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Loading... Beasts of the Field: The Revealing Natural History of Animals in the Bible (edition 2006)by Michael BrightThis started out promising but quickly got bogged down by the author just listing animal after animal after animal and what little looking into their historical context within both the bible and the world that did happen just got lost in the aforementioned listing. I did learn a few things about animals in the Middle East so I don't feel it was a waste of time to read, it just wasn't as interesting or engaging a read as I was hoping for. This book has a lot of good information, but also a real problem: It just is not clear what the purpose of the book is. For each animal (generally as mentioned in the KJV of the Bible) there is information on which Hebrew (and sometimes Greek words) are translated as that animal. There is information on the species at home in the Biblical area and other possible translations. Bright also includes any folklore about the animal (from anywhere in the world) and quotes from a 19th century naturalist. One piece of misinformation: Bright claims (p243) that the translators would not have know that peacocks can be eaten. They were a favoured part of Henry VIII's feasts. Certainly that would still have been known at the time of James I, whether or not roast peacock was still a part of court feasts. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)220.859Religions Bible Bible Nonreligious subjects treated in Bible Natural Science of the BibleLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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I did learn a few things about animals in the Middle East so I don't feel it was a waste of time to read, it just wasn't as interesting or engaging a read as I was hoping for. ( )