Tackling the New Testament

When I go to the state fair there is usually an exhibit by the anti-abortion lobby or a church that has that as its primary initiative.  I do not engage them in conversation but listen to the spiel politely and on occasion take one of the pocket New Testaments that they give out.  I have a handful around the house.  While under restricted activity, I read much of the Prophets on Sefaria.  My attempt at the Quran got me about as far as the chapter about the cow, which isn't very far into it. 

Time to read the freebie from the state fair, pocket size but very thin paper and small print.  It starts with the Gospel of Matthew which took me about a week to read its 28 chapters.  Well written, easy to read from the Gideons translation.  Largely written in the manner of history or biography, not a lot of theology.  Many of the often cited passages and parables originate there.  It was not really The Jews who had it in for Jesus but their Machers.  We have Macher swoops today.

Next in order is the Gospel of Mark.  My pace would require four days.  So far it reads as more goyish than Matthew, many of the same historical citations repackaged but I've only read about a third of it so far.  The other two Gospels and Acts are fairly lengthy, the rest fairly short epistles or commentary.  Will try to stay on pace.

Reading the Prophets

While the 21st century has not brought us personal planes or reliable cures to life-ending diseases, it has brought us massive portable libraries and access to radio stations across the globe.  A Jewish source, Sefaria, comprises the spectrum of sources from Parsha Bereshit to more recent commentary, much translated to English.  I took it upon myself to read the English translation of the poetic prophets, accelerated in pace by the quarantine.  I've only got about half of Zechariah and all of Jeremiah to go, giving myself advance credit for having read the translation of Jonah on many Yom Kippur afternoons.  Reading them as primary sources has its challenges.  God is often not really that flattering individual worthy of imitatio dei.  He has a wicked temper and can be a narcissist, as much of Ezekiel describes.  The twelve short books all seem to blend together and many do not seem to have a coherent theme.  There is context that I don't appreciate and chapter divisions that seem artificial.  Their inclusion was chosen from among many options by an editor so why these were selected, particularly the obscure prophetic books will need some exploration.  Once I finish, I think it will be helpful to re-read the short ones and follow along the yutorah.org analyses of some of them.

We can read Nevi'im or we can read about Nevi'im.  Nothing really replaces the primary source, even if I depend on the translation.