DH
few books elicit so much interest (for and against) or generate as much debate and discussion; few are referred to as often in other books by other authors; few command such a presence in the literary shelves of libraries in universities across the planet; few provide the venue for such profoundly opposed and diverse positions, revolutionaries and reactionaries, moderates and reformers, who each claim this text as their guide and source; few have shaped the language, culture, legal system, music, art, architecture, kinship structures and morals of so many people across the planet. There is nothing normal about this book: it is extraordinary in all of these ways.
As a person who has read the bible but was never indoctrinated into any religion I have to say that the bible does not hold true of the above claims for me. I suspect that early indoctrination of Christians and overwhelming church influence in the western world has something to do with its popularity.
If Christianity had not been forced onto the general populace by Constantine... and the church not been given overwhelming power to enforce its doctrine in the early years of Christianity I think it would probably only be a side note in history today... much like Mithra, which is where Christianity gets much of its substance.
I think that what you describe as the bible's attributes above are really more of an effect of the bible as a symbol of Christianity and does not have any thing to do with the bible's merits as a work of literature, which are described (from every secular source) as lacking when compared to other works of that time period.
After all, the majority of Christians never actually read their bible all the way through, this is hardly glowing support for the bible as an unrivaled work of literature.
You also mention the bible's ability to inspire in the areas of language, legal systems, art and culture... this is an unsubstantiated claim.
In the legal arena the Christian church destroyed the cumulated works of Rome's legal system which included a judge, a prosecutor, a jury, a plaintiff, a defendant, witnesses and a defense attorney. The Christian church destroyed all of this and nearly 1,000 years of legal president and replaced it with church law.
However it is true that most of the people who helped shape the language, music and art of our culture were religious... but there was really no one else to do the job.
It is also true to say that the vast majority of chicken pluckers throughout history were religious, but I suspect that those chicken pluckers (and artisans) would have been just as inspired without their religion.
Furthermore the bulk of modern churches do not even really teach what the bible actually says anymore, because it is less and less relevant and sometimes even illegal. Nowadays many of the messages are reinterpreted so they conform to modern ethics.
The most literal interpretations have been discarded and replaced with more modern and ethical interpretations even though these new explanations are often ideas that were alien to the ancient societies who wrote the original biblical stories.
At any rate the bible is not extraordinary in and of itself... Bad story telling... immoral narratives... inconsistent characters... badly copied plot lines... it is rife with the worst elements of inscription and is not very original, this was true even in the time it was written and compiled.
It is the status that it has been given by the Christian masses and the religion's charismatic leaders that makes it seem so special.
Later
