The Bible as a Novel

Could be some viability there. I mean, I'm perfectly satisfied with the KJV translation myself, but I wouldn't mind seeing it printed in novel format. I'd still keep the chapters and verse numbers though for easier reference. The only problem I can see is that, the Bible is written from more than one perspective and in more than one genre. That's one of the things I love about it and I fear that may be lost were it printed as a single novel.
 
It would be more a collection of novels, poetry anthologies and letters. Having read the article, I don't think the author meant the whole bible as a single novel, but each book.

I agree this has merit. I'd also still keep the chapters, maybe, but definitely not verse numbers - it defeats the purpose. Without verse numbers, we're less likely to 'pull out' a single verse as if any one of them were able to stand alone without context.
 
possibility said:
It would be more a collection of novels, poetry anthologies and letters. Having read the article, I don't think the author meant the whole bible as a single novel, but each book.
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Oh ok, That makes sense. I just skimmed the article without reading it through.
possibility said:
I agree this has merit. I'd also still keep the chapters, maybe, but definitely not verse numbers - it defeats the purpose. Without verse numbers, we're less likely to 'pull out' a single verse as if any one of them were able to stand alone without context.
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That's a good point. Eliminating verse numbers probably would discourage readers from pulling things out of context. After all, the current Bible would still be there for those wanting to make a quick references or look something up. So yeah, as long as the text itself were not altered as to change it's meaning, I'd be on board with it.
 
I would point out that a novel is, by definition, a work of fiction?
 
Thomas said:
I would point out that a novel is, by definition, a work of fiction?
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Yeah, that thought crossed my mind as well. I think the intent though, is to print the Bible in a novel like format to make it easier to read and understand, not to actually present it as a work of fiction. The old standby works fine for me, but I can see where this may be helpful to a lot of people.
 
I TAKE IT ALL BACK

Having looked at Bibliotheca I see that what the designer had in mind is a 'typographically elegant' reader's bible, applying the rules of classic book design.

The idea of 'Bible as novel' was rather misleading, for the reason I raised: If you treat the Bible as fiction, you really haven't got it.

But by 'novel', all that is meant here is simply there's just the text on the page.

And Bibliotheca is way, way better than your average novel in terms of typography and production. This is in the very top league, the kind of thing you'd expect from The Folio Society. From what I've seen, it's typographically delightful.

I'm seriously considering a purchase ...
 
Thomas said:
Seems like a massive exercise in dumbing down to me.
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Removing verse numbers? I saw none in early biblical papers. in the early books some were full page, others 2, 3, or 4 columns, up to the publisher or director scrubes. I've stared at them and just don't recall numbers... Just found this and sure don't see this as dumbing down...

Stephen Langton, in the 12th century, added what we use today as the chapter divisions. He did this into the Latin Vulgate. The tradition is that these divisions were later transfered to the Hebrew Bible. From manuscripts dating back to the fourth century, however, some form of chapter divisions were used. In 1551, Robert Estienne (a.k.a. Stephanus) added verse divisions to his fourth edition of the Greek New Testament, while en route between Paris and Lyons, France. The first translation to employ his versification was the Geneva translation of 1557 (whole Bible, 1560).
 
Oops, see you changed your mind while I was writing, yes that five volume set would look great on any shelf... And while harder to find a particular chapter and verse would be a refreshing method of reading
 
Thomas said:
But by 'novel', all that is meant here is simply there's just the text on the page.
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Exactly. That's what I was less eloquently trying to get across in #7.
Thomas said:
I'm seriously considering a purchase ...
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I as well. I could definitely see myself spending a quiet evening with such a book, just getting lost in the word.
 
wil said:
What do you call a book that contains a mixture of fiction and non fiction?
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I would say books like the Bible, the Mahābhārata, The Pali Canon, the Tao Te Ching, all the world's great sacra doctrina are regarded in a class of their own, above the standard critiques and classifications applied to common texts.

The trouble is, generally, people reach for simple classifications. So if we're calling something 'fiction', then people will put it in the same class as (the execrable) Dan Brown or E.L. James. Or at best as 'literary fiction' — Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro or James Joyce.

Ostensibly, it's an historical account of the People of Israel, from the beginning on the world until a foretelling of the End Times.
But is it simply a history?

Yes, it contains elements that are fictive, but only inasmuch as those elements serve as vehicles to address big questions, like the nature of humanity, the nature of a deity, of suffering, of goodness, of vice and virtue.

Big subjects that have been addresssed in the world's great works of fiction, and yet no-one would put such fictions, by the like of Fodor Dostoevsky or Graham Greene or Philip K Dick, on a par with the world's sacra doctrina, if only because their own lexicon and inspiration draws on those sources, whereas those sources seem to draw on Revelation.
 
Namaste Jesus said:
Exactly. That's what I was less eloquently trying to get across in #7.
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My denseness ... 'soz', as the young 'uns say.

Namaste Jesus said:
I could definitely see myself spending a quiet evening with such a book, just getting lost in the word.
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Quite. Mine is ordered!

I'm wondering, off-hand, if the verse numbers were later additions because Scripture was used:
1: As the basis of the Liturgy, and specifically Scripture was arranged in a three-year reading pattern, so it would be handy to have reference points for particular texts — so a Gospel reading would be Mark, Chapter 6 Verses ta-da-ta-da, as opposed to 'that bit in the middle of Mark about ...' actually, just Googled it, and it seems the Hebrew Scriptures have 'open' and 'close' marks around the text, breaking it up into sections to be read over a one-year liturgical cycle ...

2: As the basis of theology, in that again, using Scripture as the foundation of doctrinal discussions all parties would need to be able to reference specific texts, and even specific words, in putting forward their theses and arguments ... again, Google seems to agree ...
 
Thomas said:
I'm wondering, off-hand, if the verse numbers were later additions because Scripture was used:
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I'm not sure really. I did find this on Wiki- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapters_and_verses_of_the_Bible -probably the same thing you saw.
Thomas said:
As the basis of theology, in that again, using Scripture as the foundation of doctrinal discussions all parties would need to be able to reference specific texts, and even specific words, in putting forward their theses and arguments ... again, Google seems to agree ...
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I as well and that was originally a concern of mine, but then I figured the standard Bible would still be around for serious study. As possibility pointed out in #3, taking out the verse numbers, while hindering easy reference, would also help keep individual verses in context. Thus improving overall understanding...
 
Namaste Jesus said:
As possibility pointed out in #3, taking out the verse numbers, while hindering easy reference, would also help keep individual verses in context. Thus improving overall understanding...
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That is so often overlooked, the context. You're so right on this, people taking individual verses out of context and making some argument.

I was taught the text is like a single cloth, an organic thing — you have to look at the whole thing to see the shape of it.
 
Thomas said:
I was taught the text is like a single cloth, an organic thing — you have to look at the whole thing to see the shape of it.
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Exactly. I couldn't agree more. I use to ask my mom when I was young what particular verses meant. Her usual response was to read the rest of the book. Took a long time for me to realize she wasn't just giving me the old brush off. Now I'm thinking, perhaps the verse numbers are the problem. The reason people think individual verses can stand alone...
 
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