We read a book called The Bible as Literature that was fairly handy for nutshell education of those of us raised in unchurched homes.

I think we had the same one.

The King James Bible is a magnificent piece of writing, and its phrasing was hugely influential on later works, particularly through the 19th century. It was written during Shakespeare's lifetime, and there is a (very) fringe belief that he was involved. The King James Bible and Shakespeare, combined with the rise of printing, essentially created modern English. You miss a lot of nuance without some familiarity with the King James, particularly in writers like Milton and Melville. I saw it happen in college and graduate English classes, when one or two people would ask, "But what does he mean by X?" and the rest of us would look at them like they were crazy, because it was Biblical phrasing that the rest of us had absorbed. I used to work with a woman who had pretty much been raised by wolves and who had no familiarity with the Bible, and she would change phrases like "In the beginning was the plan."

In terms of understanding Biblical references, I think one of the many "stories from the Bible" books, plus reading Genesis, Exodus, Revelation, the Psalms and the Gospels in the King James would pretty much cover it.

Yeah, I grew up with practically no religious education, but this was when we had prayer in schools (organized, mandatory, prayer in schools) and I had one of my mother's old Bible story books, which I read cover to cover. So I at least managed to get some of the better known bits. At college I took a fair amount of art history, much of which involved learning to identify saints in paintings, which was interesting. Periodically I'm surprised by people who have even less knowlege than I do about some of the basics.

I was raised as a Presbyterian, but I fear my Bible reading was one of the things that made me the atheist I am today. The story of Lot and almost anything written by Paul helped send me over the edge. If I had kids, though, I'd probably find a church with solid Sunday school program for a few years, just because I think an understanding of the Bible is so important to understanding Western culture.

Since I was raised Catholic, I got most of my direct exposure to the Bible in my theology classes at Marquette. We had the Children's Illustrated Bible Stories book as kids, which did a good job of turning stuff like Daniel and the furnace, the Exodus, and David and Goliath into exciting stuff written at a 5th grade level. Otherwise, the only Bible reading was absorbed through the three excerpts we heard in Mass on Sundays.

Also you don't have to read the WHOLE bible. But sort of browse at random. And the TV series chose one of the best soap operas in the bible to base their story on, so do read Kings. Betrayal, lust, love, blood and and battle, madness and courage. Also Exodus. And though maddening, Lot and Job. Sort of browse proverbs, a little at a time. And the Song of Songs is hot. And yeah the King James is filled with wonderful poetry. Don't force yourself to read large amounts at once. It was never met for that. And whatever you choose to read, do skip and skim. You are not likely to get through all of it in a summer, so concentrate on the whatever turns out to be the good parts for you.

Job has some of the best "behold the power of nature" poetry going. It mentions Leviathan and all that.

And Song of Solomon is porn.

connie, I think with the poetry it qualifies as erotica.

connie, I think with the poetry it qualifies as erotica.

point.

We read a book called The Bible as Literature that was fairly handy for nutshell education of those of us raised in unchurched homes.

I really, really need to get that, because my interaction with the Bible has been pretty minimal. Being raised by an aggressively lapsed Catholic will do that.