Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Does anyone read anymore?
The book that features at the top of my reading list is the Bible. But it seems that my interest in the book is not matched by others. Yesterday over at the Better Bibles Blog I contributed a guest blog, which you can read by clicking on the title above, and arose out of email sent to me from Sweden. From the article contained in that email it appears that only 40% of church-goers in Sweden actually bother to read the Bible at all. The other 60% don't even think about read it. I haven't read enough Swedish literature to know whether the Bible has as great an influence on authors in Sweden as the King James Version has had on writers in Britain and other English-speaking countries.
I'm no fan of the King James Version (as a translation) but knowledge of the accounts recorded in the biblical text is necessary to understand a huge pile of English literature. Many years ago I heard a lecturer at a British university say that he had to teach new students about the Fall before they could commence studying Milton's poetry. Seems that now those in the church need to be taught the contents of the Bible and how to use it.
I'm no fan of the King James Version (as a translation) but knowledge of the accounts recorded in the biblical text is necessary to understand a huge pile of English literature. Many years ago I heard a lecturer at a British university say that he had to teach new students about the Fall before they could commence studying Milton's poetry. Seems that now those in the church need to be taught the contents of the Bible and how to use it.
