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January 09, 2015



Borges, "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote".

In order for the Bible to be misunderstood, there has to be a correct understanding. Therefore, misunderstanding the Bible will never happen. There's only the reader's understanding, which is always correct because readers have *all* the power.

Like Pierre Menard, reading and interpreting are, in effect, rewriting a text in your own words. Everyone gets to write their own version. Every version is word for word identical, and at the same time, completely different.


I think taking literature courses should be a prerequisite to studying the bible, and maybe some Joseph Campbell. It's unfortunate that the word 'myth' has come to mean something 'just made up' or even a widely held misconception.

Even scholars and liberals often treat the Gospels as some sort of newspaper account, when it is clear they were designed as a kind of myth, a myth containing deeper meanings of transformation, rebirth, resurrection — on a psychological and spiritual level, not external events or in one person 2000 years ago.

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