A Problematic Book
This chapter discusses seven reasons why the Bible is problematic—in other words, more complicated than it appears at first glance. One is that the Bible is not a single book. As such, one cannot expect to read through the Bible, cover to cover, and encounter a neat dramatic structure defining a single story. Another reason is that there is more than one Bible, since what constitutes the whole of the Bible depends on the process of canonization. From there, the chapter argues that the Bible is problematic because the texts themselves were composed, and collected, over a long period of time. The Bible has a lot of different authors and editors, most of whom are anonymous. Even the latest texts come from a very long time ago. The Bible was written in languages that are utterly unfamiliar to most readers today. Finally, the chapter raises its final point: that most of the Bible's readers today “believe in” it.