Brown
15th November 2007, 11:56 AM
Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion and Morality
Prometheus Books, 1990
428 pages
More Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion and Morality
Prometheus Books, 1993
452 pages
Steve Allen was a musician, comedian and a television pioneer, perhaps best known as an inventor of the talk show. He was also an author.
As he toured the country, he stayed in hundreds of hotel rooms. In nearly every hotel room was a Gideon Bible, and Allen took to reading the Bible in detail, and keeping track of what he read.
Although he was raised a Catholic and although he grew up believing that the Bible was the Word of God, Allen found himself greatly shaken by many of the passages in the text. He made note of the troubling passages, then consulted a number of other sources and commentators to determine whether these passages really were as troubling to others as they seemed to him.
He discovered that many of these passages are very troubling indeed.
In his study, he learned, more than anything, the extent of his own ignorance about the Bible. He had always revered it, thought it wise and full of "sweetness and light," and without any harmfulness or contradiction.
After actually reading the Bible, he changed his mind.
Religion, he concluded, created a sort of mental blindness. One is taught not to question things in one's own religion. Allen decided to change that. He decided to question everything in the Bible, and only hold fast to that which was good.
He wrote essays about various topics, including matters of ethics and biblical stories, and collected his essays in two volumes: Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion and Morality and More Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion and Morality.
The essays are arranged by alphabetically by subject matter. Sometimes the subject matter is a moral topic (such as "Abortion"), sometimes a general biblical topic (such as "New Testament"), sometimes a biblical character (such as "Samson"), sometimes a particular book of the Bible, and sometimes something else.
Although the essays are generally cross-referenced, there is no index in either volume.
The essays are often well-thought out, and each essay usually stands on its own without reference to the others.
The reader can easily be struck by discussion of material from the Bible that seems surprising or shocking. Many church-goers are probably unaware that such passages are the Book. After all, they are often not the subjects of Sunday sermons.
In addition to discussing some of the lesser-known passages, Allen also examines some of the well-known passages, and inquires into whether they make good historical, ethical or literary sense.
There's considerable insight in the essays, although some seem to be overly simplistic. At times, Allen seems to draw more sweeping conclusions than would be supported by the text or the other evidence. Also, Allen's analysis is sometimes hypocritical: he criticizes other commentators for arguing what an author of a disputed text may have been thinking, yet Allen himself engages in the same practice.
Although not as hard-hitting as Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=92193), Allen has drawn considerable fire much in the way Paine did. Indeed, Allen's original plan was to have his work published after his death, but he felt compelled to publish his first volume to combat the rise of a dangerous movement to base government upon Christianity, particularly fundamentalist Christianity. He published his second volume after receiving feedback from his first volume.
Allen makes a few light remarks, but there is not much humor in the volumes. Occasionally Allen ventures into the absurd (invoking the ridiculous rants of the Zaruba tribe or arguing that God is a hockey puck), but he does so with a serious point. If we can see the absurdity in these other contexts, why can we not see similar absurdity in the Bible?
Allen considered himself a Christian, although he was well-aware that others would not deem him to be one. He was excommunicated from the Catholic Church after marrying his second wife (a happy marriage that lasted 46 years and ended with Allen's death in 1990), but he attended Protestant services thereafter. His essays reflect the attitude of a man who felt that faith ought not to be blind, but that if any religious belief is worth having, it is worth examining and criticizing.
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Prometheus Books, 1990
428 pages
More Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion and Morality
Prometheus Books, 1993
452 pages
Steve Allen was a musician, comedian and a television pioneer, perhaps best known as an inventor of the talk show. He was also an author.
As he toured the country, he stayed in hundreds of hotel rooms. In nearly every hotel room was a Gideon Bible, and Allen took to reading the Bible in detail, and keeping track of what he read.
Although he was raised a Catholic and although he grew up believing that the Bible was the Word of God, Allen found himself greatly shaken by many of the passages in the text. He made note of the troubling passages, then consulted a number of other sources and commentators to determine whether these passages really were as troubling to others as they seemed to him.
He discovered that many of these passages are very troubling indeed.
In his study, he learned, more than anything, the extent of his own ignorance about the Bible. He had always revered it, thought it wise and full of "sweetness and light," and without any harmfulness or contradiction.
After actually reading the Bible, he changed his mind.
Religion, he concluded, created a sort of mental blindness. One is taught not to question things in one's own religion. Allen decided to change that. He decided to question everything in the Bible, and only hold fast to that which was good.
He wrote essays about various topics, including matters of ethics and biblical stories, and collected his essays in two volumes: Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion and Morality and More Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion and Morality.
The essays are arranged by alphabetically by subject matter. Sometimes the subject matter is a moral topic (such as "Abortion"), sometimes a general biblical topic (such as "New Testament"), sometimes a biblical character (such as "Samson"), sometimes a particular book of the Bible, and sometimes something else.
Although the essays are generally cross-referenced, there is no index in either volume.
The essays are often well-thought out, and each essay usually stands on its own without reference to the others.
The reader can easily be struck by discussion of material from the Bible that seems surprising or shocking. Many church-goers are probably unaware that such passages are the Book. After all, they are often not the subjects of Sunday sermons.
In addition to discussing some of the lesser-known passages, Allen also examines some of the well-known passages, and inquires into whether they make good historical, ethical or literary sense.
There's considerable insight in the essays, although some seem to be overly simplistic. At times, Allen seems to draw more sweeping conclusions than would be supported by the text or the other evidence. Also, Allen's analysis is sometimes hypocritical: he criticizes other commentators for arguing what an author of a disputed text may have been thinking, yet Allen himself engages in the same practice.
Although not as hard-hitting as Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=92193), Allen has drawn considerable fire much in the way Paine did. Indeed, Allen's original plan was to have his work published after his death, but he felt compelled to publish his first volume to combat the rise of a dangerous movement to base government upon Christianity, particularly fundamentalist Christianity. He published his second volume after receiving feedback from his first volume.
Allen makes a few light remarks, but there is not much humor in the volumes. Occasionally Allen ventures into the absurd (invoking the ridiculous rants of the Zaruba tribe or arguing that God is a hockey puck), but he does so with a serious point. If we can see the absurdity in these other contexts, why can we not see similar absurdity in the Bible?
Allen considered himself a Christian, although he was well-aware that others would not deem him to be one. He was excommunicated from the Catholic Church after marrying his second wife (a happy marriage that lasted 46 years and ended with Allen's death in 1990), but he attended Protestant services thereafter. His essays reflect the attitude of a man who felt that faith ought not to be blind, but that if any religious belief is worth having, it is worth examining and criticizing.
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