圣經(jīng)的故事

內(nèi)容概要

《圣經(jīng)的故事》是一部以通俗的手法描寫和演繹《圣經(jīng)》故事的文學(xué)巨著，它是由荷蘭裔美著名歷史學(xué)家，作家房龍（1882-1944）編著而成，他以簡潔優(yōu)美的敘述，解讀了《圣經(jīng)》這部偉大作品，勾勒出了一幅猶太人的歷史畫卷，《圣經(jīng)》是怎樣一部書，包含哪些內(nèi)容，作者是誰，成書于何時，猶太教與基督教的關(guān)系，希臘羅巴文明與基督教的關(guān)系，耶穌是怎樣一個人等等，這些在房龍的娓娓敘述之下變得清晰而迷人。　　這本中文導(dǎo)讀英文版的經(jīng)典讀本，無論作為了解《圣經(jīng)》的讀本，還是作為語言學(xué)習(xí)的課外讀物，對當(dāng)代中國的讀者都將產(chǎn)生重要的影響。為了使讀者能夠了解每篇故事的概況，進(jìn)而提高閱讀速度和閱讀水平，在每篇英文故事的開始部分增加了中文導(dǎo)讀。

作者簡介

　　房龍（Hendrik Willem van Loon，1882-1944），荷裔美國著名通俗歷史學(xué)家。一生出版了三十余種書籍，單槍匹馬地將人類各方面的歷史幾乎全部復(fù)述一遍。其中《寬容》、《人類的故事》、《房龍地理》等暢銷著作，影響了幾代人。 郁達(dá)夫曾說，房龍的筆有一種魔力，干燥無味的科學(xué)常識經(jīng)她那么一寫，無論大人小孩，讀他書的人都覺得娓娓忘倦了。

書籍目錄

1．一份文學(xué)遺產(chǎn)/A Literary Inheritance	12．創(chuàng)世記/Creation	93．拓荒者/The Pioneers	194．繼續(xù)西行/Further Westward	375．暫留埃及/A Home in Egypt	496．?dāng)[脫奴役/The Escape from Slavery	527．曠野漂泊/Wandering in the Wilderness	618．尋找新牧場/Finding New Pastures	719．征服迦南/The Conquest of Canaan	8210．路得的故事/The Story of Ruth	10611．猶太王國/A Jewish Kingdom	11012．內(nèi)戰(zhàn)/Civil War	14613．先知的警告/The Warning of the Prophets	15514．淪陷與流放/Downfall and Exile	19215．回歸家園/The Return Home	20616．雜書/The Miscellaneous Books	22417．希臘人到來/The Coming of the Greeks	23118．猶太國成為希臘的一個省/Judaea, a Greek Province	23519．革命與獨立/Revolution and Independence	24120．耶穌的誕生/The Birth of Jesus	26421．施洗約翰/John the Baptist	28222．耶穌的童年/The Childhood of Jesus	29223．門徒/The Disciples	29824．新導(dǎo)師/The New Teacher	30325．宿敵/The Old Enemies	31026．耶穌之死/The Death of Jesus	31727．思想的力量/The Strength of an Idea	33428．一個思想的勝利/The Triumph of an Idea	33829．教會的確立/The Established Church	347

章節(jié)摘錄

　　1．一份文學(xué)遺產(chǎn)　　A Literary Inheritance　　　　這本書寫的不是歷史上確實發(fā)生過什么，而是一個叫猶太的部落認(rèn)為發(fā)生了什么?！　—q太人為我們提供了《圣經(jīng)》和基督，但對于這個奇特部族的起源，我們竟然一無所知?！　?000年前，巴比倫王國和亞述王國通過敘利亞這條狹長的地面與埃及通商。從阿拉伯沙漠遷來的閃族部落就分布在這一地區(qū)。部族之間爭吵、混戰(zhàn)、流浪、掠奪?！　￠W族部落的一支猶太人曾經(jīng)流浪了千百年，竭力想擁有一小塊屬于自己的土地。他們曾經(jīng)在埃及住過。后來，他們離開埃及，聯(lián)合成一個強(qiáng)大部落，征服了巴勒斯坦，建立了獨立的國家。這個國家存在了幾個世紀(jì)，然后并入了亞歷山大帝國，之后又成了羅馬帝國的一部分?！　—q太人撰寫了自己的歷史，用他們的看法，講述了他們在埃及人、迦南人、巴比倫人當(dāng)中的經(jīng)歷。《圣經(jīng)》就是一部猶太人版本的古代亞洲史和非洲史?！　　杜f約》基本用希伯來語寫成，只有幾章預(yù)言是用阿拉米文寫的。在1000年的時間里，猶太人的故事和預(yù)言被記錄下來，匯編成書。后來，這些文字被譯成希臘文，傳到了歐洲。　　基督死后的前兩三百年，在羅馬當(dāng)局的迫害下，基督和他的使徒的故事秘密地通過手抄的冊子傳播。后來，教會整理了這些不同的版本，經(jīng)過幾百年的討論和爭辯，最終確定了我們現(xiàn)在所見的《新約》?！　　　　　W THE OLD AND THE NEW TESTAMENT CAME TO BE WRITTEN AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HOLY BOOK IN THE COURSE OF MANY CENTURIES　　THE pyramids were a thousand years old.　　Babylon and Nineveh had become the centres of vast empires.　　The valley of the Nile and that of the broad Euphrates and Tigris were filled with swarming masses of busy people, when a small tribe of desert wanderers, for reasons of their own, decided to leave their home along the sandy wastes of the Arabian desert, and began to travel northward in search of more fertile fields.　　In time to come, these wanderers were to be known as the Jews.　　Centuries later, they were to give us the most important of all our books, the Bible.　　Still later, one of their women was to give birth to the kindest and greatest of all teachers.　　And yet, curious to say, we know nothing of the origin of those strange folk, who came from nowhere, who played the greatest role ever allotted to the race of man, and then departed from the historical stage to become exiles among the nations of the world.　　What I shall therefore tell you in this chapter is somewhat vague in its general character and none too reliable as to detail.　　But the archaeologists are busily digging in the soil of Palestine. They are learning more and more as time goes by.　　A few facts are at our disposal, and of these I shall try to give you a trustworthy account.　　Through the western part of Asia run two broad rivers.　　They take their origin among the high mountains of the north. They lose themselves in the waters of the Persian Gulf.　　Along the banks of those two muddy streams, life was very agreeable and quite lazy. Therefore the people who inhabited either the cold mountains of the north or the scorching desert of the south all tried to get a foothold in the valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates. Whenever they had a chance, they left their old homes and wandered into the fertile plain.　　They fought each other and conquered each other, and founded one civilization right on top of the ruins of another that had gone before. They built large cities like Babylon and Nineveh, and more than forty centuries ago they turned this part of the world into a veritable paradise, the inhabitants of which were envied by all other men.　　But when you look at the map you will see many millions of busy little peasants tilling the fields of another powerful country. They live on the banks of the Nile and their country is called Egypt. They are separated from Babylonia and Assyria by a narrow strip of land. There are many things which they need and which they can obtain only in the distant countries of the fertile plain. There are many things which the Babylonians and the Assyrians need, and which are manufactured only in Egypt. The two nations therefore trade with one another, and the highroad of commerce runs through the narrow strip of land which we have just mentioned.　　Nowadays we call that part of the world Syria. In olden days it was known by many names. It is composed of low mountains and broad valleys. It has few trees, and the soil is baked by the sun. But a number of small lakes and many little brooks add a touch of loveliness to the sombre monotony of the rocky hills.　　From the earliest times on, this region of the ancient highroads has been inhabited by different tribes, who have moved hither from the Arabian desert. They all belong to the Semitic race. They all speak an identical language. They worship the same gods. Often they fight each other. Then they make treaties of peace with each other, and fight each other again. They steal each other’s cities and each other’s wives and each other’s flocks, and generally behave as such wandering tribes will behave when there is no higher authority in the land than the violence of their own will and the strength of their own good sword.　　In a vague way they recognise the authority of the Kings of Egypt or the Kings of Babylonia or Assyria. When the tax-collectors of those mighty potentates come down the road with their armed retinue of men, the quarrelling herdsmen become very humble. With many profound bows, they acknowledge themselves the obedient servants of the Pharaoh of Memphis or the King of Akkad. But when His Excellency, the Governor, together with his soldiers, has gone, then the old life of tribal warfare continues as merrily as before.　　Please do not take these struggles too seriously. They were the only outdoor sport these ancient people could enjoy, and the damage done was usually very slight. Besides, it kept the young men in good trim.　　The Jews, who were to play such a great role in the history of the human race, began their career as one of the quarrelling, fighting, wandering, stealing little tribes who were trying to maintain themselves in the land of the High Roads. Unfortunately, we really know next to nothing of the beginning of their history. Many learned men have made many learned guesses. But a plausible guess does not fill an historic gap. And when we read that the Jews originally came from the land of Ur on the Persian Gulf, this may be true, but also it may be false. Rather than tell you many things which were not so, I tell you nothing at all and only mention a very few facts, upon which all historians agree.　　The earliest ancestors of the Jews probably lived in the desert of Arabia. We do not know in what century they left their old homesteads, that they might enter the fertile plain of western Asia. We know that they wandered for many centuries, trying to get hold of a bit of land which they could call their own, but the road which they followed has been lost. We also know that at one time or another, the Jews crossed the desert of Mount Sinai and that they lived for a while in Egypt.　　From that moment on, however, Egyptian and Assyrian texts begin to throw some light upon the events which are enumerated in the Old Testament.　　The rest of the story became a familiar tale—how the Jews left Egypt and after an endless trek in the desert, were united into a strong tribe—how that tribe conquered a small part of the land of the High Roads, called Palestine, and there established a nation, and how that nation fought for its independence and survived several centuries until it was absorbed by the empire of the Macedonian King, Alexander, and was then turned into part of one of the minor provinces of the great Roman state.　　But when I mention these historical occurrences, bear one thing in mind. This time, I am not writing a book of history. I am not going to tell you what (according to the best historical information) actually happened. I am going to try to show you how a certain people, called the Jews, thought that certain things had happened.　　As you all know, there is a great deal of difference between the things that “are facts” and the things which we “believe to be facts”. Every text-book of history of every land tells the story of the past as the people of that particular country believe it to be true, but when you cross the frontier and read the text-book of the nearest neighbour, you will therein find a very different account. Yet the little children who read those chapters will believe them to be true until the end of their days.　　Here and there, of course, an historian or a philosopher or another queer person will read all the books of all the countries, and perhaps he will come to an appreciation of something that approaches the absolute truth. But if he wishes to lead a peaceful and happy life, he will keep this information to himself.　　What is true of the rest of the world is also true of the Jews. The Jews of thirty centuries ago and those of twenty centuries ago and those of to-day are ordinary human beings, just as you and I. They are no better (as they sometimes claim) and no worse (as their enemies often state) than any one else. They possess certain virtues which are very uncommon, and they also have certain faults which are exceedingly common. But so much has been written about them, good, bad and indifferent, that it is very difficult to come to a correct estimate of their just place in history.　　We experience the same difficulty when we try to learn the historical value of the chronicles which the Jews themselves kept and which tell us their adventures among the men of Egypt and among the men of the land of Canaan and among the men of the land of Babylonia.　　Newcomers are rarely popular. In most of the countries which the Jews visited during their endless years of peregrination, they were newcomers. The old and settled inhabitants of the valleys of the Nile and of the dales of Palestine and those who lived along the banks of the Euphrates did not receive them with open arms. On the contrary, they said, “We have hardly room for our own sons and daughters. Let those foreigners go elsewhere. ” Then there was trouble.　　When the Jewish historians looked back upon those ancient days, they tried to place their own ancestors in the best possible light. Nowadays we do the same thing. We praise the virtues of the Puritan settlers of Massachusetts and we describe the horrors of those first years when the poor white man was forever exposed to the cruel arrow of the savage. But we rarely mention the fate of the red man, who was exposed to the equally cruel bullet of the white man’s blunderbuss.　　An honest history, written from the point of view of the Indians, would make mighty interesting reading. But the Indian is dead and gone, and we shall never know how the coming of the foreigners in the year 1620 impressed him. Which is a pity.　　For many centuries, the Old Testament was the only history of old Asia which our grandfathers could decipher and understand. But a century ago, we began to learn how to read the hieroglyphics of Egypt, and fifty years ago we discovered the key to the mysterious nail-writing of Babylon. We now know that there was a very different side to the stories which were related by the old Jewish chronicle writers.　　We see them commit the mistakes of all patriotic historians and we understand how they perverted the truth to increase the glory and the splendour of their own race.　　All this, however (I repeat it), does not properly belong in my book. I am not writing a history of the Jewish people. I am not defending them, or attacking their motives. I am merely repeating their own version of ancient Asiatic and African history. I shall not study the critical texts of learned historians. A little Bible, bought for a dime, will provide me with all the material I can possibly need.　　If you had used the word “Bible” to a Jew of the first century of our era, he would not have known what you were talking about. The word is comparatively new. It was invented in the fourth century by John Chrysostom, the patriarch of Constantinople, who referred to the general collection of Holy Books of the Jews as the “Biblia” or the “Books”.　　This collection had been growing steadily for almost a thousand years. With a few exceptions, the chapters had all been written in Hebrew. But Hebrew was no longer a spoken language when Jesus was born. Aramaic (much simpler and widely known among the common people) had taken its place and several of the prophetic utterances of the Old Testament were written in that language. But please don’t ask me “when the Bible was written”, because I could not answer you.　　Every little Jewish village and every little Jewish temple possessed certain accounts of its own which had been copied on the skins of animals or on bits of Egyptian papyrus by pious old men, who took an interest in such things. Sometimes small collections were made of different laws and of prophecies for handy use among those who visited the temple.　　During the eighth century B. C. , when the Jews had settled down to their life in Palestine, those compilations grew larger and larger. At some time or other between the third and the first century before our era, they were translated into the Greek language, and were brought to Europe. Since then they have been translated into every language of the world.　　As for the New Testament, its history is quite simple. During the first two or three centuries after the death of Christ, the followers of the humble carpenter of Nazareth were forever in danger of trouble with the Roman authorities. The doctrines of love and charity were thought to be very dangerous to the safety of the Roman state, which had been founded upon the brute strength of the sword. The early Christians, therefore, could not go to a book store and say:“Please give me a ‘Life of Christ’ and an account of the acts of his Apostles. ” They got their information from secret little pamphlets which were passed from hand to hand. Thousands of such pamphlets were copied and recopied, until people lost all track of the truth of their contents.　　Meanwhile, the Church had been triumphant. The persecuted Christians became the rulers of the old Roman state. First of all they brought some order into the literary chaos caused by three centuries of persecution. The (head of the) Church called together a number of learned men. They read all the accounts which were popular, and discarded most of them. They decided to keep a few of the gospels and a few of the letters which had been written by the Apostles to the members of distant congregations. All the other stories were discarded.　　Then followed several centuries of discussion and dispute. Many famous Synods were held in Rome and in Carthage (a new city built upon the ruins of the famous old seaport) and in Trullo, and seven hundred years after the death of Christ the New Testament (as we know it) was definitely adopted by the Churches of the East and by those of the West. Since then there have been countless translations made from the original Greek, but no very important changes have occurred in the text.　　The Story of the Bible　　　　A Literary ?Inheritance

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