Asimov's Guide to the Bible: Two Volumes in One, the Old and New Testaments

Isaac Asimov's "Guide to the Bible" is one of the best works to get a grasp of the large and complicated book, the Bible. Asimov is out to put the Bible in concrete historical terms and explain what was happening sans mysticism or superstition. Asimov takes many liberties in trying to explain occurrences giving them rational or scientific validation and these as he usually will admit should be just taken as possibilities. Asimov does put events into an historical context, which he does well. Nothing, as Asimov said, is really new his writing and most of it has been said before but the conciseness of it was worth while. Asimov paints Jesus as a spin master in Mathew rather than take him at his word, which as things went along does have a prophetic quality, although Asimov doesn't pursue this. Also Asimov doesn't discount the reality that a few people were profoundly moved by the reserection, or what they believed to be one. He seems to hold up Mark as the most historically accurate Gospel Luke and Mathew each had a spin to put on and John is totally political with little if any historical accuracy in his, Asimov's, view. Revelations is about things that have happened on the ground recently, with the strong possibility that it is talking about the Christian persecution by Nero and other things in the recent past or predictions about the near future and 666 is Greek alphabetical code meaning Nero.There is probably a better historical interpretation of the Bible, but I don't know what that would be, it would seem there should be. This was pretty good, but again Asimov does do a lot of guessing and scientific explaininations as well as good historical research - the two need to be taken seperately. For instance Asimov speculates that St Paul went blind due to an epileptic siezure and then, at least partially, rejects that idea by saying that a man who did as much traveling as Paul must be in the finest shape - he just grasps at straws. Some of Asimov's ideas were far off track, and yet some obvious points that support Jesus as Messiah were not pursued at all.Asimov refers to the fact that the founders of Christianity really thought of them selves as Jews, Christians are Jews it is a question of semantics (Pagans would see little difference); so the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Judaism which I think to Paul would be a prophetic if not a miraculous conclusion. He leaves his book saying that some dramatic conclusion was expectant yet didn't happen and seems to mock believers for this, yet 350 years after Caligula tried to build a statue of himself as god in the Temple of Jerusalem a Roman Emporer converts to Judaism.

Understand first, unlike Asimov, I am a true believer. As such I feel it is incumbent to gain a true understanding of just exactly what it is God wants of us and for us.This means that as I read any given passage of the Holy Bible that I not get myself caught into the trap of so many other believers - in other words,, I will not say to others that such and such is true simply because, "...it says so in the Bible."I am frequently annoyed that so many Christians don't understand Jesus's purpose. He wanted us to understand and live to the intent of God's Commandments and not to simply follow the letter of the word with ceremonies in precisely this way or that.I found Asimov's treatise to give me a terrific understanding and especially appreciate his explanation of the meaning of names for various people and places.Asimov makes a very good point to many of us who falsely believed the first Jews were slaves building the pyramids in Egypt. He does so without malice but with a matter-of-fact discussion of the fact that the structures were not once mentioned in the Bible.He also enlightens us as to precisely where in Egypt Moses and his followers lived and, perhaps most crucially, explains the simultaneous transfer of the first Philistines to roughly the same region as Moses's followers and the fact that at that time neither group seems to have been antagonistic towards one another.Only later, as each group grew in population and as the various outside intruders dissipated (Hyksos, Hittites, Egyptians) did the two come to despise each other.Asimov also especially provides a good insight into several New Testament stories that seem to have been rehashed Old Testament stories.It is natural for many to disagree with me. I respect those of you who do. My point is that my belief and faith depends not on miracles or the words of the Bible. It depends on my belief in the goodness of mankind. It depends on my belief in forgiveness of sins that came when He sacrificed Himself on the cross. It depends on all of us seeking His truth so we can do His will. THAT depends on us searching all avenues to find TRUTH. Asimov has done a terrific job!He remains my favorite writer. I only have some 410 books of his yet to read!

I was amazed by the incredible erudition necessary to write this book. Asimov gives us a historical tour of biblical times, taking each book of the bible one at time, for which the book is absolutely incredible and accessible (it would be priceless in my opinion for the chapters on the books of Kings alone). His objectives weren't to analyze the spiritual and humanistic aspects of the bible, only to narrate and contextualize the environment in which the biblical stories take place.The maps, especially from the Old Testament segment, are very interesting; but together with the coherent and continuous narrative this is an incredible way to dive into a historical context unfamiliar to most.Since Asimov's ambition is to narrate historical events, he at times must point out discrepancies between known historical chronology and the order in which biblical events take place. His take on the synoptic gospels is to comment on a possible historical Jesus, the reasonableness of the described census that takes Mary and John to make their travel, the historical Herod, and many interesting facts. Don't go in expecting any spiritual analysis; he is going for the historical realities and a possible non-miraculous "historical Jesus". This is the basic proposal of the book; it is a valuable, informative and fun read regardless of the religious convictions of the reader, but you should go in expecting a Historical Guide to the Bible.

What a genious

This is a must-read for anyone who has an interest in the Bible and especially those who follow its teachings. An intelligent, objective, detailed analysis of the entire Bible that stands tall due to its cogency and reasoning.The inheritance of pagan myths into Christianity via fables like Samson and Delila are revealed. The jaw-dropping murder by Jephthah of his own daughter in a needless act of sacrifice to God for winning a battle. The murder of boys by she-bears allegedly instigated by God just because they laughed at Elisha for being bald. Assassinations, murder, rape, plunder, genocide, invasion, all in the name of God.If people behaved like his in modern times they'd be committed to mental institutions. All the more bewildering that so many people refer to the Bible as the "good book" and live their lives by it evidently because they haven't actually read it nor Asimov's excellent analysis of it.

For history/religion buffs a MUST

Big but a delight to read. The information is comprehensive and fascinating, but presented in a highly readable, non-academic way. A fabulous book.

This was a gift to someone, they absolutely loved it