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How and why an atheist is studying the Bible

Why have I labelled this ambitious project as sceptical and not objective and / or open minded, or even from a pro Judao-Christian point of view?

Two reasons. I have read the Bible before, so I know overall my own reactions to it, though I made few notes as I read it last time round. Secondly, by openly stating that the work is sceptical from the outset, I am warning strong minded Christians and Jews and Muslims that the reading will be very questioning and challenging to their ideas.

I welcome anyone reading, but I have no wish to distress anyone’s comforting beliefs and outlooks on life. The advance warning helps to save too much upset. I certainly do not wish to be rude about the subject area I will be questioning very closely.

I’m certainly not being flippant about any of the text. I check the more extraordinary claims against theological discourse, commentary and evidence and analyse things closely. Perhaps my essay on Jonah’s adventures in the belly of the Whale convey this best of all, as I looked up a lot of work on what happens in a whale’s digestive system to put my argument together on this one. I am learning a great deal about a great deal from this study.

Many readers have seen some of my Bible commentaries now. If you are following all the ones currently available you’ll see that I haven’t yet covered the entire Bible, though the opening book of the Old Testament, Genesis is now completely addressed, over about fifteen web pages and a few supplementary essays.

You might think I would then go right on to deal with Exodus and work my way chronologically up through the Pentateuch, (the opening five books of the Bible, mostly dealing with the life of Moses). I have actually skipped around The Bible, adding essays on the New Testament Epistles first, and then the Old Testament Minor prophets. A few independent texts such as Ruth and Ecclesiastes have their books covered in my Hub essays already too. This is because the works are shorter and easier to assess, and therefore quicker to present a body of information about. This means I can have work in print quickly on my website not just earning attention, but also gaining me some feedback on whether people like the work or not which will help me improve my look at the later more complex Bible materials to come.

With the twelve Minor Prophets there is a certain degree of repetition in their relentless warning to Israel of impending catastrophe if the people don’t conform to God’s rather tyrannical wishes. (Love me or I’ll hurt you badly is not love). This makes writing about them individually quite challenging. I’ve tried to highlight what each author says that isn’t addressed by one of his contemporaries.

The next part of my coverage will be the New Testament Revelation, which is a work I have lots of vivid ideas and thoughts on. Many of my notes are already prepared but I do need to read more background data too.

After that I’m covering the Gospels. Unlike the study of the other books where I have read and critiqued them from start to finish as individual books, the Gospels will be studied against one another, so I’ll take the life of Jesus in sections, Nativity, Baptism, Ministry, miracles, Crucifixion, etc, and cross compare each of the Gospels on how they address each stage of his life, ministry etc in turn. The Gospels after all are four different views on the same events, and so the cross-referencing approach will be necessary and a more painstaking process than with the other studies here.

There are a few short Old Testament pieces I’ll slot in once in a while, such as Proverbs and the Song of Solomon.

I’ll then complete my look at the New Testament, as there are not many books of that left once the Gospels and Revelation are dealt with.

(The Epistles being already completed) The Acts of the Apostles dominant the remaining works to be covered there.

Then I’ll return to the Old Testament Pentateuch and work up though the remaining books, saving Psalms until last as they are a series of hymnal poems rather than a portion of the narrative material overall. I I’m still alive after all that I’ll start on the Apocrypha.

A final question, and one raised through comments on my work so far is which of the many Bible texts and translations I’m using. Actually more than one. Though I add a link to online texts to each of my essays to let people have the book under study at the click of a mouse, my main reading is in a hard copy of the Bible. I have a New International Version (NIV) copy, which is portable, and carries lots of useful maps, indexes, and essays, summaries, etc. I also make use of historic works, concordances, and reference works, as well as online resources including Wikipedia (though I mainly use that as a links bridge to get to other sources). Some Bible text is available in multiple translations, and occasionally I do hit work that seems to make little sense or just seems wrong to me, so I check a variety of sources before deciding what I make of the material.

Sometimes The Bible is great literature, poetic, dramatic, action packed, often incredibly violent, sometimes bordering on pornographic. Other sections are slow and repetitive. Overall reading it is a process I’d recommend to believers and unbelievers alike. One thing I feel it won’t do though is convert me. My readings so far raise too many doubts, questions, etc and I find a staggering number of contradictions and problem texts. Many of these are outlined in this collection of essays.

Arthur Chappell

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