I don’t plan on taking it as a serious source of life advice, and I imagine there’s a lot I can safely skip, but there’s gotta be some good stories in there right? Must be a reason it’s so popular?
No
Read Genesis, Ecclesiastes, Job and the Gospels at least
It’s incredibly dull, even the stories. Read summaries
Reading the old testament is only for masochists that read The Silmarillion and think "yeah, but what if I could have this with none of the redeeming qualities? "
All nerds belong in the gulag, no exceptions
Just skip to the wisdom section of the old testament to get some bronze age existentialism
This is a pretty vague question. This book has likely had more impact on the course of history than any other, so fucking of course there is value in studying it. But what are you trying to get out of reading it, just entertainment?
Are you looking to grow spiritually? Are you trying to understand the historical context it existed within? Are you trying to find psychological or philosophical insights that might be buried there? If you are just looking for entertainment, you probably will be disappointed.
