More Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion, & Morality/Book II (More Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion & Morality)

By Steve Allen

Book Overview

The popularity of Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion, and Moralityled the Dean of Intelligent Comedy to continue his skeptical examination of biblical claims. Among the topics discussed in this successor volume are abortion, alcoholism, angels, homosexuality, the Song of Solomon, Leviticus, Peter, and women's liberation.Although the Bible has been referred to, quoted from, and applied to broad social issues and private problems for centuries, Allen asserts that the degree of ignorance as to its contents is vast and deep. Noting that adults rarely read the Bible, Allen is convinced that millions who do read it are not able to understand certain passages at all.Throughout the book, Allen offers direct quotes from biblical scholars - Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish - in addition to generous references to the views of various scholarly specialists. His goal - to make people think about what the Bible really says - is achieved through clear and readable prose.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879757361
• ISBN13: 9780879757366
• Release Date: September 1992
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 463 Pages
• Weight: 1.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.9" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Helpful

This book helped me a lot. Steve Allen is not afraid to discuss the problems with the Bible. He especially made clear that Revelations (Apocalypse) is not really very clear. I never did understand Revelations, but I thought maybe I was missing something, since Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins had made such a big deal with their "Left Behind" series. Allen straightens all that out: basically, what he says, we really can't pay much attention to Revelations, because it really can't be understood, the author is really not known, and so forth.Allen's basic approach is that God, as an omnipotent, omniscient power, could not have had much to do with the Bible, because the Bible has so many contradictions, errors, descriptions of revenge instigated by God or Yahweh. Allen interprets the Bible literally in order to show how it really doesn't hold together. But I think, at least for me, Allen's whole book (I didn't read the first volume) tends to increase my faith in God, the omnipotent, omniscient One, that is. I'll have to look a little closer at our current version (one of many) of the Bible. Diximus.

A thoughtful and intellegent discourse on the Bible.

Steve Allen is the rarest of treasures-a comic genius and a deeply profound thinker. As Allen says in this book, and in its prequel, many of us have been guilty of reading the Bible for years without truly considering the impact of the moral values it expounds . Written in a "dictionary topical" style, most readers will not likely read it cover to cover in one sitting (though I did). Those who take the time to read its contents, however, will be unable to avoid rethinking and reconsidering their long-held assumptions concerning the teachings of scripture and its impact on Western culture's view of morality.