GQ Magazine is under fire for publishing an article titled “21 Books You Don’t Have to Read,” which list included the Bible.
The GQ editors who compiled the article wrote, “We've been told all our lives that we can only call ourselves well-read once we've read the Great Books. We tried...But a few pages into Bleak House, we realized that not all the Great Books have aged well. Some are racist and some are sexist, but most are just really, really boring. So we—and a group of un-boring writers—give you permission to strike these books from the canon.”
Some of the classic books that the GQ editors suggest are overrated and not worth reading include The Catcher in the Rye, The Old Man and the Sea, The Lord of the Rings, and the Bible.
The editors claim that the Bible “is repetitive, self-contradictory, sententious, foolish, and even at times ill-intentioned.”
Several pastors and Christian leaders responded to the GQ article, including Hillsong pastor Brian Houston who tweeted, “Wow. What a way for GQ to show this irrelevance. The bible is way more hip than GQ.”
Relevant Magazine writer Jesse Carey also noted that, regardless if someone is a Christian or not, suggesting we stop reading the Bible shows a lack of understanding of how “The Bible has helped shape western philosophy and provided the basis for many of modern history’s most pivotal moments.”
Photo courtesy: ©Thinkstockphotos.com
Publication date: April 23, 2018
