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| Thomas Dunne Books |
Dr. Joel M. Hoffman
2014
The Summary
"The bible you usually read is the abridged version. Some holy writings were left out for political or theological reasons, others simply because of the physical restrictions of ancient bookmaking technology. At times, the compilers of the bible skipped information that they assumed everyone knew. Some passages were even omitted by accident.
"In The Bible's Cutting Room Floor, acclaimed author and translator Dr. Joel M. Hoffman gives us the stories and other texts that didn't make it into the Bible, even though they offer penetrating insight into the Bible and its teachings.
"The Book of Genesis tells us about Adam and Eve's time in the Garden of Eden, but not their saga after they get kicked out or the lessons they have for us about good and evil. The Bible introduces us to Abraham, but it doesn't include the troubling story of his early life, which explains how he came to reject idolatry to become the father of monotheism. And while there are only 150 Psalms in today's Bible, there used to be many more.
"Dr. Hoffman deftly brings these and other ancient scriptural texts to life, exploring how they offer new answers to some of the most fundamental and universal questions people ask about their lives. [...] The Bible's Cutting Room Floor reveals what's missing from your Bible, who left it out, and why it's so important."
The Good
I picked up The Bible's Cutting Room Floor at my local library. I was intrigued by the premise: I knew about the various books of the Bible that were sometimes included and sometimes not, but I knew very little about the books themselves - and, worse, I couldn't say why these books were excluded.
Why was the Life of Adam and Eve struck from the record? Why were the Books of Enoch, which were once so popular, barely recognized in modern religion? And just how important was John the Baptist to religious history?
Hoffman is an excellent writer - very clear, very precise if a little dry on occasions, but he has a scathing wit that appears every few pages and delivers an unexpected jolt of laughter - and he weaves a great deal of detail into his work.
I can appreciate the depth of detail in The Bible's Cutting Room Floor, looking from the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Septuagint to the modern King James version, comparing and contrasting all the chapters that we sometimes no longer find, gives Hoffman's work an informative edge. For research or study purposes, The Bible's Cutting Room Floor is an excellent resource.
The Bad
Admittedly, reading Hoffman's book proved to be slow going. Hoffman provides a thorough examination of the forgotten (and, sometimes, purposefully ignored) books of the Bible, which I enjoyed; however, even in the first few chapters, his narration becomes repetitive. That is, Hoffman has a very bad habit of rehashing information and repeating what he just said, which I didn't enjoy.
And it was a little dry. (Very, very dry truthfully. I was parched for some other reading material in the midst of finishing The Bible's Cutting Room Floor. I binged on a little light reading after I finished.)
The Ugly
Not all the stories in the Bible are, shall we say, "nice." There are some stories involving eternal damnation, fallen angels and evil spirits, abject cruelty, penance and failure - and so on and so forth. It really isn't a pretty picture.
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