I found the stories interesting, and the last chapter where he explains that the Bible has been written, rewritten, and edited to serve the political interests of the ruling class was a refreshing burst of honesty. However the majority of the rest of the book is a vague runaround the various theories that exist about those bible stories with no particular conclusions, other than the usual vague - "well, they must have a purpose, we just can't see it."

IMHO, The Bible (particularily the Old Testament, where the really "juicy" stories are ;) )is just a recorded history of the ancient tribes of Israel, which isn't always pretty since they were basically warlords. The stories don't need justification, they were never meant to be parables to base your life on (although people who LIKE the idea of sending their virgin daughters to a crowd of strangers to be raped, and having sex with their daughters to keep their bloodlines going might like to tell us they are), they are part of the history of a people. As histories go - its remarkably honest. But the customs of the ancient Middle East just really don't work too well in the modern western world. I'd like to think we are progressing in the direction of a world village. Well, we all have our fantasies.

Released on Tuesday, March 11, 2003 at Bookcrossing Meet up in Tulsa, Oklahoma USA.

enjoy! Nice meeting you.

I got this book last night (3/11/03) at Bookcrossing Meetup. I plan to release it as soon as I've read it.

Interesting and entertaining. I only read about half of it though before I tired of it. I'm passing it on to a friend at work.