Life, the universe, and everything.
So I've been thinking a lot about god recently. Hanging out with Nea so much has made me really realize what it means to devote yourself to a religion. I mean, she's willing to do NOTHING on saturdays just to please god.
Anyway, so I was thinking to myself "Self, we need to be more like that, and less lukewarm bordering very strongly on completely cold."
So I was thinking about it and I got sort of confused, and realized that there's a lot of stuff in the bible that I don't know. So I think before I can come to any conclusions I have to read the entire bible, cover to cover, in order. I've never done that, just read verses at random, and also verses that were pointed out to me as part of directed study sessions.
The trouble is, now that I've read some stuff from the Torah, I realize just how much of a difference the translation can make. I mean, they have like, at least nine different names for God in hebrew. Reading a verse from genesis as translated into English by a jewish translator, translating directly from hebrew, is a lot different from translating from the King James or whatever into modern english by a christian translator. So I want to get myself a copy of the bible that has some commentary to help me understand the context, and also that has translation notes. But I don't want something with a heavy idealogical slant, that has an agenda of it's own in the commentary.
So I guess what I'm asking is, does anyone know of a good, well-translated, and fully annotated edition of the bible, that has historically-rooted commentary that doesn't put forth the commentator's opinions too strongly?
I also would prefer an edition that isn't claiming to have been written by aliens.
I'm also aware that my livejournal friends list might not be the greatest place for getting this kind of information.
Anyway, so I was thinking to myself "Self, we need to be more like that, and less lukewarm bordering very strongly on completely cold."
So I was thinking about it and I got sort of confused, and realized that there's a lot of stuff in the bible that I don't know. So I think before I can come to any conclusions I have to read the entire bible, cover to cover, in order. I've never done that, just read verses at random, and also verses that were pointed out to me as part of directed study sessions.
The trouble is, now that I've read some stuff from the Torah, I realize just how much of a difference the translation can make. I mean, they have like, at least nine different names for God in hebrew. Reading a verse from genesis as translated into English by a jewish translator, translating directly from hebrew, is a lot different from translating from the King James or whatever into modern english by a christian translator. So I want to get myself a copy of the bible that has some commentary to help me understand the context, and also that has translation notes. But I don't want something with a heavy idealogical slant, that has an agenda of it's own in the commentary.
So I guess what I'm asking is, does anyone know of a good, well-translated, and fully annotated edition of the bible, that has historically-rooted commentary that doesn't put forth the commentator's opinions too strongly?
I also would prefer an edition that isn't claiming to have been written by aliens.
I'm also aware that my livejournal friends list might not be the greatest place for getting this kind of information.