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The Bible Code: fact or fake?

THE BIBLE CODE: FACT OR FAKE?
By Phil Stanton
Kingsway. 122 pages
ISBN 0 85476 766 5

This book is a plea for humble, transforming reading of the Bible and a critique of 'the world's' attempt to stop us doing this. The Bible Code is used as an example of how this attempt happens.

The first chapter sets up the idea of 'the system' conspiring to prevent Bible-reading. The next two assess Michael Drosnin's book The Bible Code (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997). This is followed by a call to hold onto common sense in the face of 'expert' opinion. Two central chapters set out the scope of the conspiracy: outside the church, those in power resist the Bible because they resist the idea of an authority higher than themselves; even within the church, Bible-reading is made rare by liberal theology. Final chapters discuss how to read the Bible and how to experience the gospel's transformation.

Phil Stanton seems right in seeing The Bible Code as one of an endless series of 'supernaturalist' fads that actually distract people from looking seriously into the Bible and the gospel. Whether this is part of a demonic conspiracy is not something easily accessible. The idea of a conspiracy on a human level, while it may have elements of truth, seems on the whole unconvincing. Publishers seem to publish books like Drosnin's not for ideological reasons but because they sell. Even Christian publishers are pleased if they can get something with a sensational edge!

The title of the book is likely to mislead people into thinking there will be in-depth analysis of The Bible Code. Phil Stanton's couple of chapters on this do make some good points - for example: 'The Bible is for the poor and humble, and The Bible Code is for the rich and clever' (who have powerful computers, p.24). However, the issue of the omission of Hebrew vowels is handled incorrectly. Omitting the vowels does not automatically make the code able to say anything. A text without vowel-pointing is not a 'mutilated' one - our oldest manuscripts are unpointed and the Qumran scribes who produced them were absolutely devoted to the text. Finally, Michael Drosnin surely did expect his readers to realise that his text was unpointed.

Phil Stanton's analysis of The Bible Code is not really adequate but his call for committed study of the Bible is one that the churches urgently need to hear.

Peter Oakes