Scan barcode
A review by dave_daines
The Bible: A Biography by Karen Armstrong
3.0
Two complaints about this book:
1) She's essentially taking 500+ pages of information and distilling it down into a 230 page book. I would guess one of her goals with this book was to make it very readable and non-intimidating.
2) There is little to no explanation for where she is getting her information. Perhaps it is common knowledge among bible scholars, but to me, hearing about the origins of the books of the Old Testament is mostly new information. I would be very interested to hear how they came to these conclusions. Perhaps item #1 is the reason why she doesn't go into it.
Overall I liked the book and found it to be very interesting. It focused more on the history of exegesis (critical explanation of the Bible) than on the origins of the Bible than I was expecting, but still it was very readable and thought provoking.
1) She's essentially taking 500+ pages of information and distilling it down into a 230 page book. I would guess one of her goals with this book was to make it very readable and non-intimidating.
2) There is little to no explanation for where she is getting her information. Perhaps it is common knowledge among bible scholars, but to me, hearing about the origins of the books of the Old Testament is mostly new information. I would be very interested to hear how they came to these conclusions. Perhaps item #1 is the reason why she doesn't go into it.
Overall I liked the book and found it to be very interesting. It focused more on the history of exegesis (critical explanation of the Bible) than on the origins of the Bible than I was expecting, but still it was very readable and thought provoking.