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Pilzkopf · 07-05-2007, 04:16 AM

A short summary of The Bible Against Itself: Why the Bible Seems to Contradict Itself, by Randel McCraw Helms:

Quote:

If you open up the Bible and read it straight through, you will notice two things that should not be true if it had been written as a coherent whole and with a single purpose. First, the Bible is quite repetitious; second, the Bible frequently seems to contradict itself. Randel Helms examines the cultural and historical factors that produce these seeming contradictions.

All books were written for or against some point of view, and the books of the Bible are no different. Bible book authors were often motivated to write because they wanted to challenge or correct those who had written before them. As Helms explains, "The Bible is a war-zone, and its authors are its combatants. Paul said of Peter, 'I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong (Gal. 2:11).'" Helms notes that Jeremiah condemned the entire religious establishment of his time--the very same people that other Bible authors held in highest esteem: "prophets and priests are frauds, every one of them" (Jer. 8:10). Luke felt the need to write another gospel even though "many writers have undertaken to draw up an account of these events" (Luke 1:1). Luke obviously felt that Mark's gospel was filled with errors and edited it freely. Not even Mark's account of the words of the dying Christ was left unaltered.

How the author of Chronicles I & II white-washed earlier historical accounts of Saul, David, and Solomon.
How the book of Ruth was written to challenge the growing racism of religious reformers of its time.
How every apocalyptic book of the Bible struggled to reinterpret some earlier failed Bible prophecy.
The war of "Wisdom" between religious teachings, pagan proverbs, and practical advice.
The centuries long battle in the Bible between prophets and the Law of Moses, and even between the prophets and prophecy itself.
How first and second century Christians interpreted the Hebrew Bible in a new way, to change it into a book that had "really" been written about Jesus.
Jesus of Nazareth's philosophical conflicts with Jesus the son of Sirach.
The battle between James and Paul--and their followers--for control of first-century Christianity.

As Helms concludes, "Before the sacred authors were declared sacred, they were fair game for attack or revision. Not without reason did John the Relevator threaten with "plagues' anyone who 'adds to' or 'takes away from the words of' his book (Rev. 22:18-19), for such was all too often the fate of the 'little books' that eventually became our Bible."