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Understanding The Bible
This best-selling nonsectarian guide is designed for students undertaking their first systematic study of the Bible. It is the only single-volume introductory textbook that places each book of the Old Testament, Apocrypha, and the New Testament fully in its historical and cultural context. Understanding the Bible acquaints readers with the content as well as the major themes of each biblical book, and familiarizes them with the goals and methods of important scholarship.
640 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
8 people are currently reading
184 people want to read
About the author
Stephen L. Harris
14 books6 followersLibrarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Stephen L. Harris is Professor Emeritus of Humanities and Religious Studies at California State University, Sacramento, where he served ten years as department chair. A Woodrow Wilson Fellow, he received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University. A member of the Society of Biblical Literature, his publications include Understanding the Bible (8th edition, 2011); The Old Testament: An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (with Robert Platzner); Classical Mythology: Images and Insights (with Gloria Platzner); Exploring the Bible; and Fire Mountains of the West: The Cascade and Mono Lake Volcanoes, a survey of volcanic hazards on the U.S. Pacific Coast; and for National Geographic Books, Restless Earth, a study of global earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. He contributed the chapter on “Archaeology and Volcanism” to the Encyclopedia of Volcanoes (Academic Press, 2000).
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Stephen L. Harris is Professor Emeritus of Humanities and Religious Studies at California State University, Sacramento, where he served ten years as department chair. A Woodrow Wilson Fellow, he received his M.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University. A member of the Society of Biblical Literature, his publications include Understanding the Bible (8th edition, 2011); The Old Testament: An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (with Robert Platzner); Classical Mythology: Images and Insights (with Gloria Platzner); Exploring the Bible; and Fire Mountains of the West: The Cascade and Mono Lake Volcanoes, a survey of volcanic hazards on the U.S. Pacific Coast; and for National Geographic Books, Restless Earth, a study of global earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. He contributed the chapter on “Archaeology and Volcanism” to the Encyclopedia of Volcanoes (Academic Press, 2000).
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 24, 2012
I had to read this book in class. My professor told us that our presuppositions influence the way we read, so we had to take an 'unbiased' approach like the one in this text. To which I questioned:
"Stephen Harris is part of the Jesus Seminar right?"
"Yes", my professor responded.
"Doesn't the Jesus Seminar disbelieve miracles?"
"Yes", the professor responded again.
"Wouldn't that influence the way Harris reads the text?"
"Stephen Harris is part of the Jesus Seminar right?"
"Yes", my professor responded.
"Doesn't the Jesus Seminar disbelieve miracles?"
"Yes", the professor responded again.
"Wouldn't that influence the way Harris reads the text?"
February 27, 2020
Good book with a very solid overview of each book. Good for building up a solid historical background
February 10, 2008
One of the required texts for a university course taken for humanities credit, I enjoyed this book for one reason and one reason only. While the information in it is well-documented (and indeed, largely well-known for even the most casual student of biblical criticism), I loved this book precisely because only a handful of people in the large, jam-packed, lecture-hall sized classroom were even casual students of biblical criticism. The reactions by students who were forced to read this book and confront for the first time in their lives the idea that biblical history is not taken seriously, even outside of the 'big red-letter events' like the flood or creation was amazing. I even observed a public burning of the class text on the sidewalk outside the lecture hall immediately after the final as one student attempted to rebuke the demons he could feel trying to get him from the books' pages (no kidding).
As a sad postscript to this story, though, the professor who had the courage to try to teach a bunch of backward, ignorant Kansas yokels that the Bible needs to be approached in a non-literal fashion was waylaid on a country road outside of town and beaten half-to-death by people who objected to his 'obscene' level of religious moderation.
As a sad postscript to this story, though, the professor who had the courage to try to teach a bunch of backward, ignorant Kansas yokels that the Bible needs to be approached in a non-literal fashion was waylaid on a country road outside of town and beaten half-to-death by people who objected to his 'obscene' level of religious moderation.
December 24, 2012
To get details about how the Bible came to be and the various academic debates about its origins and authors, you are going to need a textbook. The textbook I have read and am recommending is Harris's Understanding the Bible. However, I do not think that it is particularly special. I chose it because it covers both testaments in one volume, was well rated on Amazon, and was available at my local library. Any textbook that meets those criteria will probably meet the needs of a basic student of the Bible as an ancient text.
The text includes some chapters of overview and some chapters providing historical background. However, the bulk of the text is devoted to a discussion of each book of the Bible plus the Old Testament apocrypha. Although you will certainly get more out of this book by reading the whole thing, these core chapters are structured so that each can be read on its own. For each book, there is a discussion of the historical circumstances surrounding the composition, the date (or possible dates) of composition, a discussion of authorship, a discussion of literary genre (where appropriate), and a discussion of the content of the book. Harris provides some justification for why scholarly opinion has settled as it has, and he provides an extensive bibliography for each chapter that can be used for those who want to examine the different views in more depth.
One of the most useful things I got out of both of my studies was the overview of Jewish thought, especially how it evolved after the Hebrew canon was closed. I think that people who have not been educated otherwise often assume that Jewish thought stopped after what was recorded in the Bible. I know that people who use the New Testament as their main reference on Jewish thought at the time of Jesus have an unfairly negative view of the Jews of the time. Learning a little about the actual history of Jewish thought shows how many of the tenants of Christianity which people now claim were novel innovations actually followed quite directly from the thoughts of the Jewish contemporaries of Jesus and his followers.
The text includes some chapters of overview and some chapters providing historical background. However, the bulk of the text is devoted to a discussion of each book of the Bible plus the Old Testament apocrypha. Although you will certainly get more out of this book by reading the whole thing, these core chapters are structured so that each can be read on its own. For each book, there is a discussion of the historical circumstances surrounding the composition, the date (or possible dates) of composition, a discussion of authorship, a discussion of literary genre (where appropriate), and a discussion of the content of the book. Harris provides some justification for why scholarly opinion has settled as it has, and he provides an extensive bibliography for each chapter that can be used for those who want to examine the different views in more depth.
One of the most useful things I got out of both of my studies was the overview of Jewish thought, especially how it evolved after the Hebrew canon was closed. I think that people who have not been educated otherwise often assume that Jewish thought stopped after what was recorded in the Bible. I know that people who use the New Testament as their main reference on Jewish thought at the time of Jesus have an unfairly negative view of the Jews of the time. Learning a little about the actual history of Jewish thought shows how many of the tenants of Christianity which people now claim were novel innovations actually followed quite directly from the thoughts of the Jewish contemporaries of Jesus and his followers.
Want to read
July 14, 2008Andrew (DJ King Pigeon) told me about this. Harris is a sort of revisionist scholar interested in separating truth from myth regarding the biblical documents and their origin & veracity. Apparently about half the epistles that are attributed to the apostle Paul are probably not really by him, and a bunch of stuff in the Apocrypha probably is. There's a fifth gospel, the gospel of "Doubting" Thomas, which the Harris camp regards as at least as worthy of consideration as the traditional four (from what I can gather). And, apparently, many other interesting tidbits. I look forward to tracking down a copy somehow.
March 17, 2008
This book is written primarily as a textbook/commentary to accompany study of the Bible. It's very readable, and I highly recommend it as an accompaniment for any first-time Bible reader.
April 1, 2012
A great companion reader for those who are interested in understanding the history of the bible from a non-religious point of view.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews