The Bible's Influence On Western Culture

Riches’ seventh chapter, “The Bible in High and Popular Culture,” attempts to explain the extent of the Bible’s influence on Western culture. This chapter seemed to be pretty self-explanatory, as almost all paintings, music, and writings in the Western fashion have allusions to the Bible and expand upon the themes and symbols presented in it. Riches describes specific situations in which the Bible has influenced Western art, but the extent of this inspiration from the Bible is no way limited to the examples mentioned. The Bible has become so integral to Western culture that most of our classic and modern stories have motifs and allusions to Biblical event, to the extent of some of them being retellings. Examples of this include the works of Shakespeare, especially The Merchant of Venice and Macbeth, and spanning centuries to the writing of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, in particular The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Though Riches attempts to explain the overwhelming effect the Bible has had on the art of Western culture, it is not possible to explain in just one chapter because of the sheer volume of works inspired by the Bible over hundreds of years. The chapter gives excellent examples of these works, but I feel as it does not stress enough the extent of these allusions and

makes this seem as less significant of a topic that could be integrated into other chapters.
The story of the Akedah is an example of different faiths and different sects of the same faith will read a story differently.

Jewish people tend to argue that the sacrifice is a test of Abraham’s loyalty and God’s ban on human sacrifices. Christians tend to view it as a prophecy for what is to come in the New Testament, although many also agree with the Jewish interpretation of the story. Muslims disagree with Jews and Christians, disputing the son that was named in the text and interpreting it to be Ishmael. This is an example of different groups interpreting the same Biblical story to confirm their worldviews and justify their faith, which is a major theme of this

class.
The story in Judges is the story of Samson and Delilah. This story is one of the first about a woman temptress, and this is again an example of an archetypal character from the Bible appearing in various other works, as examined in the section of Riches’ chapter on novels and fiction inspired by the Bible. The woman temptress is a classical literary character that appears again and again in classical literature, and this character was originally inspired by Delilah. Though this is a somewhat sexist archetype of a character, it has nonetheless persisted, and can be demonstrated in no less monumental of works than Shakespeare’s plays.
The story of David and Goliath is again an example of Biblical stories being so mainstream that they enter the modern-day vernacular. The story is so well known that sports commentators will often describe games as “David vs. Goliath,” and the story has become an archetype in that many stories follow a similar pattern to the David and Goliath story, with the person or group that is seemingly lesser beating their oppressor. The story is an example of Bible stories being the main source of literature and ideals in Western culture.
Matthew describes first the Beatitudes, then the description of people as the “salt of the earth,” then the Law and the Prophets. All of these are integral to the Christian faith, and many of these passages are instructing Christians on how to live and enter the Kingdom of Heaven. These passages are interesting in that they require extreme interpretation. These passages are interesting in that the interpretation changed a ridiculous amount from the early ages of Christianity to the modern era. The ideas of the merciful and the peacekeepers, as described in the Beatitudes, are the most glaring example of this, as they were interpreting in the past to be supporting the Crusades, which most modern day Christians would agree as being as the opposite of this.