You Got to Be Kidding: The Cultural Arsonist’s Literal Reading of The Bible
I think it should be “you’ve”…but, eh, who cares about grammar, right?
Title: You Got to Be Kidding: The Cultural Arsonist’s Literal Reading of The Bible
Author: Joe Wenke
Publisher/Year: Trans Uber, 2012
Pages: 202
Series?: Standalone
Genre: Adult non-fiction
Format: E-book
Source: ARC from NetGalley
The premise of this book is simple: Joe Wenke reads the entire Bible and write snarky summaries/commentary about each book as he goes. He offers up witticisms about everything from the story of Noah’s Ark to God’s apparent obsession with fruit. I can’t sum it up for you very well without sharing a few quotes:
“They say the Bible is perfect, but it appears that God needs an editor.”
“Fruit—it’s one of the weirdest motifs in the Old Testament.”
“God is crazy. If he thinks you’re messing around with other gods or doing anything he doesn’t like, he’ll kill you as soon as look at you—and not just you but your whole family and all of your livestock, too.”
Now, I’ve never read the entire Bible. I want to, but that’s going to have to wait until after grad school (seriously — it’s on my shortlist of life goals). This book definitely makes me want to read the whole thing, since I’m fairly certain I’ll agree with a lot of what Wenke’s trying to say here: that the Bible is a weird, inconsistent book that represents different people’s voices in different time periods, but that it probably isn’t the literal word of God. I don’t like to get into my religious beliefs too much, but I will say that I agree and believe that humanity would be better off reading the Bible as a general guide and historical text rather than an infallible reference book. I came to this conclusion after reading all of the Gospels during Lent one season, realizing there is no possible way all four stories of Jesus’s life could all be true. But I digress.
If you are interested in the Bible, there are probably better sources for reading on this topic. Bart Erhman’s Misquoting Jesus: The Story of Who Changed the Bible and Why and Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible and Why We Don’t Know About Them both provide good info on these topics, and AJ Jacob’s A Year of Living Biblically is a great source of humor on the topic. I think having already read those going into this book, I just wasn’t impressed. I know Wenke is not trying to be an academic, he’s writing comedy. And there were some GREAT one-liners! Overall, though, I wanted more. More info, more comedy, more depth, more…something.
FINAL GRADE: D I hate giving books a D. I really do. But in this case, I feel it is deserved. This book had the potential to be really good, but it felt like there was not enough time, editing, and creativity put into it to get it there. The idea of looking at the inconsistencies and weirdness in a satirical way is clever and cool. It just wasn’t followed through. As a reader, I was let down. I’m glad I didn’t pay money for this book. It did have its funny and interesting moments, so I would say borrow the book or get it on sale.
Assigned reading: If you are interested in weird Bible trivia, humor, or inconsistencies you might want to skim this book.
Library recommendations: I wouldn’t put it in a school library, but I think there would be a definite market for this book in a public library e-book collection — I think it might actually see high circulation, as opposed to sitting on the shelf unread.
Without getting too controversial, do you have a favorite piece of Bible trivia/weirdness that you find interesting and want to share?
Posted on January 26, 2013, in books, librarian, rants, religion and tagged 80 Books 2013, adult, bible, Grade: D. Bookmark the permalink. 7 Comments.
I’m Catholic, and we believe the Bible is the infallible word of God, but not necessarily in a literal interpretation of every book. For example the first chapters of Genesis are not a science text, teaching us how the world was formed (we can leave that to the scientists). Rather, they are a story that teach the infallible truth of Who formed the world. The gospels don’t line up exactly because that’s not the point, but the truths contained therein are infallible. But really I’m just commenting to say, I loved A.J. Jacob’s book, A Year of Living Biblically. I was hilarious, while remaining respectful. I’m not literal creationist or snake handler myself, but I wouldn’t find a book that makes fun of anyone’s faith entertaining.
It does sound like a good concept. Having read much of the Bible many times over, I imagine I could relate to the oddities. It is a shame the book didn’t follow through on it’s promise. On another note, thanks for telling us how you feel, not preaching at us. It’s nice to know where you stand, not feel like you expect me to stand there with you because it’s clearly the right thing to do.
I downloaded the bible to my phone to read it when I was bored. I went through multiple chapters of Genesis before I gave up after the bit where Lot and his two daughters escape the city as it crumbles, and Lot’s wife looks behind.
I gave up because right after the pillars of salt thing, the rest of the family is in a cave where Lot’s daughters decide that they must be responsible for the bloodline of their father by giving him male heirs so they get him hammered and frick him one after the other on two separate nights. Anyways, they have two sons through incest and I gave up.
I requested this book from Netgalley when I saw it in one of your “In the Mail” posts. I’m sorry to hear it was a disappointing read
Nice post.
I too am a questioner of the Bible. However contradictory, I tend to believe that there are general truths contained in it. With our human understanding we can only ponder the reasons why killing is sometimes called a “sacrifice” and other times called “murder”. Or why this mystical, superior, human male named Jesus was supposedly betrayed, tortured, and murdered and an entire religion is built around his legacy.
I love the Bible and like reading research, books, and articles that attempt to debunk, discredit, and invalidate its teachings. These readings help me to grasp a full circle understanding of the Christian religion.
I will be checking out the titles you’ve presented.
Reblogged this on i heart whales.
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