Novelized or abridged, Old Testament is still a challenge

Former Slate editor David Plotz blogged about reading the Old Testament from beginning to end. He said that although he was still an agnostic when he finished, “I’ve become a full-on Bible thumper. Everyone should read it — all of it!”

In The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, coauthor E. D. Hirsch Jr. said that no one can be considered culturally literate without a basic knowledge of the Bible.

So even if you’re not a believer, maybe you’ll bear with me as I tell about my dip into the Old Testament (aka Hebrew Bible, First Testament). 

How do you feel about aging?

I was surprised about feeling wiped out from a mere cold. At least that’s what I thought a runny nose, a cough, and a slight fever amounted to. Sleeping nine to ten hours a night wasn’t enough; in the afternoons I’d doze off on the couch while watching TV.

This is another indication of age-related decline, I grumbled. Our immune systems weaken. We get sicker than in our younger days.

Why visit ethnic museums?

My dad told us his maternal grandparents were German. They said so themselves when US Census takers came around.

John and Barbara Fritz were actually Luxembourger. 

Identifying as German was typical of 19th-century immigrants from their homeland. I read why at the Luxembourg American Cultural Society’s Roots and Leaves Museum in Belgium, Wisconsin, about 40 minutes north of Milwaukee.