Everyday Biblical Literacy

Everyday Biblical Literacy:
The Essential Guide to Biblical Allusions in Art, Literature, and Life
by J. Stephen Lang
ISBN: 978-4-58197-460-6
$19.99, 400p
Available March 2007

  • Examines 750 common Biblical references and what they’ve come to represent in today’s culture through art, literature, song, and common phrases

  • User friendly format-arranges alphabetically (from Aaron’s rod to Zion)

What do we mean when we call a woman a Jezebel? What exactly was scapegoat? Why was a fast-and-furious driver called Jehu? In a more literate age, most people knew the source of these and hundreds of other names, phrases, and images. Artists and writers could assume their audiences would understand references to biblical people and events. Today, some of those meanings are lost. This book fills that gap in knowledge.

The text discusses the most important names, places, images, events, and phrases of the Bible and looks at how each subject has been presented culturally in art, music, and literature. The reader not only gets a guided tour of biblical history, but also a renewed appreciation for words, phrases, art, and music that have been influenced by the Bible.

About the Author
J. Stephen Lang has published 25 books thus far (more than 1.3 million books with his name on them have been sold). He specializes in Christian books that deal with the Bible in a non-academic and enteratining way.

Excerpt

money-lending
Interesting foreigners
It is hard to image a society with no-interest loans, but the Old Testament law prohibited the Israelites from charging interest (Exodus 22:25)—to another Israelite that is. The law stated that foreigners could be charged interest (Deuteronomy 23:20). As Christianity spread over the Middle East and Europe, Christians abided by the old law and did not loan at interest—but Jews living among Christians could (and this was fine with the Jews, since Christians were “foreigners”). So the old stereotype of the Jewish money-lender (such as in Shakespeare’s play “The Merchant of Venice”) is rooted in both Jews and Christians trying to abide by the old law against charging interest to people of one’s own religion.