THE FOLLY BIBLE

In this book, a Christian abandons his faith after discovering discrepancies in the Bible.

Born and raised a Christian, Casso remained faithful into adulthood and devoted Saturdays to in-depth studies of the Bible, which he believed to be the inerrant word of God. But while he was examining the book of Daniel, the author’s faith was shaken when he found a key difference between Christian and Jewish translations of Chapter 9. While Christian translations of the passage prophesize the coming of a redemptive Messiah, Jewish ones instead point to a military general. This incongruity led Casso to question the veracity of the entire Bible. As a trained lawyer, he applied his deductive reasoning skills to dismantle other Old Testament passages that Christians for millennia have claimed were prophesies fulfilled by the coming of Jesus. The second half of the work turns to the Gospels themselves, beginning with the “strange and irreconcilable genealogies of Jesus” that open Matthew and Luke. Other incongruent Gospel stories about the life of Jesus are discussed in a series of accessible and concise chapters. The book concludes with a reflective commentary of how Casso’s outlook on life changed following his transition from a devout Christian to a “qualified atheist.” Some Christians and skeptics may critique the volume for not seriously engaging with the library of writings by actual biblical scholars, who have long grappled with the same textual issues highlighted by the author. But this is an intentional move by Casso, who, “like the trained prosecutor” he is in his professional life, turns the words of the Bible against itself and shows how “the Christian Bible takes quite a beating at its own hands.” His arguments are well reasoned and convincing, though they too often rely on dismantling passages in the King James Version, a translation that many Christians acknowledge is far from perfect. Moreover, some Christians willing to hear the book’s case may be put off not by the arguments but rather by the author’s haughty and dismissive tone.

A well-reasoned, if smug, case against the inerrancy of the Bible.