'Woe is me' to those who miss biblical rhetoric

'Woe is me' to those who miss biblical rhetoric

Woe is me: If you want to be all things to all people, remember that many are called but few are chosen.

If those phrases have a familiar ring, they should: They come from the Bible and have entered the secular lexicon. The nation's left-right culture wars have heightened such use of biblical phrases as rivals try to invoke heavenly punch and challenge your Bible IQ.

For one, President Barack Obama has said that opponents of his health care proposals are "bearing false witness" against his ideas, recalling the commandment against lying without accusing critics of being liars.

That gave Obama's rhetoric a dose of divine imperative, according to Timothy Beal, a college religion professor who has written a book connecting popular references to biblical stories. "Biblical Literacy: the Essential Bible Stories Everyone Needs to Know" was published in October.

"I think you can't be culturally literate without being biblically literate," Beal said in an interview in his snug, book-lined office at Case Western Reserve University.

"These biblical stories and even images are pervasive in our language, they are all over our culture, from high culture to low culture, from Michelangelo to the Simpsons."

Beal believes people who are unfamiliar with these or other biblical references in everyday life are missing a lot.

"When we don't know these ...


Read the rest here.