From where
does the Bible, the holy
book of Judaism and
Christianity, get its
authority, an authority on
which rabbis, priests,
bishops, popes and preachers
through the ages and to this
day have based their own
personal authority? It was
claimed that the Bible gets
its authority from God,
either because He dictated
it directly to those who
originally wrote it down, or
because He inspired them. Being the
Word of God, one was
expected, and required,
to believe it. Argument was
only permitted about its
interpretation - and until
relatively recently even
that by just a select and
literate few . In truth,
I suggest (rather than
claiming indisputable divine
authority), the Bible gets
its authority not from God,
but from men and the magical
power the of the
written word. Long
before words were ever
written down they had
powerful magical properties,
conveying meaning and giving
extra powers to those best
able to use them. Stories
were told and passed on from
generation to generation,
some developing into the
myths of the ancients. Those
gifted with high
intelligence, good language
skills and good
memories, who learned,
remembered, retold, adapted
and elaborated on these
stories, especially when
they did so with an air of
authority, became powerful,
if not leading, members of
society. Thus, families of
priests, and a priesthood,
would have developed. With the
development of writing,
words and stories could be
written down, giving them
even more significance and
even more power to those
able to read and write. When
something is written down it
acquires an aurora of reality
and much greater importance
than something that is not.
I have noticed that when writing
my diary. What I don’t
write down usually gets
forgotten and effectively
ceases to exist, while what
I write down is preserved.
The writer appears to have
power over reality.
Nowadays, when most people
can read and write, that is
not quite such a big deal, but at
the beginnings of recorded
history, when only a tiny
elite of priests were able
to read and write, this must
have given them immense
power over their illiterate
fellows. The Bible
contains some of the very
first stories committed to
and preserved in writing.
That is where it derives its
authority - rather than from
God.
Those who first claimed that
it was the word of God did
so, deliberately or not, to
bolster their own authority,
which they based on it. And
when they were the only ones
who could read and copy the
texts they had authority
indeed. No wonder the
Catholic Church was not
happy when in the Middle
Ages lay people
started reading the Bible
for themselves -
it deprived the
Church and its priests of
much of their power.
However, that power was so
great that even today,
although virtually everyone
can read and write, it
continues to exert a very
strong influence on people
and society. We are
taught that the development
of monotheism was a great
cultural step forward.
Whether it was or not, it
was also a great help in
securing and making absolute
the authority of those whose
power was based on the
sacred texts in question. There is
an inherent, and very real,
human need for an authority
greater than one’s self
(as a child needs the
authority of its father). In
Western Civilisation, it was
the Word of God, contained
in the Bible and, until the
reformation, communicated
exclusively by the Catholic
Church, which provided this
need. As an instrument of
power it has been used and
misused to great effect. Those who
reject their need for an
authority greater than
themselves cannot progress
along the road of human
development from our animal
origins without becoming corrupt (terribly corrupt
when they acquire great or
absolute power, e.g. Hitler,
Stalin, Saddam and many a
lesser known dictator). Man is not sufficient unto himself, but needs the guidance of a higher authority to lead him beyond his animal nature. However, it is time to move on from the Bible, which is of immense historical and cultural importance and interest, at least for Western society, but whose persisting authority and influence is now a dangerous anachronism, obscuring and retarding the development of more enlightened and useful concepts of a higher authority (i.e. God).
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