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The Bible and the Common Reader, by Mary Ellen Chase
- Abstract
The object of this book is to present the Bible, considered as literature, to the “common reader.” The author believes that the true character of the scriptural writings can be seized even through the medium of translation, provided that the translation in question is the so-called Authorized or King James Version, the delicate sensitivity of which she regards as truer to the spirit of the original than the more pedantic and literary accuracy of recent scholarly renderings.
The book is divided into three parts. The first gives the history of the Authorized Version and of its antecedents, carefully pointing out how the latter may be regarded as successive stepping-stones to the ultimate glory of the former. The second deals strictly with the Old Testament. To a brief sketch of Israelitic history, which serves as a background, is added a series of somewhat rapturous, though by no means uncritical, appraisals of the literary style and excellence of the several books of the Old Testament. The third part deals in similar vein with the New Testament.
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