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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

Throw the first stone (John 8:3)

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bible verse

“If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:3)

meaning

To cast the first stone is to quickly condemn or judge someone’s fault.

origin and application

“Throw the first stone” is taken from a story in the New Testament. The scribes and Pharisees, out of their jealousy, often tested Jesus in front of a crowd. One day, they brought him a woman taken in adultery, and said to Jesus, “Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what say you? They thought that they might be able to accuse him. But Jesus said to them, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Upon hearing this, these people, aware of their own sins, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest to the last, until only Jesus and the woman were left behind.

example

Keywords

sin    stone    throw    woman   

Related Information

NIV official site
Chinese Bible (???)

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