Asimov explores the historical aspects of the New Testament like no one else

Isaac Asimov’s Guide to the Bible: New Testament – Isaac Asimov (1962)

            I read and reviewed the first volume of this great book, covering the Old Testament, and was amazed by the vast data contained within.  I had long been aware that the Bible as we know it is a collection of writings of many types, including poetic allegory, letters to various congregations, tribal history, collections of prayers, etc.  Reading about the Old Testament in volume one helped shine a light on the tribal history aspects of the Old Testament.  In it Asimov describes the meaning behind the many names and places found in the writings, as well as providing historical perspective which helped me to understand the political currents that underlie much of Jewish history.

            Having been raised in the church, and having attended countless hours of Sunday school, this Asimov book not only resonates with its information but it provides the answers to questions I would voice in my youth but whose answers the teachers never knew.  Countless books have been written exploring every minute aspect of the theology and spirituality.  Asimov, a non-practicing Jew by heritage and an atheist by decision, does not go into the mystical or miraculous stories presented in the New Testament, but instead focuses on what has been termed the “historical Jesus.”  Reading through the Gospels, researchers and historians have found two different stories being told.  One is the story of a historical person, called Jesus, who as a learned rabbi taught new lessons to the Jews and was crucified for what they perceived as heresy.  This is the figure that Asimov explores as he travels through the Middle East preaching and gaining followers.

            It is amazing to think that, of all the religions that humans have created to worship their gods, there have been very few that are considered “world” religions.  Most religions are exclusive by nature, and they serve a specific subset of humans.  Judaism is a religion whose god has made a covenant with them as the “chosen people.”  In fact, most religions before the age of Buddha were specifically tribal and the gods were seen to support one human group while fighting with the gods of other human groups for dominance.  Buddhism was the first religion that succeeded in being a world religion, a religion that anyone from any tribe or any ethnicity could join and belong to.  Christianity was the second great “world” religion, which was originally intended solely for other Jews, but which, either through the actions of Jesus himself, or his early disciples, spread to accept any and all “Gentiles.”  A gentile was any non-Jewish human, but in the times of Jesus was usually taken to mean either those Hellenic Jews that had adopted Greek customs or Greeks and Romans that had adopted Jewish customs.  Most gentiles were not circumcised as Jews were and this was a large point of contention among the early apostles.  The more orthodox among them saw circumcision as crucial to becoming a Christian, since it was the original sign of the covenant between Jews and God.  The apostles that won out however, taught that Jesus brought a new covenant, replacing all old ones, and that the covenant was for any and all who wished to join.

            There is a lot of historical speculation as to whether Buddhist teachings made it all the way to the Middle East by Jesus’ time, for there is a lot of circumstantial evidence that Jesus was aware of the Buddhist teachings, and shared them in his own teachings.  It would make a lot of sense if this was the case, but the fact is that a lot of Jesus’ teachings are mirrored in many other religions theology.  What seemed to be different with Christianity is that Jesus was seen as a redeemer of all humanity.  This has allowed Christianity to spread worldwide, first taking over the Roman Empire itself within 400 years of Jesus’ birth. 

            One of the coolest parts of Asimov’s book is that he is such a widely read human being. He brings details and knowledge from very disparate sources to bear on his work.  I cannot imagine how much he must have read to compile the information found within his Guide to the Bible.  I highly recommend this book for anyone who has a general knowledge of the Bible but wishes to understand the historical grounding for the tales found within.  Asimov does not discuss anything miraculous, nor does he explore the theology behind the writing.  He thinks that has been covered by countless people already.  What he does give you is like a behind-the-scenes exploration which illuminates and educates.  Asimov is highly readable and never lords his massive intelligence over the reader.  He comes off like someone who was so interested in a subject that he researched it profoundly and wants to share the aggregated knowledge the discovered.  To a nerd like me, it is pure gold.  I wish that churches would teach this book along with the actual Bible to better educate people about the kingdoms, times, and people described within.

(To read this book in PDF format, click here: https://archive.org/download/AsimovsGuideToTheBibleTheOldAndNewTestaments2Vols.IsaacAsimov/Asimov's%20Guide%20to%20the%20Bible_%20The%20Old%20and%20New%20Testaments%20(2%20Vols.)%20-%20Isaac%20Asimov.pdf)

(This book can be purchased here:  AMAZON  )

 

Interviews with one of my idols

Conversations with Isaac Asimov – Carl Freedman Ed. (2005)

            Isaac Asimov is one of my all-time idols.  From his science fiction to his science writing to his many non-fiction books, everything he has written is valuable to me.  He was known as the “Great Explainer” in the decades before Carl Sagan took up that mantle for his ability to digest and then explain the most difficult of scientific subjects.  What many people do not know is that, apart from being one of the most prolific authors ever, he was an amazing conversationalist.  He could expound on nearly any subject with witty, informative conversation.  This book captures many of these instances.  It collects a few dozen interviews with Mr. Asimov from the last 40 years of his life.

            One of the reasons I have such an affinity for Mr. Asimov is that he and I are very similar in many ways.  He was born in another country and came to the USA at a young age, (3 years old, from Russia, whereas I was 7 years old, from Puerto Rico). He first fell in love with reading because of science fiction.  He greedily devoured any book he could find that provided him with information about a topic he found intriguing.  He rarely read the “classics” of literature, preferring information.  He had the ability to recall seemingly every bit of scientific information he absorbed.  He was a lifelong skeptic with little use for spirituality or religion.  He was married twice.  He hated flying, due to an admittedly irrational fear.  (I hate flying because the changes in air pressure causes me to have violent vertigo)  He was a man who stood for the beauty of knowledge and the joy of spreading that knowledge. 

He was also a master of the "side-eye" when you acted the fool.

            Much of this is discussed in the various interviews collected in this volume.  The majority of the interviews cover his personal life and then begin to ask him questions based on his science fiction writing and general science knowledge.  It is great to see him defend the view of rational scientific thought, and its myriad benefits.  He talks about how his writing is his favorite thing in the world, how he spends 7 days a week writing and hates anything interrupting him.  He is asked about his views for humanity’s future, technology’s advancement, and the world of science fiction in general.  It is great to read this stuff, as it feels like Mr. Asimov is directly talking to me.  As my brother has stated, only slightly exaggerating, “All my heroes are dead.”  It is a very lucky thing for me to come across a book like this, as it allows me a peek into the mind of a man who, while he wrote millions of words, rarely spent those words in talking about himself.  I am currently reading “Isaac Asimov’s Guide to the Bible,” and am almost ¾ of the way through the Old Testament.  Isaac Asimov could write about anything that crossed his intellect.  We are all luckier and better for it.

(To read one of Asimov's early classic sci fi stories, Nightfall, an RXTT favorite, click here: https://www.uni.edu/morgans/astro/course/nightfall.pdf )

Isaac Asimov tackles the biggest book there is

Asimov’s Guide to the Bible – Isaac Asimov (1969)

            Another heavy hitter!  I love this book!  I love Isaac Asimov!  He is another of my heroes.  The man was a genius who could write the greatest of science fiction and also the most well-rounded non-fiction books on seemingly any topic.  He was extremely prolific in his output and exceedingly vociferous in his personal reading.  All in all, he was one of the greatest to have ever lived, in my not-so-humble opinion.

            What I love about this book is that Mr. Asimov has taken on one of the densest and most widely read books of all time, the Bible.  Being a freethinking atheist of the highest order, Mr. Asimov does not focus on the theological aspect of the Bible tales.  He instead explains the geography, history, myth, and legend as described by the Biblical writers.  He uses Biblical research and Biblical archeology to shed light on the obscure tribes, locations, and events described in the Bible.

            As a frequent attendee of Sunday school in my youth (against my wishes) I was always disappointed in the inability of the “teachers” to explain who exactly people such as the Pharisees, Maccabees, Hittites, etc. were, and what their places in the history of the region were.  I was also constantly rebuffed from asking why the Bible, the supposed be-all and end-all of all shit, never mentions things like dinosaurs, North or South America, China, India, etc.  It really frustrated the people who were doing their best to indoctrinate us in their bullshit collective delusions about religion.  After a while, (around age 12) I only continued going for the free donuts.  I wish I had this book back then!  It would have made the history and tribal tales of the Old Testament much more real and interesting!

            This book is a BIG book, bigger than the Bible itself, and I am honestly only about 300 pages in.  It will be a lifelong read for me and I look forward to it.  It is endlessly fascinating to me.

Nearly as fascinating as Asimov's amazing mutton-chop sideburns

            One of the most enlightening parts I have read so far was when Mr. Asimov discusses the legend of the Garden of Eden.  When the tribes that eventually came to define themselves as the Hebrew people were first coalescing, and crafting their communal myths, a separate kingdom rules the area around what is now Palestine/Israel.  In the language of those people “Eden” means “grassy plain,” and it referred to the grasslands between the mountains of the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea.  This was the original stomping grounds for the nomads who became the Hebrews and when they wrote down their oral legends and myths, they assigned the name Eden to the original home of their people, couched in mythological terms of course.  By the time the Hebrew scholars were writing these tales down, they had been passed down orally for centuries and the knowledge of the original people and language the term “Eden” came from was long-forgotten.  These types of facts, historically verifiable facts, are never taught in Sunday school because they would defeat the purpose of their brainwashing efforts.  I love Isaac Asimov!

            (To read or download this book in PDF format click here: Asimov's Guide to the Bible )