FAQ’s 2. What’s the principal message? What will readers get from your book? Why should anyone buy your book? 3. Why did you write this book? 4. Where did you get the idea for the book? 5. What qualifies you to author such a book? 7. Are there discounts available?
If you believe that somehow God telepathically “faxed” the words of the Bible to people who wrote them down, then I doubt you will like this book. It didn’t happen that way. The book explains how a collection of scrolls, laws, songs, poems, narratives, and letters got put together, declared sacred, and called the Holy Bible. A lot of human politics, foibles, and fable were involved in this process – primarily in the area of the “religious” contesting with the “spiritual.” From the time of the first real biblical author (c. 1000 BCE) until the 66 books of the Christian Bible were finalized (393 CE), a span of almost 1,500 years had elapsed. That’s a long time. It’s from the late Bronze Age until the start of the decline of the Roman Empire and the embryonic beginnings of the Middle Ages. The message of the book is sorely needed right now – a call for honest spirituality rather than guilt-laced, fear-based religiosity. In short, that’s what the book is really all about – telling the story of how the religious and the spiritual have been at odds throughout the history of the Bible as well as in the selection of materials to include/exclude in the Bible. The more people become aware of this story the more it will help offer an alternative to the similar polarization we currently see in our society. We're in a time of the conflicting political agendas of fundamental Islamist extremists, conservative Jewish nationalists, and our own Christian fundamentalists. Each of these groups believe their "scriptures" literally. They don't mix very well. In addition to biblical literalism, here at home, we are also faced with politicians that pander to this. My readers have told me How the Bible became the Bible has been very helpful to them. There’s just a lot of confusion out there about the Bible and it irks me to see it misused and misquoted – especially when those misusing it often are doing so to further their own political agenda and are making the same mistakes, I believe, as the Old Testament priests and the early church Fathers. 2. What’s the principal message? What will readers get from your book? Why should anyone buy your book? I make the case that our human nature has always had a strong desire for simplistic, black-and-white, religious beliefs – a desire to know that one’s right. This kind of belief quells doubt and, as such, is fear-based. This inclination for simplistic religious beliefs had its beginnings in the Old Testament, led to abuses in Israel’s Temple-State system, and influenced the documents that were eventually included and excluded from the New Testament. I believe these same fear-based beliefs dominate today’s fundamental and evangelical churches, leading them to misuse the Bible as they attempt to shape our society through political initiatives such as anti-choice, anti-gay, pro Intelligent Design, and others. Reading this book, you will understand how and why this occurred. You will also understand the original message of the prophets and of Jesus. 3. Why did you write this book? There are really two answers to this question. First, my sister is one of the sweetest people you could ever know. She’s an evangelical Christian, interprets the Bible pretty literally, uses the Bible to authenticate itself, and admits she doesn’t know very much about how the Bible became the Bible. Shortly before I stopped drinking, she and I were talking about spiritual realities. During our conversation she looked at me with a serious expression on her face and told me of a vision she had experienced on several occasions. According to my sister, in that vision I would become a modern-day Jonah. What a jolt to my system! She didn’t explain any more than that and I was too stunned to ask any specific questions. This conversation with my sister was a long time ago, but I’ve never forgotten it. Because of this, the initial working title of this book was "A Visit With Jonah." The Book of Jonah is about a reluctant prophet, Jonah. God wants him to preach repentance and salvation to the citizens of a large city named Nineveh. But Jonah doesn’t want to do it. He doesn’t like Nineveh and doesn’t want the population saved. He runs away and wherever he goes, bad things happen to him. Finally, while on board a ship, the sailors throw him overboard to get rid of him and his bad “karma,” which they believe has caused all sorts of storms, high waves, and rough weather. Of course, we all remember how a large fish swallowed Jonah. After a while the fish threw him up, Jonah swam ashore, and agreed to preach to the city of Nineveh, urging them to repent. They did and were saved from destruction by God. Jonah was angry that God saved them. The story of Jonah is part of the writings in the Old Testament referred to as Wisdom Literature. It was written as a severe criticism of the existing Jewish priestly class, the religious leaders of the day, for wanting to turn Judaism into a “gated community” of God’s people. No one could be a part of that community except good, strict Jews. Jonah’s criticism – his message –was that God loved all people, not just the Jews. Secondly, there are many fundamentalist or Evangelical Christian congregations who have this same sense of “gated community-ness” about them. The only way to be “saved” is to believe just like they do which, in turn, means to interpret the Bible just like they do. Many of these fundamental Christians believe that God magically dictated the words of the Bible to mankind. They are not shy about saying so. Although they constitute only about 30% of our population, they sound much louder than they really are – in part because all of us who do not believe the way they do remain silent. Because they sound so loud, the politicians and marketers listen to them. I’ve noticed that when someone in the room begins to quote or “spout” biblical messages, everyone else gets quiet. Sometimes the outburst embarrasses us. Sometimes it scares us a little. Other times we’re afraid to say something, lest we reveal our biblical ignorance. Mostly we don’t say anything because it’s been ingrained in us that religion is a private thing, not something to be discussed in public. We remember the sage advice to avoid discussing politics and religion. Whatever the reason, for the last twenty years, while those of us who don’t normally go around spouting Bible quotes have been quiet, Protestant fundamentalist denominations have seen enormous increases in attendance. So has the very literal Opus Dei organization of the Roman Catholic Church. These groups have spawned an assortment of conservative religious groups that have become more and more active in our communities and nation. The longer we stay quiet, the louder their voices seem. Because most of us don’t trust our knowledge of the Bible, we’ve stayed quiet and let the biblical fundamentalists get away with it. But they are misusing the Bible to exclude others, to build fortresses against “evil” (as they perceive it), to develop a national moral consensus as they see it, and to condemn or attack any who disagree with them. Their misguided use feeds their confidence in the rightness of their interpretation of Scripture because they use other Bible texts to authenticate that very same text. “If it’s in the Bible, then it’s absolutely true.” This literal misuse of the Bible supports their fundamental views on society and together those forces have become loud and repetitive: anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-Middle Eastern, anti-alternative lifestyles, anti-non-evangelical religion, anti-sex, and anti-stem cell research. And politicians are pandering to that! Their behavior contributes a lot to the sense of divisiveness or polarization we feel all around us. On matters of belief, we are seeing more books, radio or TV talk shows, letters to newspapers or magazine articles that seem to be saying, regardless of the topic, “I’m right!” or “It’s my way or the highway!” Every issue is a very big deal. Every issue is cast in terms of black or white, right or wrong, good or bad. The Bible is either wholly accurate in every way or it isn’t. There seems to be no middle. That’s an indication people are misreading the Bible. That’s an indication that people have begun to idolize the Bible—and people traditionally fight to protect that which they worship and adore. This kind of polarizing divisiveness has never been healthy and right now, with radical, militant Islamists, Palestinian-hating Jewish extremists, and Christian fundamentalists all running around proclaiming they’re right—well, it’s simply going down the wrong path. I hope this book helps – and helps you – when confronted by this situation. 4. Where did you get the idea for the book? To be honest, I was getting frightened. We have radical Islamists running around wanting to blow themselves up and hoping they'll get to heaven and find their 70 virgins. We have very conservative Jewish nationalists believing that all of Palestine is theirs and will kill any and all Palestinians to get it – and who'll kill an Israeli governmental official if they are trying to make peace. And we have American fundamentalist evangelicals hoping the war in the Middle East escalates so the Third World War will begin, the earth will be destroyed, and the rapture will carry them all to the Christian heaven. What is most scary to me is that ALL of these groups claim the absolute authority of their scriptures and ALL believe their God is a just and loving God, and ALL have politicians pandering to them. It's a scary scenario. I wanted a book out there that told the real story of the Bible that painted a reasonably accurate view of how the whole thing came about. There's no book out there like mine – one that deals with the whole Bible (Old and New Testaments) for the non-scholar. I hope I don't offend anyone, because that's not my goal. However, if you believe that somehow God spiritually "faxed" the words of the Bible to humankind – well, it simply did not happen that way. It's important right now for people to be clear as to what the Bible really is – and isn't. I've conducted many presentations on the book. My audiences are interested in what the Bible really is – not literally, metaphorically, or metaphysically – but historically. These audiences are confused by current literature and talk-show hosts that promote biblical literalism, and they are disgusted by the politicians that pander to that. Yet they still have a little doubt, because they aren't well versed in the Bible. The book has helped them. 5. What qualifies you to author such a book? I am a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ – a graduate-level program (similar to Law School) that leads to a Master of Divinity. Prior to seminary, I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (with High Honors) in History from North Texas State University in Denton, TX. As an ordained United Presbyterian minister, I served as a street-gang minister in Trenton, NJ and had two pastorates in Oklahoma and was the Chaplain at a local hospital. I continued to serve smaller congregations after I joined the private sector in business. Semi-retired, I reside in Florida where I continue my proposal consulting business. Additionally, I am an active member in a New Thought congregation. The book sells for $19.95 plus applicable tax and shipping. Ordering information is available on my website – www.DonODell.com The book is published by Infinity Publishing. You can order it from them as well: Over the phone at 1.877.BUY.BOOK (1-877-289-2665); at their website www.buybooksontheweb.com; or http://www.bbotw.com/description.asp?ISBN=0-7414-2993-4 7. Are there discounts available? Yes. If you are ordering for your book store, local book-readers club, or a Church School study group, for example, I believe Infinity waives the shipping and handling for orders of 20+ books. Check with Infinity, however, to be sure. |