How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now

`How to Read the Bible' by the former Starr Professor of Hebrew at Harvard University is about as different from the similarly titled `How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth' by New Testament professor, Gordon D. Fee and Old Testament professor, Douglas Stuart, and still be a superb read for anyone, especially lay readers, who are interested in understanding the Hebrew scriptures. Yes, this book deals exclusively with Professor Kugel's specialty, the Old Testament, while the Fee / Stuart book deals with both Hebrew and Christian scriptures. Another huge difference is that Professor Kugel not only advises us on how to read the scriptures today, he outlines how they have been read since they were first gathered together, sometime around the return from the Babylonian exile in 538 BCE. The big surprise to us lay readers is that these scriptures were not taken as the perfect inspiration from God, with every statement literally, or at least figuratively true, given the right amount of interpretation. Professor Kugel does not make this comparison, but I suspect that the attitude toward much of the scriptures was very similar to the Achaeans' (early Greeks) attitude toward Homer's `Iliad' and `Odyssey', as national epic poems. Even without modern archeology, it would not have been difficult to detect anachronisms and downright errors when, for example, a Psalm attributed to King David describes events which happened 500 years after his death. The attitude of `high reverence' for the scriptures developed shortly after the last book, `Daniel', was added to the canon, the era of the last prophet Ezra, and the Maccabean revolt. This fits remarkably into the picture we have of the state of Judaism at the time of Jesus, and Jesus criticisms of the priests and Pharisees for their excessive dedication to a strict reading of the scriptures and the intense interpretation to which the scriptures, especially the law of the Torah was put. The overall plan of the book is based on instructing us on how to read the scriptures `by example'. Of the 36 chapters, all but the first and the last deal with books, such as Psalms, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel and individual episodes from books, such as chapters on the episodes of Cain and Able, Noah and the flood, and the tower of Babel from Genesis. The first chapter introduces us, in a novel fashion, to the rise of modern Bible criticism over the last 200 years, by recounting the trial of Professor Charles Augustus Briggs by the ruling body of the American Presbyterian church, for making strongly positive comments about the type of scholarship he saw in Germany, where the strong tradition of Luther fueled critical studies of both old and new Testaments. The last chapter summarizes all the points detailed in the individual studies throughout the rest of the book. It is easy for those whose Christian beliefs run to the more conservative to dismiss this book and its findings out of hand. For those, I may point out that Professor Kugel is a devout Orthodox! Jew, now living in Jerusalem, who has no problem maintaining his faith and his analytical approach to his subject. For the lay reader, Kugel's text is eminently readable, as almost all the scholarly impedimenta are relegated to endnotes and the usual index to the scriptures in an appendix. For the Christian reader, there is much here to enlighten. Even Luther had deep interest in much of the Old Testament, especially Genesis and Psalms. It would be really interesting to read Luther's commentary on Genesis in the light of Kugel's information. If there is anything in this book which reaffirms my own inclinations to Bible study, it is the attention to external archeological information. This is most famously represented by the discovery, in the early 19th century, of the Mesopotamian epic of Gilgamesh, which has a flood episode which predates the writing of Genesis by almost a thousand years. And, many passages in Genesis' account of the flood seem to almost be copied idea for idea, from the Gilgamesh. This `borrowing' is made more plausible by the fact that while the sub-desert heights of Judea received very little rainfall, the delta of the Tigris - Euphrates probably floods quite often, albeit not as often as the dependable Nile. Anyone with any interest at all in understanding the Old Testament really needs to read this book to have the advantage of the broadest possible perspective on issues regarding the origins and interpretation of these scriptures.

At first glance, a book titled "How to Read the Bible" would seem like one of those "for Dummies" books that offers simple explanations to an often mysterious tome. It is quickly apparent that James Kugel's book does not actually fit into this category: instead, it is a much more in-depth and insightful look into the Bible (which is to say the Jewish Bible, or to Christians, the Old Testament). The overall premise of this book is that through the course of history, there have been two general methods of reading the Bible, and that these two methods are often in conflict. First, there is the method of the ancient interpreters, which despite its name, was the dominant methods until relatively recently. For these interpreters, Biblical reading was based on four general assumptions: (1) the Bible is cryptic; that is, what it seems to say may be different from it actually means; (2) the Bible is a book of lessons for readers in their own day; it is not merely a historical text; (3) the Bible is perfect and without contradiction; any seeming error can be explained (assumption #1 is helpful with this); (4) the Bible is the divine word of God. Modern interpretation, which really began in the nineteenth century, does not adhere to the ancient assumptions. In particular, the modern interpreter views the Bible as a text written by men, with all the flaws that are associated with mortals. This interpreter views the Bible in the larger context of the ancient world to determine how it was constructed. Take, for example, the story of Jacob and Esau. An ancient interpreter would view the stories of this brotherly conflict as leading to the general hostility between Israel and Edom, the two nations that the siblings were the founders of. A modern interpreter would view things in the opposite direction: to give historical justification to the Israel/Edom conflict, the Jacob/Esau legend was composed. Obviously, the modern interpretation of the Bible can cause problems for certain devout people, and the ancient method has been far from retired, particularly among fundamentalists. Kugel himself is an orthodox Jew who has his issues with the modern method, but overall, he presents a balance view, showing the flaws in both sides. Think about how much trouble we Americans have with deciding what the First or Second Amendments of the Constitution mean. Depending on political bent, we derive our own meaning from these passages. And these amendments were written in English, only two centuries ago. Furthermore, we have plenty of supporting documentary material from the era it was written. Yet, even now, we can't reach a consensus on what the right to bear arms or have a church-state separation means. If we can't even agree on that, how much more difficult is it to definitively interpret a text that was written more than two millennia back in another language that didn't even have punctuation or vowels. It is inarguable that the Bible is the most important book in history, with an influence that extends over thousands of years and, at this point, all over the world. Whatever your faith - Jewish or Christian or Hindu or Wiccan or other - or even if you're a Deist, agnostic or atheist, it is worth your while to know the Bible (even if you don't believe in it). Kugel's book is not a fast read (it is too packed with information to read at a quick pace), but it is a fascinating one and a great way to learn a lot about the Bible.

Good read. It looks like the previous owner was disappointed with the book, thus resold. It's interesting and valuable approach without and hang ups for readers, its good. Very helpful for me and to see good views.

There's a phenomenon at large, prestigious colleges and universities that I think it peculiar to that kind of institution (although my experience of others is limited, and I can't be sure). I call it "Rock Star Professors." They are people whose lectures are performances in the best sense of the word. These professors are enlightening, amusing, and charismatic and a great many students sign up for their classes even if they don't have any interest in the subject matter. James L. Kugel, now at Bar Ilan University in Israel, was just such a Rock Star Professor during the over 20 years he taught at Harvard. His introduction to the Bible course regularly drew 900 students, many of them not particularly interested in religion. When the enrollment for his course surpassed the similarly popular introductory economics course taught by John Kenneth Galbraith, the headline in the Harvard Crimson read "God Beats Mammon." I've never had the opportunity to hear Kugel lecture, but if his new book How to Read the Bible is representative of his work, he is certainly engaging, enlightening and charismatic in print, as well. As it happens the subject matter is of great interest to me, but it's also something that can be written in a deadly dull style and Kugel completely avoids that. His task in this book is to look at the Hebrew Bible (in English translation) from two distinct points of view: that of the people he calls the "ancient interpreters" (both Christian and Jewish) and that of modern biblical scholarship (incorporating linguistic, archaeological, and historical findings into our understanding). He begins by saying that, as an Orthodox Jew, the findings of modern scholarship that show that the Bible was written by a variety of people at a variety of times and that some of the "historical" sections could not represent actual history were very disturbing to him. He had some misgivings and indecision about entering into academic biblical scholarship as his life work. OTOH, Kugel expounds, he didn't feel he could just ignore what others had found out and he needed to come to some sort of modus vivendi that allowed him to continue to live an observant life and accept this information. From the totally opposite point of view, he points out that an understanding of how the Bible has been interpreted through history in both Jewish and Christian views is essential to understanding much of Western literature, art, and culture, so it's insufficient to just acquaint oneself with modern scholarship. So Kugel compares and contrasts the two approaches, and does so with the genius of a great storyteller and showman. The Bible is - among other things - a collection of great stories and he tells them with aplomb and with an appreciation for the contrast between the traditional and scholarly views. Was the story of Adam and Eve one of the Fall of Man, as traditionally interpreted, or an etiological tale about the movement from hunter/gatherer society to a more agrarian culture, as archaeological and linguistic evidence suggests? Why are there three different "wife/sister" stories in the Bible, where a patriarch tries to pass his wife off as his sister? Who wrote the Psalms and what was their original purpose? Was David king of a great nation, protege of King Saul, and a flawed human being in his private life, or an upstart who launched a military coup and took over a small chiefdom? Did he even exist? Kugel expounds on all these questions with insight, skill, and frequent laugh-out-loud humor. How to Read the Bible is a fascinating book and chock full of Fun Facts to Know and Tell. Most of all, I found it left me feeling like I'd love to have James Kugel for a dinner guest. Or, barring that, at least get to be one of those 900 students listening to the Rock Star Professor.

I have been reading and re-reading this book for nearly a decade. It is the best book about the bible I've ever read (and I've read a few). This isn't just because it is a fine scholarly work on modern biblical criticism and traditional biblical interpretation that is accessible to a lay reader. It is because the title of the book, "How To Read The Bible", is also its central thesis. In all the reviews I've seen of this book, the central thesis appears have been missed or glossed over. In summary- James Kugel is saying that the bible can be read in one of two ways: (1) In accordance with the ancient assumptions that it is cryptic, inerrant, relevant to today's readers and the word of god transmitted through the prophets, or (2) in accordance with the assumptions laid out by Spinoza that the bible is an anthology of ancient texts that is errant, self-contradicting, anachronistic, politically motivated, and authored to explain and uphold the then-status quo of ancient Israel/Judah. Kugel then poses an important question -- which of readings (1) or (2) above is *the real bible*? He then goes on to conclude that what makes the bible "Biblical" is reading (1). Reading (2) is simply not the way the bible has been understood for millennia, in terms of the way that it has shaped western society. If reading (2) were the *only* valid reading, then you wouldn't have a "bible"- you'd have a set of ancient texts of no more importance to people than any other archeological relics collecting dust in a museum. So how do you read *the bible*? It all depends on what you want to get out of it.

A fascinating look at ancient and modern biblical scholarship. It leads us through the Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament and reports on interpretations as well as results of historical, archaeological, and linguistic research into its stories. This is given by a man who categorizes himself as an Orthodox Jew. I could imagine he is not entirely popular in that camp. He will certainly not have friends in literalist Christian circles. The book explores origin, historicity, and interpretations of the familiar stories and words. Linguistics and archaeology have made significant contributions, but many important questions seem not to have been answered once and for all. Maybe they never will. Questions like 'who wrote these texts?' have been answered in too many different ways to leave us with a clear conclusion. We don't know for sure, if key persons like Abraham, Moses, Joshua, or even David really existed, or if they are mere giants of mythology. Or if anything like the exodus happened. Or the conquering of Canaan by an invading Israel. Or if the alleged wisdom of King Solomon has a base in truth. (Mustn't he rather have been quite a loser, in view of the breaking up of his kingdom as soon as he was gone?) What about the beginnings of monolatry and monotheism? No definite answers. Which child did Isaiah's prophecy, about the child that will be born, that Christmas lore likes to emphasize, refer to, actually? And more of the kind. I recommend this book if you want to update yourself on the various disputes about biblical interpretation. How does the author reconcile the findings, that he reports here, with his personal religious attitude? He doesn't. '...modern biblical scholarship and traditional Judaism are and must always remain completely irreconcilable.' In the last chapter, the author admits to his personal contradiction: his religious self considers modern Bible research irrelevant. A split mind. My headline is a quote from page 411. The chapter deals with the kingless period of Israel. Whether the author meant to comment on modern politics in Israel or the US is not clear to me.

As professor of biblical studies and theology I want to express my gratitude to James Kugel, the author of "How to Read the Bible." This is a work that is easy to read and to digest, both for lay people and scholars. The book's scholarship is impeccable and presented without excessive professional jargon so typical of other similar works. It is truly amazing to hear an orthodox Jewish writer backing modern scholarship and openly disdaining fundamentalism. As so many of us who began with a literal understanding of the Bible and have since then graduated to appreciate the work of literary critics and archaeologists who have brought us to a more realistic understanding of scriptures, I cannot help but hear filtering through the author's work a certain amount of nostalgia for having had to give up the image of the God of his youth whom he worshiped and in whom he trusted. Kugel, while disdaining fundamentalism tries to hold on to that old God of pre-critical biblical scholarship. It is in this domain that he is not very successful. His is an attempt at holding on to minimal inspiration the Bible can be credited with, but in the end he really is not able to cogently show where to find it. He suggests that despite the Bible's adopted and adapted Near Eastern myths and partially plagiarized law codes, etc., there is holiness shining through its pages. This holiness still inspires many people and leads them to love their neighbor and their "imagined" God. Unfortunately one cannot have it both ways. And so where Kugel admiringly succeeds in elucidating the Bible to its readers in a modern scientific manner, he fails, in my opinion, to make the old God's importance live on into the 21st century.

‘How to Read the Bible’ is a presumptuous title. The Bible is the most analyzed book in all of history and James Kugel thinks he can instruct us the best? Well, to be honest he does a pretty good job of it. This book is not for the light hearted religious zealots. This book will shake your core beliefs and everything you knew and believed about the Old Testament. I do think it is mandatory for every believer to read this because the Bible has led many to exaggerate its meanings. This book puts a more secular intellectual view to it while being respectful. Over the last 150 years, historians, archeologists and modern scholars have opened our eyes to many important facts than seriously help us understand the ancient Bible and put it into perspective. The format of the book is to first explain a section of the Bible, provide the ancient view and then the modern view. The format works but it is not complete and I do not see how it could be. It is well written and flows at a good pace. Some of the assumptions get too speculative in my opinion but more or less the information is meaningful. My only complaint is I would have liked to see more ancient Jewish commenters like Rashi or the Rambam as they had a huge influence on Jewish thought for the last millennium. This is why I think analyzing the Bible is a serious undertaking in that regardless of what you write, someone will have a valid complaint.

Não é novidade para ninguém - pelo menos para quem lê a Bíblia de forma um pouco cética - que o Livro está cheio de contradições e eventos inverossímeis. Ao invés de fazer uma desconstrução do Antigo Testamento, Kugel nos dá uma magistral turnê erudita (35 capítulos), ainda que muito espirituosa, por meio da pesquisa. Se ler a Bíblia exige uma suspensão da descrença - Moisés transformou o Nilo em sangue? Josué parou o sol ao meio-dia? Sansão matou 1.000 homens com a mandíbula de um burro? - então "como ler a Bíblia" levará o leitor a uma suspensão da crença. Kugel revisa a "hipótese documental" que demonstra de forma bastante conclusiva que os cinco primeiros livros da Bíblia não foram escritos por uma única pessoa (Moisés, de acordo com a tradição), mas na verdade foram quatro ou talvez cinco escritores diferentes. Kugel vai além ao apontar o plágio da Bíblia de fontes não-israelitas anteriores: leis copiadas do código de Hamurabi; pedaços da história da inundação de Noé levantada do “Épico de Gilgamesh (veja resenha); profecias de Ezequiel inspirado nos templos do Oriente Médio. Ele mesmo sugere que os Dez Mandamentos foram derivados em parte dos antigos tratados hititas. Enfim, Kugel propõe, em uma linguagem de fácil compreensão, duas maneiras diferentes de ler a Bíblia. Na primeira, ele nos mostra como a Bíblia foi lida pelos "antigos intérpretes", escritores que viveram cem anos antes e depois do nascimento de Jesus, quando ainda estava sendo codificada. A maneira de ler a Bíblia - a suposição de seus erros, a crença de que a escritura nos ensina lições morais, e a fé na autoria divina - é a maneira que muitos de nós ainda a vê nos dias de hoje. Na segunda, Kugel nos mostra como a Bíblia é entendida pelos estudiosos modernos, e de que maneira nos últimos 150 anos usou-se a arqueologia, a linguística, a história, a antropologia e todas as outras ferramentas da ciência para escavar a verdade sobre o “Bom Livro”. Kugel começa "Como ler a Bíblia" dando a noção de dar pesos iguais aos dois métodos, mas logo deixa de lado os antigos intérpretes e se concentra na academia moderna, que é muito mais provocativa. Boa leitura!

Quite readable although he sometimes skips portions, just to keep the book from being 2,000 pages

Pur non essendo un testo superficiale spiega, in modo facilmente comprensibile, l'origine delle diverse parti della Bibbia alla luce dell'evoluzione dell'esegesi e delle ricerche storiche più recenti. Illustra effettivamente in modo chiaro una chiave di lettura moderna e accreditata nel mondo accademico.

Lots of good stuff, but too complicated for this lay reader. In my opinion Professor Kugel really intimate with the Bible.

This is a brilliantly written book, making a complex subject seem interesting. It reads almost like a novel. I couldn't put it down.