Book Review: The Bible

[joeactor]

Hey all,

A curious thought... why can't I find a book review of the bible?

Ok, so there are plenty of them out there, but what I'm looking for is a review of the bible as if it was any other book.

Seems like I'm finding 3 types of articles:

*) supportive, ie. from a Christian perspective
*) critical, ie. from a "what's wrong with the bible" perspective
*) tolerant, ie. from a "we don't want to offend anyone" perspective

So, has anyone run across a plain old vanilla book review of the bible?

To clarify... in a perfect scenario, some English-speaking reviewer who has never heard of the bible, or been biased by the effects it has had on our planet, picks up the book, reads it, and reviews it... as if it was "War And Peace" or "Moby Dick" or any other popular piece of literature.

Inquiring mind,
JoeActor

[Squid]

That would be interesting and while it could have to do with the perceived status of the book it could also be (from a literary standpoint) it's age.  Just like I don't see too many reviews of Homer's work at least in the contemporary "book review" sense.  Also, wouldn't the bible be classified as an anthology - a collection of literary work?

[joeactor]

That would be interesting and while it could have to do with the perceived status of the book it could also be (from a literary standpoint) it's age.  Just like I don't see too many reviews of Homer's work at least in the contemporary "book review" sense.  Also, wouldn't the bible be classified as an anthology - a collection of literary work?

Hadn't considered the age of the book - interesting point.

As for the review itself, it might be easier to break it into chunks, like "The Gospels" or by individual book, or groupings...

[MikeyV]

I've never seen a review written by someone who has read it with no preconceived concepts. That would be interesting.

I think most reviews are going to fall into one of two camps, believers and non-believers. I find that most middle of the roaders rarely critique the book.

The closest I can find is the Internet Infidels discussion boards. There are many learned people on the site that critique the books in the context of the time period, comparing it to other works of the time.

[tacoma_kyle]

Its probably about as good a thepower of christ, of wait lol).

[tigerlily46514]

http://www.ebonmusings.org/atheism/atrocities.html

Above is sort of a review of the violence in it.  It is of my favorite articles on the bible ever.......it is by Adam Lee.  He is an awesome author.   i've had it a long time.  Just love it, if you have a moment-read it.  I guess it is true, the 'reviews'  fall into the believers and non-believers.  It is easy enuff to find reviews of some angle of the bible, but not ' as a book'......

these next two are about bible inconsistancies(pretty common topic)...
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Styx/2347/f3.html
http://www.ebonmusings.org/atheism/biblecontra.html
i can't find my favorite one on the inconsistancies..it was really funny.   I can't find my one on sexy bible shit either.  Hilarious!  Oh well!

This one reviews the bible's treatment of women.
http://www.positiveatheism.org/writ/dovewing.htm#WOMEN