I'm not even slightly religious however I want to read the bible just to fully understand it. The issue I face is that there are multiple different versions of the bible. Is there any difference between the versions that actually matters? What is the best version to get? Would there be any supplementary texts that I could read the help with fully understanding it?
I'm also considering reading the Quran afterwards just for the hell of it. Any particular version that would be best to read or are the translations pretty much all the same?
Also, any other interesting religious texts that are interesting reads?
What do you mean by "fully understand"? To a religious person, a non-religious person could never fully understand the bible
Daniel Kelly
KJV, then Apocrypha
Brandon Collins
I went to a Roman Catholic school but gave up on religion of any sort a long time ago. I suppose I just want to understand what the teachings are and understand what people find in the stories. I know them to a normie level but I'd like to know them better. It could also help with understanding biblical references in other books and media. Regardless, if I don't understand it on a religious level I am hoping I could at least enjoy it as a form of story telling.
Hunter Mitchell
Read the Knox Bible. It's the best and most understandable English translation if you don't know Ancient Greek or Jewish snake tongue.
William Bell
Read Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Kings, Judges, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and then the Gospels and Epistles. That's most of the really significant stuff. Then go back to fill in the gaps if you want.
Benjamin Rivera
If you really want the full experience, the bible is surprisingly wordplay heavy, so I suggest learning Hebrew and ancient Greek and reading the original texts.
Jack Foster
What about Revelations? I can see that part being quite heavy but it is one of the most interesting parts from someone who is generally unfamiliar.
Jason Clark
NRSV. For supplementary/study purposes, you can go with the New Oxford Annotated Bible or the Harper Study Bible.
"Best" is very hard to define. You'd want the original versions in Hebrew/Greek if you want closeness to the text, since both languages are hard as fuck to translate to English. Certainly, modern translations go off the most accurate sources of the Bible, so you might prefer those to older translations.
Style/prettiness isn't really a concern for me, but it might be for you. You likely couldn't go wrong with at least glancing at the King James Version from time to time, using it as a stylistic supplement to the very readable NRSV.
Owen Gonzalez
Talmud, Avesta, Zohar, Way to Hermes, Iliad, Odyssey, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Pali Canon, Tao te Ching, Book of Mormon, Egyptian Book of the Dead, Epic of Gilgamesh.
Asher Scott
I have read both the Iliad and the Odyssey. I mean to check out the Tao te Ching and was considering reading the Book of Mormon after reading the Bible and the Quran. I'll look into the rest.
Logan Lewis
How do you want to understand it though, people like that recommend Study Bibles aren't really learning the Philosophy or Theology of the Bible, they're learning secular criticism and history.
Julian Torres
>I want to read the bible just to fully understand it >fully understand it never gonna happen
Chase Harris
Fair enough. It's worth giving it a go, though.
I realise this may have been far too much of a sweeping statement. I just want to understand it more. It is the philosophical and theological side I am most interested in, especially anything to do with a moral message and essentially how to be a good person (albeit in the eyes of God). It's an interesting subject that I think that I would like to explore, despite following no religion. I can see it being a text that would be useful to anyone, religious or not.
>What is the best version to get? The Norton Critical Edition. Always go with the Norton Critical Edition.
>Would there be any supplementary texts that I could read the help with fully understanding it?
Yes, it's already included in the Norton Critical Edition.
Henry Powell
So you're saying I should go with the Oxford World Classics edition?
Gavin Stewart
NWT
Ethan Robinson
>Fully understand it
You do not comprehend the enormity of your challenge. There are people that dedicate their lives to slightly increasing understanding of the bible.
Some Christians have never read it or learned about it yet feel Christian and live like a Christian. Others have been going to Sunday School since Children and regularly hearing sermons and getting an increasingly nuanced understanding of it. Others study the bible academically. All of these people are influenced by the bible but in vastly different ways.
The lack of your belief in god also makes understanding harder as you're trying to figure out how people that do not think like you think.
Settle for having some understanding of it.
> Is there any difference between the versions that actually matters?
Yes, it can completely change the meaning of individual parts, and a catholic bible has more in it than a protestant bible. The KJV is best from a literary perspective or just wanting to understand the most popular version. Various translations are easier to read and comprehend though.
I suppose my post isn't incredibly helpful as I'm not giving advice on what to do, but personally I advocate the KJV just on merit of the fact that it has had the most profound influence on the West.
Gabriel Barnes
Yeah, I feel my statement of wanting to "fully understand" the bible may have been somewhat flippant. I suppose the best bet for me would be to read it and see what I can read around it to understand it better, but not completely.
You do make a compelling argument for KJV.
Noah Carter
>no Ecclesiastes >no Song of Solomon
It's like you hate art.
Ryder Sanders
Not even Jews accept apocrypha. Honestly dude, the NIV bible is good and KJV is good too but I prefer NIV because it's super simple to read. If you want to truly understand the Bible you have to read the Talmud and Zohar with it.
