Published (Edited) Review: New Age Retailer, Gift 2007 Issue, 08/2007
Donald L. O’Dell
$19.95 QP, 9780741429933,
305 pages, 5.5" x 8.25", Infinity Publishing,
877/289-2665, www.buybooksontheweb.com,
or the author's website: www.DonODell.com.
"Donald
O’Dell has woven an interesting tapestry of research, scholarship, and
personal experience into this examination of the authenticity of
biblical entries. While the references O’Dell uses are reliable and
thorough, the beauty of this book is its readability. Many exploratory
books that lean heavily on academic biblical research can be so dense it
takes a person wholly devoted to the subject—or making their salary
from it—to decipher the author’s writing style.
Divided
into two parts, one for the Old and one for the New Testament, there
are cumulatively 12 chapters, two pages of bibliography, and three pages
each of index and footnotes. O’Dell provides a historical context for
the chapters and verses along with some strong doses of common sense
about what social and political factors may have contributed to the
characters, personalities, and their role in recording these powerfully
consequential stories that have shaped Western, if not world, history.
This
examination is really an open-minded exploration of whether morality is
inextricably tied to biblical tenets that came directly from the font
of God. As we gradually learn, issues of morality were well illuminated
for many hundreds of years before such principles landed in either
Testament. What we do come to understand is that many of the exquisitely
complex moral questions of the right and wrong of human action have
been seductively intertwined into the Bible so as to create a seemingly
authoritative, absolute, and final comment on what ought to and should
be."
Thomas Peter von Bahr, Pacific NorthWest Group,
Lopez Island, Wash.
Text of the Complete Review
Donald
O’Dell has woven an interesting tapestry of research, scholarship, and
personal experience into this examination of the authenticity of
biblical entries. While there are people that have developed beliefs
that every word is the literal utterance of God (or Jesus as God), no
one who understands centuries of transcription of text under conditions
not often very favorable to the scribes will object to the common sense
employed by the author in putting together this work.
While
the references O’Dell uses are reliable and thorough, the beauty of
this book is its readability. Many exploratory books that lean heavily
on academic biblical research can be so dense it takes a person wholly
devoted to the subject—or making their salary from it—to decipher the
author’s writing style. This is almost akin to a book within a book.
"How the Bible became the Bible" is more a handbook and a guide than an
attempt at adding to the compendium of collected biblical scholarship.
And a glance at the Table of Contents makes this very clear, indeed.
Divided into two parts, one for the Old and one for the New Testament,
there are cumulatively 12 chapters, two pages of bibliography, and three
pages each of index and footnotes. What O'Dell is trying to do is to
provide an historical context for the chapters and verses along with
some strong doses of common sense about what social and political
factors may have contributed to the characters, personalities, and their
role in recording these powerfully consequential stories that have
shaped Western, if not World history.
This
highly readable book takes a conversational tone when, for instance, in
Chapter 6 (The Time of Jesus), the author gently transitions us from
the Old to the New Testament. The tenor focuses on the impact of Roman
rule and the reactions to it and in the populace. Instead of dogmatic
repetition of the chapter and verse based solely on moral directives
from "above," we have "…the Romans did bring law and order…to Judea and
Palestine…and roads were safer." This provides a context for
understanding the times and conditions into which Jesus Christ was born
and lived (assuming both). O'Dell goes on to provide yet more insight:
"Homosexuality had been feared by the Israelites – not so much because
it was a sin against God, but because it was a threat to their idea of
eternal life through the ancestry of their loins." Likewise, divorce,
the Roman Law, was frowned on because it could affect continuity (p.
107-8). The politics of sexual and marital and familial push-pull; how
contemporary! Some things do not change…except that in 2007 we are stuck
with irreconcilable head-butting without many on either side of these
and other moral issues understanding the origins of the practices being
contested. Often, out of ignorance, claims are made that "the word of
God is that such-and-such behavior is forbidden" when in fact it was the
pragmatic need to promote and continue the nuclear family structure.
This work is full of such powerful clarifications.
One
of the author's most important chapters is Twelve. The author makes
five points, which really underpin his sensitivity and add elements of
sane discourse to what often is emotionally charged. O'Dell does not
really dispute that Jesus lived, so that is one battle that does not get
fought is this summary. A person with good sense and an open mind will:
1) focus on the difference between general guidelines for moral living
and literal instruction; 2) readers need to recognize and then
acknowledge the danger of "bibliolatry" (idealizing and literalizing the
Bible); 3) understanding how institutionalization can attract linear
and closed-minded thinking; 4) understanding and analyzing how powerful
the fear engendered by a god of retribution can be when promoted as that
force is in BOTH Testaments; and 5) acknowledging who Jesus was and was
not. These principles are what provide the reader with a sense of what
the author is really up to; what he is trying to convey about the
message of this powerful "Good Book."
It
would be a mistake to just read the book for the History of the Jews in
the first five chapters of the Old Testament just as much as it would
be a waste of rational thought to rely on Jane Austen-like descriptions
of the societies of the Mediterranean found in the New. This examination
is really an open-minded exploration of whether morality is
inextricably tied to biblical tenets that came directly from the font of
God. As we gradually learn (Chapter 10, page 202), issues of morality
were well illuminated for many hundreds of years before such principles
landed in either Testament. They travel back through Roman times, even
past the second half of the Millennium before Christ when the great
Greek Philosophers were writing their Dialogues. What we do come to
understand is that many of the exquisitely complex moral questions of
the right and wrong of human action have been seductively intertwined
into the Bible so as to create a seemingly authoritative, absolute, and
final comment on what ought and should be. In fact, like a travel guide,
the Bible is an aide to moral living, not THE unequivocal last word.
Finally,
a short note about the author's personal annotations in several places,
including his Afterword, which contains biographical information.
Donald L. O'Dell was at one time an alcoholic. He has grown enormously
since those days when his life was out of control. His insights about
tolerance, biblical and otherwise, come with great authority: that of
personal travails. He has earned this understanding and he seeks to
share it with others. While strict biblical constructionists and
Pentecostals may want absolute answers, which the author cannot give
because of his open, inquiring mind, most readers will benefit from his
clear writing style and will take away much from this work. Stock this
in Religion, Ancient History, and Philosophy.
REVIEWED: March 20, 2007; Thomas Peter von Bahr, Pacific NorthWest Group, Lopez Island, Washington, 98261
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