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The Bible has been the most influential text in all of Western culture. It's difficult to understand medieval or early modern or much of modern literature without knowing it...

Prof. Barbara Newman, Northwestern University
from 2006 Bible Literary project

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It's not that it's impossible to read some writers without a Biblical background, but that you would miss a whole dimension to their work.

Prof. Steven Goldsmith, University of California at Berkeley
from 2006 Bible Literary Project

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I can only say that if a student doesn't know any Bible literature, he or she will simply not understand whole elements of Shakespeare, Sidney, Spenser, Milton, Pope, Wordsworth

Prof. Robert Kiely, Harvard University
from 2006 Bible Literary Project

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...there is truth in the remark. "without Tyndale[Bible translator], no Shakespeare"...

Prof. David Daniell, University College London
from The Bible in English

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You can't really study Western literature intelligently or coherently without starting with the Bible.

Prof. Gerald L. Bruns, University of Notre Dame
from 2006 Bible Literary Project

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...a familiar understanding of Christian doctrine in historical perspective thus contributes to a fuller appreciation of Shakespeare's art, but Shakespeare's art

Prof. Roland M. Frye
from Shakespeare and the Christian Doctrine

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In English tradition and also for an American tradition begun by Puritan writers, a knowledge of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament is even more crucial than classical references.

Prof. Ulrich Knoefplmacher, Princeton University
from 2006 Bible Literary Project

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There is no book more important for our culture than the Bible, and it is fundametal to the study of English literature and language.

Prof. David Jasper and Prof. Stephen Prickett
from the Bible and literature

All things to all men (1 Corinthians 9:22)

Picture description: Paul
Picture copyright: V. Gilbert and Arlisle F. Beers

bible verse

“I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.”

meaning

When you become all things to all men, you please everyone.

origin and application

Paul was a devoted missionary whose footprints in spreading the gospel could be seen across Asia and Europe. When he preached, he accommodated himself to suit people of different cultures. He would behave differently in front of different audiences in order to gain their friendship and later, the salvation of their souls.
When you become all things to all men, you please everyone – which implies an element of hypocrisy, too. This is hard to achieve in reality. So, this phrase is more often used in negation: you can’t be all things to all men.

Keywords

hypocrisy    Paul    please    preach   

Related Information

NIV official site
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