Of the making of books there is no end.
—Ecclesiastes
* * *
Many of you will be at my book launch this afternoon. Most won’t. Many of you live a long way from Shepherdstown—Florida, Texas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, New York, and two in England, to name a few distant places.
Many of you I know only by name. I hope I get to meet some of you this afternoon or at the second book signing.
My book is about “the Good Book.” The Bible is, indeed, a good book. But it is not THE Good Book. There are many good books. The Bible is one. And, as it turns out, it is not as good as some claim, nor is it as bad as some think.
It’s a bony fish.
There are many great books. I’ve read a few. Mine is not one of those. But it is, I think, a decent book. Years ago I learned an important lesson from a venerable mentor. Don’t aim for greatness. Aim for decency. Greatness will take care of itself.
Still, if you think my book is GREAT, I won’t hold that against you.
Several times during this five-year project, I nearly quit. Does the world really need ANOTHER BOOK about the Bible? Many of my friends consider it an irrelevant or annoying subject. They’ve heard enough from hate-mongering Bible-thumpers to repulse them.
I get that. And it made me hesitate. But then some of you said, FINISH THE DAMN BOOK.
So I did.
And I’m glad I did. And I hope you are, too.
Here’s an excerpt from The Bible Reexamined.
* * *
Read the Bible. It will scare the hell out of you. (Bumper sticker)
Indeed!
The Bible has scared many. It contains bloodbaths, beheadings, assassinations, incest, rape, torture, and monsters seeking human prey. All of which, of course, you can see in Game of Thrones.
If you like Game of Thrones, you’ll love the Bible.
Okay, that may be a stretch. Millions watch Games of Thrones as sheer entertainment. Billions read the Bible as THE WORD OF GOD.
And that’s scary.
In this book I aim to dethrone the Bible as THE WORD GOD. I see no reason to make more of it than it is.
Under my breath for a very long time I’ve been muttering: “I wish I could quit you, but I can’t.”
So, you might say, this is a love story.
