Making a spectacle of yourself (1 Corinthians 4:9)

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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

Making a spectacle of yourself (1 Corinthians 4:9)

Picture description: Lions
Picture copyright: V.

bible verse

“For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men.”

meaning

To make a spectacle of oneself is to make a fool of oneself, i.e. to act silly in public.

origin and application

In the letter to the church in Corinth, a principal city of Greece, Paul the apostle said that Christians were put on display for the world to witness their sufferings. Christians were likened to those prisoners whose executions took place publicly in Roman theatres for spectators to see. In early Christian communities, a lot of Christians were executed in these Roman theatres.

example

I made a spectacle of myself at the party.

Keywords

public shame spectacle

Related Information

NIV official site
Chinese Bible (???)

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Making a spectacle of yourself (1 Corinthians 4:9)

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