The Bible Doesn't Say That: 40 Biblical Mistranslations, Misconceptions, and Other Misunderstandings

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A vast readership wants better access to the ancient words and ideas of the Bible. In The Bible Doesn't Say That, Dr. Joel M. Hoffman walks the reader through dozens of instances of mistranslations, misconceptions, and other misunderstandings about the Bible. In 40 short chapters, Hoffman covers fundamental theology, morality, lifestyle, and biblical imagery: *The famous New Testament quotation "God so loved the world" is a mistranslation, as are the titles "Son of Man" and "Son of God." *The Bible doesn't call homosexuality a sin, and it doesn't advocate for the one-man-one-woman model of the family that has been dubbed "biblical." *Jesus had siblings, in spite of the Catholic rhetoric about the "ever-Virgin Mary." *The Ten Commandments don't prohibit killing or coveting. Even many of the Bible's details end up distorted: the fruit in the Garden of Eden wasn't an apple, it wasn't a whale that swallowed Jonah, and many animals marched onto Noah's ark in groups of seven, not pairs. The Bible Doesn't Say That succinctly explains each misunderstanding, detailing the nature of what went wrong and offering insight into the original meaning of the world's most popular book.

Reviews

"[A] witty and accessible look at Scripture...Hoffman has produced the best kind of popular scholarship, that will interest both religious and secular readers" - Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

"The Bible Doesn't Say That challenges the reader to think differently about many of the Bible's core ideas...the author writes in an accessible style that requires only an open mind and willingness to challenge long-held assumptions. A reader comes away understanding that while some of our misconceptions about the Bible are relatively minor, other misconceptions have led to significant misunderstandings, and even conflict, between people of faith." - JewishBookCouncil.org

Praise for The Bible's Cutting Room Floor
"A wonderful book to confirm the beliefs of the faithful, to strengthen those whose faith begs for more information and to enlighten those who reject the stories of the Bible as mere fiction. " -Kirkus Reviews

"An engrossing gift for amateur bible students." -Booklist

Praise for And God Said
"Deeply welcome as a valuable tool for teaching . . . well-worth acquiring." --Jewish Book World

"A sensitive . . . discussion of the structure of languages in general and of Biblical Hebrew in particular." --The Jerusalem Post

"A lively tour of the difficulties besetting the Bible's translators, their successes and (more frequent) failures." --Jewish Ideas Daily

Praise for In the Beginning
"Hoffman has a flair for explaining how languages work." --The Times Literary Supplement (London)

"Written in an energetic style with a commitment to exploring the evolution of Hebrew from ancient times to the present in ways that a broad audience can comprehend." --Religious Studies Review

Author Bio

Joel M. Hoffman PhD, is the author of In the Beginning, And God Said, and The Bible's Cutting Room Floor. He is the chief translator for the series My People's Prayer Book (winner of the National Jewish Book Award) and for My People's Passover Haggadah. He is an occasional contributor to The Jerusalem Post and The Huffington Post and has held faculty appointments at Brandeis University and at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He lives in Westchester, New York.