The Book of the People: How to Read the Bible - Softcover

Wilson, A N

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062433474 ISBN 13: 9780062433473

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2017

Synopsis

From renowned historian, biographer and novelist, A.N. Wilson, a deep personal, literary, and historical exploration of the Bible.

In The Book of the People, A. N. Wilson explores how readers and thinkers have approached the Bible, and how it might be read today. Charting his own relationship with the Bible over a lifetime of writing, Wilson argues that it remains relevant even in a largely secular society, as a philosophical work, a work of literature, and a cultural touchstone that the western world has answered to for nearly two thousand years: Martin Luther King was "reading the Bible" when he started the Civil Rights movement, and when Michelangelo painted the fresco cycles in the Sistine Chapel, he was "reading the Bible." Wilson challenges the way fundamentalists--whether believers or non-believers--have misused the Bible, either by neglecting and failing to recognize its cultural significance, or by using it as a weapon against those with whom they disagree.

Erudite, witty and accessible, The Book of the People seeks to reclaim the Good Book as our seminal work of literature, and a book for the imagination.

About this title

Review:

Believe it or not, this is a work of genius * The Times * [Wilson's] voyage is a personal one, and it's well worth following because, apart from anything else, he has studied his subject with dedication and scholarship. * The Oldie * The Book of the People is a wide-ranging and richly stimulating enquiry into what the Bible is, what it means, how it works, and how hopelessly wrong the plodding fundamentalists of both atheist and religious persuasions are about it. * Sunday Times * Wilson's delightful and unexpectedly moving book is characterised by intellectual humility * New Statesman * Richly stimulating * The Sunday Times * It's rare to want a book to be longer....thought-provoking and never less than entertaining * Sunday Telegraph * An elegant and insightful book * The Independent * [A] fascinating and superbly researched biography * Mail on Sunday * An accessible guide to reading the Bible ... [A.N. Wilson] says difficult and challenging things in a light and easy way, and makes the reader feel that the Bible will be a delight rather than a burden to read. * Times Literary Supplement *

Book Description:

From one of our leading social and cultural historians comes a dazzling and original exploration of how, and why, we should still be reading the Bible, even if we no longer believe.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0062433474
• ISBN 13: 9780062433473
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224