Bringing the Bible Up To Date

Riverton, UT- It is the most published, most quoted, most controversial, most debated bestselling book ever written. It has been translated into practically every language that has ever been used by civilized societies over the history of the world. It’s even been translated into Klingon, a fictional language of an alien race featured on Star Trek.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, The Bible is arguably the most significant book ever to see print. The word Bible has even become a term that means “a book that is considered an authority on a particular subject,” according to Webster’s.

Yet, even among the faithful, it may also hold the title for the most MISunderstood, most MISquoted and most unread book of all time, as well.

According to noted bible authority Val Greenwood, author of I Will Make Thee A Great Nation: Old Testament Stories (www.oldtestamentor.com), the Old Testament in particular is one of the grandest works of religious literature that deserves far more attention and comprehension than it receives in the modern world.

“As we consider life in our modern age, it is readily apparent that the Old Testament has influenced the history and literature of the Judeo-Christian world more than any other book ever written,” Greenwood said. “It contains the stories, the traditions, and the truths that countless generations of parents have handed down to their children and that have been preached with great power from many pulpits.”

However, according to recent polls, Americans’ knowledge of the Bible is woefully lacking. Although Gallup found that 60% of Americans read the Bible occasionally, most cannot name even one author of the four Gospels. Harpers magazine found that 12% of Americans thought Joan of Ark was the wife of Noah.

“God helps those who help themselves.” It was Benjamin Franklin who coined the phrase, but three-quarters of Americans believe it comes from the Bible, according to Boston University Professor of religion, Stephen Pothero. His book on religious literacy promotes a fresh effort at biblical education. Even Jay Leno, in his admittedly non-scientific man-on-the-street interviews, found almost no one who had heard of Cain and Abel or Sodom and Gomorrah. Several people thought Eve had been created from an apple or that there were twelve commandments. George Gallup once summed up that America is simultaneously a religious nation and a nation of religious illiterates.

A 2006 study by the Bible Literacy Project concluded that there is universal need for public school training in Bible knowledge. Project author, Dr. M. Wachlin’s, survey of college professors found overwhelming agreement “that a lack of basic Bible literacy hampers students’ ability to understand both classics and contemporary work.” Erosion of Bible literacy “in the last three or four decades has put much of Western literature beyond the reach of many readers,” adds Professor David Jeffrey of Baylor University.

Greenwood’s response to a world woefully lacking in an understanding of the Old Testament was his new book, I Will Make Thee A Great Nation. In it, he has arranged the stories of the Old Testament in a chronological order and made them more accessible to a modern world. When the Bible was written, the general population’s attention span did not revolve around eight minutes, and then a commercial break. It was written and arranged in accordance with the parlance of the times, but Greenwood acknowledges that times have changed, and if the stories and lessons and faith of the Old Testament are going to resonate thousands of years past its first publication, it needs to be more palatable to the way people read and absorb information in the world today.

Val Greenwood is an author who lives in Utah with his wife Patty. He has three daughters, a stepdaughter, and two stepsons, and 22 grandchildren. Greenwood is a native of Utah, born during the Great Depression and starting school during WWII. The fifth of six children, he grew up on a family farm a few miles south of Salt Lake City. He was educated at Brigham Young University (BS, 1962) and the University of Idaho (JD, 1974). He loves the Old Testament and, having read it many times, he was compelled to retell its stories in modern English for adults and young adults. With the inclusion of information from other sources, including the works of Josephus, this book is a far more comprehensive work than a simple compilation of stories. He is also the author of “The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy,” was published in 1973 by Genealogical Publishing Co. while Greenwood was a law student at the University of Idaho. Since that time there have been two more editions, the third edition being published in 2000. The book is still the most widely used textbook on American genealogical research and is considered by many to be a classic. It has sold more than 100,000 copies through the three editions. www.oldtestamentor.com