The Rise and Fall of the Bible: The Unexpected History of an Accidental Book

239 Pages·2011·4.11 MB·English

by  Timothy Beal

The Rise and Fall of the Bible
The Unexpected History of an Accidental Book
Timothy Beal
Table of Contents

Title Page
Table of Contents
...
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
1. The End of the Word as We Know It: A Personal Introduction
2. The Greatest Story Ever Sold
3. Biblical Values
4. Twilight of the Idol
5. What Would Jesus Read?
6. The Story of the Good Book
7. Library of Questions
8. And I Feel Fine
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT
BOSTON NEW YORK
2011
Copyright © 2011 by Timothy Beal
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book,
write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company,
215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.
www.hmhbooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Beal, Timothy K. (Timothy Kandler), date.
The rise and fall of the Bible : the unexpected history of an
accidental book / Timothy Beal.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-15-101358-6
1. Bible—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title.
BS511.3.B43 2011
220.60973'0904—dc22 2010005734
Book design by Brian Moore
Printed in the United States of America
DOC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For MOM
GERALDINE KANDLER BEAL
"rightly dividing the word of truth"
Contents

1. THE END OF THE WORD AS WE KNOW IT: A PERSONAL INTRODUCTION [>]
Magic 8 Ball Bible [>]
The Rise of a Cultural Icon [>]
The Way of Salvation [>]
So Long, Judas [>]
The Course of This Book [>]
My Utmost, Revisited [>]
2. THE GREATEST STORY EVER SOLD [>]
Sodom and Gomorrah Equals Love [>]
Biblical Consumerism [>]
Expectations of Biblical Proportions [>]
By Whose Authority? [>]
3. BIBLICAL VALUES [>]
Felt Needs [>]
Values Added [>]
Finding Your Niche [>]
Necessary Supplements [>]
If That's What It Means, Why Doesn't It Say So? [>]
Manga Bibles [>]
A Different Cookie [>]
4. TWILIGHT OF THE IDOL [>]
The Evangelical Dilemma [>]
Selling Out [>]
Type's Setting [>]
Distress Crop [>]
Behold Your God [>]
5. WHAT WOULD JESUS READ? [>]
Jesus Sings [>]
Christianity Before the Bible [>]
No Original [>]
No Canon [>]
Early Christian Network Society [>]
6. THE STORY OF THE GOOD BOOK [>]
Remembering What's Lost [>]
Scrolling Down to the Book [>]
Scattered Throughout the Whole World [>]
After Gutenberg [>]
Multiplying the Leaves [>]
Lost in Translations [>]
Not a Rock but a River [>]
7. LIBRARY OF QUESTIONS [>]
Mark Twain's Drugstore [>]
Letting Suffering Speak [>]
Trials of God [>]
Weak Rope Theory [>]
Is the Bible a Failure? [>]
Faith in Ambiguity [>]
Nothing but a Burning Light [>]
The Bible by the Side of the Road [>]
8. AND I FEEL FINE [>]
Cracking the Binding [>]
Loose Canon [>]
Back to the Future [>]
Living Conversations [>]
Seeds to Go Around [>]
Word Without End [>]
Acknowledgments [>]
Notes [>]
Index [>]
1. The End of the Word as We Know It: A Personal
Introduction

I REMEMBER MOM'S BIBLE especially well: the feel and smell of the dark red
pebbly leather cover, the heft of it, the delicate paper, gray and silky-soft at the
corners from countless careful turns, the way it flopped over her hands when she
opened it. Like other Bibles in our home, its value as a holy thing came not only
from its quality of materials and craftsmanship, and not only from our familial
faith in the words on its pages as the inspired Word of God, but also from years
of daily, devotional attention. It seemed both sacred and mundane, a hallowed
object, demanding my highest reverence, and an everyday tool, lying open on
the kitchen counter like an old phonebook.
Growing up conservative evangelical in the 1960s and '70s, mine was a
childhood steeped in biblical devotion. Our two-story house in the foothills of
the Chugach Mountains, outside Anchorage, Alaska, was filled with books, good
for the long, dark winters. But no book was more treasured than the Bible. It was
the cornerstone of our family's spiritual well-being, the go-to source for any
serious question we might have, from sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll to heaven, hell,
and why bad things happen to good people.
Mom and Dad were models of biblical fidelity, of daily living in the Word.
My strongest childhood memories of them testify to the high value they placed
on Bible study and reflection: Mom, awake before sunrise, kneeling before the
living room recliner as if it were a prie-dieu, reading her Bible while our cat lay
purring and pawing on her warm back; Dad, leaving early for breakfast Bible
studies and meetings of the local chapter of the Gideons at Denny's; the two of
them, at the end of the day, sitting together on the sofa in the TV room, or lying
side by side in bed, propped up on pillows, silently reading their Bibles.
My parents' biblical faith was by no means sentimental or simplistic. It was
as seriously intellectual as it was devout. On drives home from church, they
discussed the preacher's biblical interpretations in rigorous detail. When we got
home, the discussion often continued, with Bibles open on the kitchen table.
Mom studied Greek in college, and sometimes she'd pull out her old Greek New
Testament to see how else the text might be translated. Stereotypes of
conservative evangelical Christians as anti-intellectual notwithstanding, the