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Books

The Bible by Various

Our reviewer Les Reid finds The Holy Bible to be wholly unreliable.

What is the Bible? The Bible has been revered for centuries in its different versions and translations, and it still is today, by billions of people across the globe. Sometimes the reverential tone has become so hushed and obsequious that one feels that the ancient sin of idolatry should be extended to include Bibliolatry.

The oldest books of the Bible, the first five books, or ‘Pentateuch’, are thought to be nearly 3,000 years old, and are treated as holy scripture by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. But choosing which other books to place alongside those five is an important point of difference between the three main religions, and among the various sects which comprise them. Broadly speaking, there is majority agreement on the other books of the Old Testament; but then Muslims add the Koran, and Christians add the New Testament.