Slate blogs the Bible

I'm secular. I go to midnight mass, pray to God for help, thank him for my blessings, and feel compelled to say grace if I look down and see more than one fork and a tablecloth. But really, I don't truly believe in my own religion - or yours. That having been said, the Bible is one of the foundational works of our civilization and few of us would be ill served by knowing more about it, particularly since the desert God is still so central to global politics.

Slate has been running a great project for a while that might interest anyone who identifies with my point of view, as well as the more obsevant among you. The idea behind their Blogging the Bible project is simple. David Plotz, a non-observant jew, reads some bible and writes about it - not from the point of a believer, but from the point of view of a bemused first time spectator. In his own words:

My goal is pretty simple. I want to find out what happens when an ignorant person actually reads the book on which his religion is based. I think I'm in the same position as many other lazy but faithful people (Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindus). I love Judaism; I love (most of) the lessons it has taught me about how to live in the world; and yet I realized I am fundamentally ignorant about its foundation, its essential document. So, what will happen if I approach my Bible empty, unmediated by teachers or rabbis or parents? What will delight and horrify me? How will the Bible relate to the religion I practice, and the lessons I thought I learned in synagogue and Hebrew School?

His comments are fun and fresh. Not at all boring. I think I'm going to start reading along (not aloud. This won't show up on the blog again.) Wanna come?

OK, OK. To entice you. Here. The first two paragraphs of the first entry:

Genesis, Chapter 1

You'd think God would know exactly what He's doing, but He doesn't. He's a tinkerer. He tries something out—what if I move all the water around so dry land can appear? He checks it out. He sees "that it was good." Then He moves on to the next experiment—how about plants? Let's try plants.

This haphazardness may be why Creation seems so out of order. If God made light on the first day, what was giving the light, since the sun doesn't appear until the fourth day? And God tackles the major geological and astronomical features during the first two days—light, sky, water, earth. But Day 3 is a curious interruption—plant creation—that is followed by a return to massive universe-shaping projects on Day 4 with the sun, moon, and stars. The plant venture is a tangent—like putting a refrigerator into a house before you've put the roof on.

Get the idea? It's all like that. I love it and he's up to Isaiah now. Have fun. :)