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Understanding The Bible | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephen Harris
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
Category: Book
Buy New: $68.17
New (30) Used (63) from $33.50
Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 104399
Media: Paperback
Edition: 7
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 640
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.4
Dimensions (in): 10.1 x 7.8 x 0.9
ISBN: 0072965487
Dewey Decimal Number: 220.61
EAN: 9780072965483
ASIN: 0072965487
Publication Date: February 3, 2006
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Product Description
This best-selling nonsectarian guide is designed for students undertaking their first systematic study of the Bible. It is the only single-volume introductory textbook that places each book of the Old Testament, Apocrypha, and the New Testament fully in its historical and cultural context. Understanding the Bible acquaints readers with the content as well as the major themes of each biblical book, and familiarizes them with the goals and methods of important scholarship..
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
 perfection September 20, 2008
The book came well before it was marked to and it was in perfect condition. Will certainly buy from them again.
The best objective introduction to The Bible August 2, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Harris combines the best modern scholarship with a detailed analysis of the text to provide a reasonably clear picture of The Bible and its origins. Practicing Christians and others owe it to themselves to become familiar with the The Bible outside of the bounds of the strongly biased presentations that are more readily available.
Folks here who criticize this as "liberal" or "not respecting the alternative viewpoints" are simply reacting to the fact that Harris is seeking to approach the topic with an objectivity and degree of scholarship that is uncommon. If someone's cherished misconceptions about The Bible turn out to be simply incorrect then we shouldn't blame Harris for revealing that fact. Don't shoot the messenger.
 Prevalent anti-religious bias April 15, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I've used Harris's book for two college classes and have a big problem with Stephan Harris's writings. In almost all readings, one can see that Harris as often as possible points at any hint of disagreement within biblical messages/traditions. Now don't get me wrong, differences in biblical writings are important to note, but many of the things he brings up are so outlandish (ie claiming that 'many scholars' think Jesus never claimed to be the God's son) that his supposed 'non-sectarian' view is really against any religious interpretation. He will even inject his own anti-religious views directly into the writings (saying that Paul was WRONG in saying that homosexuality is unnatural because modern science has proved otherwise!! - what has this got to do with what Mark actually wrote?) Look up some info on Stephan Harris. He is a member of the Jesus Seminar - a bunch of 'scholars' who decide on what Jesus did by voting with a system of colored marbles in California. In fact of the 100s of members at this Seminar, only a dozen or so are actual Ph.D holding New Testament scholars. And all of them have expressed anti-religious views (claiming that Jesus never claimed to be Apocalyptic).
The biggest problem in Harris's writing is that he writes about the Bible in an INTROverted way. That is, he examines all biblical writings in a 'modern day / postmodernist' fashion instead of looking at the Gospels in the context in which they were written (Extroverted writing - getting something OUT of them). CS Lewis once said the purpose of reading a book is to learn something new, or obtain a new perspective - not enforce your previous prejudices. This is exactly what Harris fails to do, and why I fail to read his writings without getting pissed off. If I had a dollar every time I saw the words "scholarly interpretation" in this book, I would fly out to the Jesus Seminar and see how many pounds of sugar those crackers put in their Kool-Aid every day.
Amazingly dense February 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Harris's book was not the easiest thing to read. However, the reason for this is that nearly every sentence in the entire book was something new to me! I describe the book as "dense," therefore, not to insult it, but to marvel at the sheer amount of information contained within.
The book is not theological, though there are places where the author's own biases shine through slightly. This isn't a huge deal to me, because I'm not sure I've ever read a book where the author's beliefs didn't in some way affect the text. Just read carefully. If there's something you don't understand or agree with, read the text yourself and try to "see it from his point of view." It's not important at all that you AGREE with his reading of the Bible, but you SHOULD be able to UNDERSTAND his reading of the Bible.
A Secular and Informative Perspective January 16, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
In studying the Bible, it is difficult to find credible sources that are not too colored with biases. This textbook approaches the study the way one would approach any work of literature: analyzing the historical contexts and the textual contexts to gain a better understanding of the work. While this is a nonsectarian publication, it does have a slight bias from a nonreligious standpoint. It is a good balance to all the religious perspectives out there though. The information is detailed though occasionally I wanted more. But this is a good starting point for those looking to study the Bible seriously.
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