Issac Asimov isn’t a name you would normally associate with genres that lie outside the pale of science fiction (he is the author of such novels as I, Robot and The Bicentennial Man), but his forays into non-fiction are often brilliant and very readable masterpieces.
His Guide to the Bible is no exception. Asimov begins from the first book of the Old Testament (Genesis) and ends with the last book of the New Testament (Revelations). Although a self-proclaimed agnostic, his guide is neither irreverant nor condescending. He approaches the scriptures with a historical bent, an aim he makes clear from the very beginning. Thus, readers do not expect a treatise on the miracles of the Bible, but a broadening of the secular dimensions of the Biblical world.
Beware, though, Asimov does not try to reconcile the more problematic contradictions between chapters. Instead, he offers the insight that contradictions are inevitable when the Bible is really the work of different scribes, saints and prophets over thousands of years. The wonder should be in the consistencies that prevail through the Bible, across both Old and New Testaments.
Asimov boldly explores the books of the Apocrypha, which the Protestant church regards as uncanonical. His detailed exegesis of this controvosial index shed light on the more elusive aspects of the events narrated in the four Gospels, such as the Jewish Sanhedrin’s seemingly bitter rejection of Jesus as the foretold Messiah.
Issues like bloody conquest, rape, polygamy, incest, black magic and murder are examined against the historical background of cultures and norms. Asimov does not judge, but tries to explain why such and such a gesture meant a very different thing then than it does now.
Take for example, the famous Last Supper, in which it is said:
“Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.” [John 13:23]Many Christians understand the phrase leaning on Jesus’ bosom to mean that Jesus had literally cradled his disciple’s head.
“…the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom…”[Luke 16:22]The phrase originates out of the dining customs of the period. The Israelites in the time of the kingdoms sat upon chairs at meals, as we do today. The Greeks, however, had the habit of reclining upon their left elbow on low upholstered couches and eating with the right hand. A host would put the guest of honor to his immediate right at a meal. If both reclined on their left elbows, the guest’s head would now be close to the host’s breast. In a manner of speaking, the guest would be in ‘the host’s bosom’, though not literally so.
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[...] have a book that I bought, and mostly read, Isaac Asimov’s Guide to the Bible. Another book I highly recommend. Asimov tackles the Bible from the historical record [...]