Asimov's Guide to the Bible

Last updated
Asimov's Guide to the Bible
Asimov's Guide to the Bible.jpg
First combined edition (publ. Wings)
Author Isaac Asimov

Asimov's Guide to the Bible is a work by Isaac Asimov that was first published in two volumes in 1968 and 1969, [1] covering the Old Testament and the New Testament (including the Catholic Old Testament, or deuterocanonical, books (see Catholic Bible) and the Eastern Orthodox Old Testament books, or anagignoskomena , along with the Fourth Book of Ezra), respectively. He combined them into a single 1296-page volume in 1981. [1] They included maps by the artist Rafael Palacios.

Contents

Including numerous black-and-white maps, the guide goes through the books of the Bible in the order of the King James Version to the extent possible, explaining the historical and geographical setting of each one, and the political and historical influences that affected it, as well as biographical information about the main characters. His appendix "Guides to the Old and New Testament" includes biblical verses, footnotes, references, and subject indices.

The book was written for the layperson, without the expectation that the reader would have much knowledge about ancient history. [1]

The Guide has been the subject of scholarly criticism. Professor Robert C. Dentan reminded readers that Asimov's book was not an academic work and he overlooked advances in contemporary biblical archeology. He stated it has "lengthy discussions of insoluble geographical problems...The result often seems to emphasize the trivial at the expense of the substantive," while also noting that "That is not to say the book is without value. There are those who will find it a useful, and fairly reliable, compendium of historical facts and curiosities." [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Asimov</span> American writer and biochemist (1920–1992)

Isaac Asimov was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books. He also wrote an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. Best known for his hard science fiction, Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as popular science and other non-fiction.

The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events relating to first-century Christianity. The New Testament's background, the first division of the Christian Bible, is called the Old Testament, which is based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible; together they are regarded as Sacred Scripture by Christians.

Biblical inerrancy is the belief that the Bible "is without error or fault in all its teaching"; or, at least, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Revised Standard Version</span> English translation of the Bible

The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is a translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Published in 1989 by the National Council of Churches, the NRSV was created by an ecumenical committee of scholars "comprising about thirty members". The NRSV relies on recently published critical editions of the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. A major revision, the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVue), was released in 2021.

More than 100 complete translations into English languages have been produced. Translations of Biblical books, especially passages read in the Liturgy can be traced back to the late 7th century, including translations into Old and Middle English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biblical criticism</span> Scholarly study of biblical writings

Modern Biblical criticism is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible without appealing to the supernatural. During the eighteenth century, when it began as historical-biblical criticism, it was based on two distinguishing characteristics: (1) the scientific concern to avoid dogma and bias by applying a neutral, non-sectarian, reason-based judgment to the study of the Bible, and (2) the belief that the reconstruction of the historical events behind the texts, as well as the history of how the texts themselves developed, would lead to a correct understanding of the Bible. This sets it apart from earlier, pre-critical methods; from the anti-critical methods of those who oppose criticism-based study; from the post-critical orientation of later scholarship; and from the multiple distinct schools of criticism into which it evolved in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raymond E. Brown</span> American priest and biblical scholar (1928-1998)

Raymond Edward Brown was an American Sulpician priest and prominent biblical scholar. He was a specialist on the hypothetical Johannine community, which he speculated contributed to the authorship of the Gospel of John, and he also wrote studies on the birth and death of Jesus.

Calneh (כַלְנֵה) was a city founded by Nimrod, mentioned three times in the Hebrew Bible, , &. The verse in Genesis reads:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chapters and verses of the Bible</span>

Chapter and verse divisions did not appear in the original texts of Jewish or Christian bibles; such divisions form part of the paratext of the Bible. Since the early 13th century, most copies and editions of the Bible have presented all but the shortest of the scriptural books with divisions into chapters, generally a page or so in length. Since the mid-16th century, editors have further subdivided each chapter into verses – each consisting of a few short lines or of one or more sentences. Sometimes a sentence spans more than one verse, as in the case of Ephesians 2:8–9, and sometimes there is more than one sentence in a single verse, as in the case of Genesis 1:2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce M. Metzger</span> American biblical scholar (1914–2007)

Bruce Manning Metzger was an American biblical scholar, Bible translator and textual critic who was a longtime professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and Bible editor who served on the board of the American Bible Society and United Bible Societies. He was a scholar of Greek, New Testament, and New Testament textual criticism, and wrote prolifically on these subjects. Metzger was an influential New Testament scholar of the 20th century. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moffatt, New Translation</span> 1922 translation of the Bible

Moffatt, New Translation (MNT) is an abbreviation of the title The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments, a New Translation by James Moffatt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Bible</span> Catholic Church canon of Bible books

The term Catholic Bible can be understood in two ways. More generally, it can refer to a Christian Bible that includes the whole 73-book canon recognized by the Catholic Church, including some of the deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament which are in the Greek Septuagint collection, but which are not present in the Hebrew Masoretic Text collection. More specifically, the term can refer to a version or translation of the Bible which is published with the Catholic Church's approval, in accordance with Catholic canon law. The current official version of the Catholic Church is the Nova Vulgata.

Biblical archaeology, occasionally known as Palestinology, is the school of archaeology which concerns itself with the biblical world. In the academic setting it serves as an adjunct to biblical studies, providing the historical, cultural, and linguistic context to scripture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luther's canon</span>

Luther's canon is the biblical canon attributed to Martin Luther, which has influenced Protestants since the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. While the Lutheran Confessions specifically did not define a biblical canon, it is widely regarded as the canon of the Lutheran Church. It differs from the 1546 Roman Catholic canon of the Council of Trent in that it rejects the deuterocanonical books and questions the seven New Testament books, called "Luther's Antilegomena", four of which are still ordered last in German-language Luther Bibles to this day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pharaohs in the Bible</span> Pharaohs mentioned in the Bible

The Bible makes reference to various pharaohs of Egypt. These include unnamed pharaohs in events described in the Torah, as well as several later named pharaohs, some of whom were historical or can be identified with historical pharaohs.

A biblical canon is a set of texts which a particular Jewish or Christian religious community regards as part of the Bible.

John Lawrence McKenzie (1910–1991) was an American Catholic biblical scholar.

<i>Jerome Biblical Commentary</i> 1968 book

The Jerome Biblical Commentary is a series of books of Biblical scholarship, whose first edition was published in 1968. It is arguably the most-used volume of Catholic scriptural commentary in the United States.

Barry J. Beitzel is an Old Testament scholar, geographer, cartographer, and translator of the Bible. He currently resides in Mundelein, Illinois.

The historical books are a division of Christian Bibles, grouping 12 books of the Old Testament. It includes the Former Prophets from the Nevi'im and two of the ungrouped books of Ketuvim of the Hebrew Bible together with the Book of Ruth and the Book of Esther which in the Hebrew are both found in the Five Megillot. These 12 books make up the historical books in the Protestant Bible, but several other books not found in the Hebrew Bible are also included in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Jones, Josh (2019-03-28). "Isaac Asimov's Guide to the Bible: A Witty, Erudite Atheist's Guide to the World's Most Famous Book". Open Culture. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  2. Robert C. Dentan (November 17, 1968). "Including Uz and Buz". The New York Times. Retrieved January 1, 2022.

Publication data