The Bible By Karen Armstrong – Books That Changed The World

I confess that when I first picked up Karen Armstrong’s latest work, I was skeptical about a biography written based on the world’s most widely distributed book. Nevertheless, I have deep respect for Karen Armstrong who is now a freelance monotheist and is able to look at all three faiths of Abraham in an objective manner. And since “The Bible” is relatively light in volume (229 pages of main text and 73 pages of glossary, notes, and index), I gave it a go. Given the track record of I still am trying to finish that close to 700 pages book called “Holy War” (1988) by the same author, I was also skeptical of my ability to finish reading “The Bible”.

“The Bible” does not promote any theory nor provide technical details on how the bible is reconstructed over the years. Nor has the author voiced out any of her opinion on what is right or wrong. Karen Armstrong simply lays down established facts over the entire history of the bible from the beginning when the stories were passed onto the next generation within the Jews, to the time when the followers of Judaism and Christianity took a different path in compiling the bible, to our present days when the bible is still being interpreted and used as the justification – in some instances – to rage war to end wars. Our civilizations evolve through cycles of violence and cycles of enlightenment and throughout the history of time, Karen Armstrong highlighted the different approaches mankind has taken when interpreting the language within the bible and the numerous key persons in history who have influenced the way the bible is complied. All these established facts are tied back to some of the major events of our world.

Personally, I think the first 5 chapters – Torah, Scripture, Gospel, Midrash, and Charity – are interesting and are quite an easy read. These chapters do not dwell too much onto the well known stories within the bible but rather the origins of the fragments of literature that existed in the old days and how these fragments were being compiled initially. I am more familiar with the Christian side of the house and I find that reading how the Jews compile the Hebrew bible is refreshingly new. More so when I realise that although Christian and Judaism have taken a different path, they did arrive at the same way on how the bible should be read – through charity. The next 2 chapters – Lectio Divina (Sacred study) and Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone!) – are quite a tough read. I will probably have to go through that again when I have time. In fact, I may even have to go through the entire book again after familiarizing myself with some of the key terms in the glossary section. The last chapter – Modernity – is a good read as it becomes more relevant to the modern day development. Finally, Epilogue summarizes the entire book with Karen Armstrong interjecting what  is deeply needed in our torn and fragmented world – ‘principle of charity’ as a spiritual discipline.

Will the bible continue to be relevant to us? I can’t say what is going to happen in year 3000 but the bible seems to have survived through millenniums. As an afterthought, the bible must be one of the most time and resource consuming projects in the history of mankind. Adding up the man-hours of the scholars and theologists and leaders who have contributed to what the bible is today is phenomenal.

My initial skepticism has largely been cast aside. The bible is still an inspiring piece of work that the devotees have contributed to. My only discomfort is that “The Bible” mostly focuses on Protestantism and America towards the end. I don’t think I have read a single reference to the Vatican, which I think has played quite a big role in reforming the Catholic tradition in recent days. Nor I have read any reference to anywhere in the world besides the West and the Middle East. The latter I can still accept due to the lack of contribution to the way the bible is compiled by the people of the East. The former, is hard to swallow.