Daily reminder that if you haven't read most of the Bible,

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>>9053569
Reading the Bible to appreciate western literature is like reading Homer to appreciate Joyce. It is outright madness. Reading Joyce and western literature is fine, but to read such ancient works that have proven the better against thousands of years merely as a to appreciate a novel you are curious about is proof in itself that you have a problem in your faculty of appreciation. Which is what you should work on, instead of finding references in Ulysses or whatever.

>>9054170
Except you do have to read homer to appreciate Joyce.

Is this bait

>>9054173
if you seriously think you couldn't have appreciated joyce without homer you need to just off yourself right here and now

>>9054173
Not his first two works, and I haven't read it but perhaps you do have to read Homer to appreciate Ulysses, sure. It is to read Homer for the sole purpose of appreciating Joyce that I fail to comprehend.

>>9054170
well, bible is probably the most well known book in the ocident, probably the most influential and the one with the most references not only in literature but any medium, there are several reasons to read it, as a history book; to understand the culture and the traditions of the foundations of the west; as a spiritual book; as a literature book

>>9054188
this. i think that anyone that would actually want to read ulysses would have already read homer before because of his own interest in literature.

>>9054196
The Bible is, well, it is the Bible. An ancient tome collecting a range of works that allegedly date back to 3000 BC, the core of the biggest religion around and very highly related to other two, and inarguably one of the greatest sources of influences regarding the civilized world for the past two thousand years. And I haven't even touched its contents, at all, which in my personal experience have been nothing short of transformative and transcendental.

>>9053569

>not reading the bible makes you plebeian millenial trash


I think you mean

>reading the bible for the sole purpose of "improving your understanding of western literature" makes you plebeian millenial trash

I'm reading the bible right now desu, almost done with the pentateuch. Interesting from an historical point of view. Im looking forward for the new testament, from what i've read it's life changing

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>Tfw went to a catholic school with a functioning classics department
By the time I was 18 I had read every holy book, all the notable Greek plays, the epic cycle, all of the myths, and most of the books in the "start with the Greeks" infographic

Its not like it took any particular effort on their or our part
Why are schools neglecting to teach such simple things that can elevate you to having such a good base to understand western culture?

>>9054241
No the first one is actually correct. I don't mind helping you out, you don't have to thank me.

>>9054268

Because most of the teachers in today's schools weren't the brightest of their peer group, and were educated in the 80s by 60s-era Marxists who believed that nothing good came out of the Western world, and that other cultures and civilizations are no worse than (and indeed, often better than) that of Western Civilization.

Which version of the Bible?

>>9054268
Same.

>tfw went to such a trashy public school in Brazil that I had virtually no work to do there, and therefore had 11 free hours a day to read the classics

By the time I was 18 I had read all the major Lusophone classics, plus the Bible, Shakespeare, Pound, Eliot, Yeats, Twain, Dante, and even some of the Germans and the Russians in translation.

I am going to do the same thing with my son: he is going to the worst possible school.

>>9054416
King James. The KJB and the works of Shakespeare are the two foundations upon which English literature is based.

>>9053569
i read whole old testament in 2016 but i forget all of it already

>>9054256
really looking forward to it too. finished first book of chronicles and its veeeeery boring

>>9054977
That shit gets old fast.

I unironically think the bible is funny
>cain kills abel
>god asks where is your brother
>What i'm i, my brothers keeper?
Good shit

>>9054187
Would you agree that one can appreciate Joyce more richly/deeply if you at least understand and are familiar with his major references/inspirations?

Nah, >>9054170 is right: Read the Bible because it's a good book, not because it's The Good Book.

Also why does everyone portray the "let he who hasn't sinned cast the first stone" as some kind of badass declaration? The whole point is Jesus just doodles in the dirt and doesn't give a damn about them.

>>9055082
No. There's bits which are difficult to explain except as jokes. Bloom thinks the whole of Jonah is satirical, too.

There is some stuff which I think is unintentional though:
>Behold, I am dead
>And he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.
which I think comes from how we started using Biblical idioms.

Then there's just absurdly stupid shit, like when Moses can make the Jews win a battle by holding his hands up to heaven but his arms get tired so two people hold them up for him.

>>9055082
>>9055370
Wait, I thought you said "am I the only one who unironically thinks the Bible is funny".

You don't even understand yourself if you haven't read the bible
>he fell for the free will meme

>>9055382
>he fell for the Predestination meme
How can you understand yourself if you can't even understand the Bible?