other? Don't Know Much About the Bible by New York Times bestselling author Kenneth C. Davis is designed to illuminate everything we need to know about the Good Book but never learned.
With wit, authority, and intelligence, Davis brings the world of the Old and New Testaments to vivid life, setting the panorama of the Scriptures against the historical events that shaped them; clearing up misconceptions and mistranslations; summarizing Bible stories, parables, and miracles; and adding fresh new insights to the world's most owned, least understood book.
Relying on up-to-date research and improved translations, Davis set out to uncover what the Bible says—and doesn't say, with shocking discoveries, such as:
There are two different Creation stories told in Genesis, but no apple in the Garden of Eden story. Noah invented wine and cursed the son who had seen him drunk and naked. There was no "coat of many colors" in the story of Joseph and his jealous brothers, but rather a long-sleeved robe. Moses didn't write the Torah and he didn't part the Red Sea in his escape from Pharaoh.The Sixth Commandment does not condemn all killing.Jericho's walls may have tumbled down because the city lies on a fault line. King David probably didn't kill Goliath and didn't write the Psalms. And more!
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.
