Generative AI. Word for word, copy pasted. A distilled "opinion" drawn from the Guardian amongst others. He used a machine to think for him. Problem is, with comparing the Bible, in all its forms to the works of Shakespeare, William wrote everything he published. No one knows who wrote the bible. We know it wasn't one person. It was innumerable peoples, over centuries, chopping, changing, massage the script, Its basically an anthology compiled over centuries by dozens of authors, containing law codes, genealogies, ritual instructions, historical chronicles, letters, and religious teachings alongside passages of extraordinary poetry and narrative. It was not written for literary artistry. So consequently, bits of it, as literature, are <deleted>. The original Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew versions have zero literary value in the modern word. Any impact comes from later English translations. The first go was by John Wycliffe and his followers, and he was frankly a nut job. William Tyndale took a stab at putting the New Testament into what was then modern English, but he put his own spin on things. Myles Coverdale took care of the filthier bits. The King James version was basically Bible by committee; a committee of 47. And like all committees, they would argue the toss between themselves. The Bible might be extremely influential, but from a literary point of view, its far from it. It lacks any narrative unity, huge junks are, frankly boring, especially the bits that go through genealogies, census records, citing architectural specs, describing in excruciating detail, religious regulations and setting tribal boundaries. It does little to develop characters, in the way Shakespeare did. It uses repetitious language, because that's the style of Hebrew, but in English "and it came to pass" become formulaic. People confuse its influence with literary value. Its not the yardstick to use to instruct people how to write prose. Saying that its just about spending a couple of days with some selected quotes will actually devalue the influence of the Bible, because those reviews of snippets will lack all context. Imagine thinking you understand Shakespeare you only considered the famous St Swithin’s Day speech from Henry V. It reduces the Bible to a series of memes. Obviously proponents of this idea don't want this, so they will push for compulsory religious education. When I was growing up, we went to Sunday School. That was the choice of the parents, not the school. I know for a fact that American churches also run sunday schools for kids. Why isn't this enough? The King James Bible as one of the most influential works in English literary culture than as an unequivocally great literary masterpiece on the same artistic grounds as Shakespeare's plays or the great novels and epics.
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