The Makings of a Worldwide Bestseller by Peter

The Makings of a Worldwide Bestseller by Peter - February 2015 Scholarship Essay

There is little doubt that the Bible is the world’s best-selling and most widely distributed book of all times. This indisputable statistic has been officially confirmed in the Guinness Book of World Records. Even the runner ups - the Koran, the Book of Mormon, and Quotations from Chairman Mao - do not come close to the number of copies of the Bible sold. More than six billion copies have been printed, in over 450 languages. Printing presses continue to publish numerous renditions of the Bible from the original King James Version to the most recent New International Version, and it is estimated that within the next five years the Bible will be translated in over 1,185 languages. The Bible continues to be the most provocative piece of literature throughout history, having been banned by governments, outlawed, and burned by protesters. At the same time, others have risked their lives to obtain a Bible and have literally been willing to die for this book. Still others have died in wars, such as the Crusades, which were levied in the Middle East on behalf of this book. It is considered to be sacred by many, and, at the same time, sacrilegious by others. Any book that can cause so much controversy and publicity is a book that is worth reading for a multitude of reasons, and it would provide an excellent selection for required reading on a high school level.

The Bible, specifically the Old Testament, is a fairly accurate historical account of the early Jewish nation. Written over a span of about fifteen hundred years, with over forty authors from every walk of life, including kings, peasants, philosophers, musicians, fishermen, tax collectors, shepherds, and scholars, it presents a continuous historical account of approximately five centuries of the history of Israel. Although first written on perishable materials, this book had to be copied and recopied for hundreds of years before the invention of the printing press, and yet it has never faced extinction. This is a remarkable fact in and of itself. Scholars have studied the reliability of the Old Testament and have found more early manuscripts of the Bible than there are of any other classical author, including the Iliad by Homer, the Gallic Wars by Caesar, and the Annals, by Tacitus. In addition, these early Bible manuscripts throughout the years have be studied and compared with each other and found to be without any major contradictions. The Jews took great effort to preserve this book by employing scribes and lawyers whose sole responsibility was to count every letter, syllable, word and paragraph of these manuscripts to ensure accuracy. Recent archaeological finds, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, have further substantiated the reliability of the Old Testament Bible as an accurate historical record of the Jewish nation. This book is worth reading for its pure historic importance as a chronicle of history of these early civilizations.

Written in a variety of literary styles, including poetry, song, historical narrative, law, allegory, satire, parable, and biography to mention a few, it provides an excellent topic of study for all literary and philosophy majors. The Bible unquestionably offers a major contribution to literature and the arts, and is worthy to be on the library shelves alongside other literary masterpieces written by Shakespeare, Kant, Calvin, Aristotle, Aquinas, Dante, Plato, Darwin, and Homer. The great books written by these authors have been an intricate part of the Western tradition of ideas, and they display an incredible diversity of viewpoints on just about every subject. The Bible, likewise, deals with hundreds of controversial subjects, including marriage, divorce, remarriage, homosexuality, adultery, parenting, obedience to authority, and character development. It is interesting to note, however, that in spite of the numerous authors of in the Bible, there is an uncanny, unifying thread of commonality of viewpoints on these controversial topics. In addition to its unique literary value, the Bible offers a solid moral and ethical viewpoint on life. It is worth reading for these merits alone. As part of a high school curriculum, it would ask the student reader to critically address the many ethical questions covered in the book, which are as relevant today as they were two thousand years ago. The lessons taught in the Bible are timeless, and their application can be applied to any walk of life and any continuing field of college study. It is an invaluable piece of literature that should be offered on a high school level.

As the Bible is read by many for its spiritual appreciation, this noteworthy book will continue to be the number one bestseller for years to come. It continues to retain its position on top of the sales charts for Amazon and eBay, and its excerpts are often referenced and quoted in many other extraneous pieces of literature. Its greatest merits, however, are found in its message of faith, hope, and charity for all those who believe in its timeless message of a loving Creator seeking the redemption of mankind. This book will continue to challenge and inspire all critical minds and, at the same time, offers peace, hope, and comfort to every believer.