Does the Revised Version Affect the Doctrine of the New Testament. Biblical Contradictions. An Index to Creationist Claims. Divine Inspiration of the Bible. The Ur-Source - An Atheist Reads the Bible, Part 2. An Atheist Reads the Bible, Part 2 Most religions provide some version of a creation myth. This is, after all, necessary to elevate the role of a god or gods in the history of the world—to establish a Supreme Being’s supremacy by making Him the ultimate source and creator of all things. So it is natural that the Bible begins with its creation myth. The earliest parts of the Bible are the first five books. In the Jewish tradition, they are called by their Hebrew name: the Torah or “law.” In the Greek/Christian version, each book of the Bible is given a descriptive name. The first line of the Bible is: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” I should note that this is one theory and that there are alternative theories, such as the view that some Semitic languages used the plural as a form of emphasis to denote an abstract version of a concept as opposed to a concrete version.
You occasionally hear someone talk about the “ur-source” of an idea. Take the Garden of Eden. What Is the Bible? - An Atheist Reads the Bible, Part 3. An Atheist Reads the Bible, Part 3 What is the Bible? I ask because I found it a little confusing for a while. In the previous installment of this series, I covered Genesis up to Noah and the flood, and I understand clearly what the purpose of that section is.
It is a creation myth about the origin of the world and of man. Every culture has one. But then we move from this section of the Bible’s history, which scholars call the “primeval” period, to the section after the flood, which is called the “patriarchal” period, where we hear about the great patriarchs of the Jewish people, particularly Abraham. I say quasi-historical, because to be strictly “historical” requires independent verification. This is the problem with Abraham and with much of the “history” presented in the Bible. Yet Abraham is a figure of historical times, circa 1800 BC.
These legends provide an early tribal history of the Jewish people. Have you ever wondered what those “begat” sections were all about? And so on. What Has Homer to Do with the Bible? - An Atheist Reads the Bible, Part 1. An Atheist Reads the Bible, Part 1 To begin my long-promised series on the Bible, I wanted to describe the indirect route by which I came into this project. Five years ago, I found myself with a little extra time over Christmas break and decided to read a volume I had picked up years ago at an antique shop: an old edition of John Milton’s 1674 epic poem Paradise Lost, with illustrations from the famous 19th-century artist Gustave Doré.
You can buy your own copy here (for a whole lot more than I paid for it, incidentally), but since both the text and the illustrations are in the public domain, you can browse them online, thanks to Wikipedia. To be honest, I bought the book for the pictures rather than for the text, about which I didn’t know much. I’ve had a pretty good education, by contemporary standards, yet Paradise Lost was one of the great classics I somehow managed to escape reading.
So with Doré’s illustrations as inducements, I decided it was time to fill in that particular gap. Evil Bible. The Bart Ehrman Blog. Was the 1611 King James Version actually first published in 1612? - On the Front Lines of the Culture Wars. An early edition of the King James Version In his just released book The King James Bible: A Short History From Tyndale to Today, author David Norton mentions a startling discovery. Long referred to as the 1611 King James Version, the most published book in human history may not have come off the printing press until early 1612. So, for those of us getting ready to celebrate the 400th birthday of this historic work, what day in 2011 should we celebrate? How about the date when the manuscript was presented to King James? Or the date that Parliament officially accepted it?
“Sadly, we don’t know the answer to these questions,” says Norton. Professor Norton It seems that 400 hundred years ago, nobody anticipated that the newly translated Bible would have such an impact on the world — or that it would be the standard text for millions of Christians for centuries. “I would not be surprised if more evidence relating to the making of the KJV turned up,” says Norton. Norton's new book. Are there really unicorns in the King James Bible? - On the Front Lines of the Culture Wars. A painting of a unicorn, artist unknown What? Unicorns in the Bible? Yes, they are mentioned nine times. Could it be unicorns really existed? A 1967 hit song by the Irish Rovers tells a fanciful story of how Noah couldn’t persuade any “silly” unicorns to get on board the Ark since they wanted to play in the rain.
But, what does the Bible say? Were there really unicorns in ancient times? The word “unicorn” appears in the King James Version nine times – in Numbers 23:22 and 24:8, Deuteronomy 33:17, Job 39:9,10, Psalms 22:21, 29:6 and 92:10 and in Isaiah 34:7. What was this biblical unicorn? Numbers 23:22 in the King James Version reads: “God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.” A statue in Wales However, the New International Version says: “God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox.” The New American Standard Bible reads: “God brings them out of Egypt, He is for them like the horns of the wild ox.” Well, which is it? A re'em A narwhal.