RELIGION

The subversive comic book artist R. Crumb has illustrated The Book Of Genesis (W.W. Norton, $24.95). This odd pairing has produced an unexpectedly beautiful rendering of the Bible. Every line is illustrated, frame by frame. Crumb fills in actions that are merely suggested by the language. The words take on new meaning; the pictures help interpret the content and provide understanding beyond the literal text. Crumb’s depictions emphasize the humanity of the figures. The illustrations are hypnotic and fascinating. Most important, by focusing on a line-by-line reading, an experienced Bible reader absorbs the text with more care. Carla and David Cohen

Religion today often seems caught between the literalism of fundamentalists and the atheism of materialists. Arguing against both sides of this all-or-nothing debate, Karen Armstrong, the great scholar and historian of religion, looks back to the roots of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and other traditions to make The Case For God (Knopf, $27.95). Originally, belief rested in symbol, myth, and mystery. Not orthodox propositions, but behavior specifically delineated as outside everyday concerns was the hallmark of spirituality, and religious practices were designed to reinforce community bonds, teach compassion, and help contain potentially overwhelming emotions like fear, grief, or guilt. The emphasis was on what was unknown and probably unknowable about a deity, and this is in sharp contrast to today’s dogmas and truth claims. Where modern religions have gone wrong, Armstrong argues, is in treating religion like science and expecting the same sorts of certainty from a sacred text that we would from a scientific textbook. Laurie Greer