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leonvandereep.bsky.social · @leonvandereep.bsky.social@bridge.neodb.net

Rated The Bible: A Very Short Introduction 2/10

Very poor compared to the standard of the other VSI's I have read so far. The other books in the series did a great job in providing a very concise overview of a vast subject. Written by experts yet quite accessible to those unfamiliar with the topic at hand.<br/><br/>John Riches starts rather conventional, outlining the Bible's origins and canonization but one third in slips into a sloppy kind of 'social life of the Bible'. From there on he seems to be cherrypicking from his favourite parts of his own lectures, seemingly unaware he is not writing for theology students. It all lacks both focus and overview. What should have been examples ('Jewish and Christian readings of the Binding of Isaac', 'Galatians through history') are promoted to entire chapters. <br/><br/>His main point: people have read the texts of the Bible in very different ways. His main concern: how to keep people reading the Bible.<br/><br/>Awful read. To be avoided if you don't know much but are curious about the famed book. This doesn't teach you anything you couldn't have figured out yourself ('people have read the texts of the Bible in very different ways').

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Published 2026-08-24 09:17 UTC · bridged from Atmosphere