The Bible: Designed to be Read as Living Literature, the Old and the New Testaments in the King James Version

By Richard Madden and Thorsten Carlson

Book Overview

Exquisitely redesigned, this Bible is rendered in a readable continuous narrative, arranged in historical order, and is based on extensive scholarship. The text has been restyled to reflect the soul of the different literary forms, from poetry to drama, song to psalms, blended together to create the most widely read document in the world. 2-color endpaper maps. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671879596
• ISBN13: 9780671879594
• Release Date: November 1993
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 1258 Pages
• Weight: 3.93 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.5" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

This may be your best chance of reading the Bible..

As another reviewer astutely noted, this version of the Bible is well-suited to secular classrooms. In fact, that's where I met this book, as an assigned text in a course at UC Santa Barbara given by one of the wisest men I have ever been lucky enough to know. (Douwe Stuurman is how I remember his name, many years later.) What you get here is basically two (two!) classics in one! The Bible itself, and just about the only...

Strangely, I like it

Okay, let's start with what this book ISN'T. It isn't exactly a Bible; about one-fourth of the Scripture text is omitted entirely. (Which is a shame, because I really wanted to see Ezekiel 8 and 9.) Nor is it a product for believers; the editor who designed this edition is a firm liberal of the 19th-century style who believes practically every Socinean corruption of his day. It isn't even a new text, but a very practical...

Perfect for the secular classroom

The King James Version will always be read for it's literary quality. It's influence on Western culture is immeasurable. One cannot, for example, contemplate the Gettysburg address without resort to the KJV. That said, it is often difficult to read on its own. Each verse is a separate paragraph and punctuation hardly conforms to today's standards. The Bates edition helps incalculably in that respect. It does not, and nor...

Highly readable way to dip into the Bible

This book is a true benefit to those who wish to read and understand the Bible, but have had trouble getting into it because of all the 'thee's and 'thou's' therein. Most of the stories are there, told in an easily readable manner, allowing the reader to grasp the book's teachings in an easy way. Though it doesn't purport to take the place of the Bible, it does lend itself to easing the reader into it, should the reader choose...