Prologue

I haven't read many books this summer (by my standards), but I've decided to make up for it by reading the Bible in its entirety. In most cases, of course, this means reading books and chapters I've already read, often many times over; in other cases, however, I've not read the material since I was a child, or, perhaps, I've never read it at all.

I read the Gospels and several Pauline Epistles two years ago in Oxford's New Revised Standard Version and every now and again I read a book or a chapter from that translation. This time, however, I'll be using my leatherbound copy of the King James Version, and I'll start at the beginning. The KJV is hardly the most accurate translation available, but it's the cornerstone of Western culture and I'll be using it for that reason. I'll post my thoughts here after each book, which will hopefully motivate me to slog through the not-so-exciting books (Numbers, Leviticus) to get to the gold (Ecclesiastes, Job).

And although I said I'd start at the beginning, I'll say this right now so that it's out of the way. It's called Revelation. Not Revelations. I can't tell you how annoyed I get when I see irreligious, educated people talk about how much they loved/hated "Revelations." It's like when creationists talk about "Origin of the Species." Reading about a book is not the same as actually reading it.