So, I read from the Bible last night. Like, aloud.
It was my first time.
And you know what? You know that thing people say, that "The Bible is actually a very entertaining book!", and you know how anyone with a fourth-grade education and a belief in stuff like "science" would say, "um, sure. I'll just be over here believing in stuff like evolution and math."
Well kids, it turns out the Bible really is full of good stories. Who knew?
I'm taking a class on Novelists and we're focusing on Nabokov. But for the first day of class we read from Richard Wright's Native Son, and from I Samuels, you know, that whole David & Goliath bit. Which turns out to be all of four lines long, and then you cut right to the homosexual subtext of Jonathan loving David like "he was his own soul." And the part where Saul throws his spear at David while David plays the guitar.
We read from the King James version, and when I say it's good, I don't mean it's good like Native Son is good. It's good like the Odyssey is good, or Beowulf, epic poems with strong oral traditions. The fun part is getting the facts down, then retelling the stories and embellishing. Did you know Saul did mushrooms and prophesied? Well, the kids in Critical Reading & Writing: Novelists know, because we figured it out last night.
Add this to the rad interview in the new Believer with Elaine Pagels, author of a few interesting books on the Gnostic gospels, and there are little Christians dancing in my head lately. If anyone knows of a good translation of the Bible, let me know. And by "good" I mean one that includes that homosexual subtext. Because you can't fight true love, Saul.
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