I think this is a very interesting piece of observation. What ever one thinks of belief a lack of knowledge of the influence of the King James 1 Bible makes us poorer students of the Enlish Language. I should also point out that without a knowledge of classical mythology we are also lacking in understanding the last 2000 years. We are still exiting in a culture influenced by Christianity and Classical Mythology.
British people fail to recognise common Bible phrases......By Nick Britten
The majority of Britons do not realise familiar English phrases such "my brother’s keeper", "eat, drink and be merry" and "a drop in the bucket" come from the Bible, according to a new survey.
While nearly half of Britons believe the Bible is an important book, few realise that common modern day phrases emanate from it, instead believing they come from a variety of sources including The Beatles, Shakespeare of even Tony Blair.
A ComRes poll for Bible Society reveals nearly half those surveyed (46%) said they thought the Bible was an important book and even though they don’t read it often it does have valuable things to say.
Only seven per cent of the 2,379 respondents knew, for example, that the phrase “a drop in the bucket” came from Isaiah. More popular answers were Tony Blair (12%), Shakespeare (14%) and Charles Dickens (12%).
The findings come as Bible Society in England and Wales and The Scottish Bible Society launched “The People’s Bible”, a handwritten, online, digital Bible which will visit towns and cities across the UK giving people the chance to re-engage or engage with the Bible for the first time.
Around double the amount of people working in the arts thought the Bible was important compared to those who worked in classical music and politics
Luke Walton, Culture Programme Manager at Bible Society, said: “It’s clear that people’s knowledge of the Bible is limited and they just don’t realise how significant and wide-ranging its influence has been.
“We hope that this project will help people, once again, value the Bible. Making a connection with the text helps us both to appreciate its role in our own culture, history and politics, and it can enrich our lives personally.
“The Bible remains the world’s best seller and we can’t afford to exclude it from public life.”
No comments:
Post a Comment