The Bible in a Nutshell

by Casper Rigsby

This is the story of the bible told like you've very likely never heard it told before.

The bible is one the most highly regarded literary works of all time. A number one best-seller before there even was such a thing, the bible has long been the most purchased book in history.

The problem is however, that most people haven't actually read the book, and those who have don't really understand a very fundamental fact about the bible. That fact being that the bible is in all honesty, simply a very bad work of fiction.In my version I strip away all the metaphysical mumbo-jumbo and all the supposedly miraculous nonsense, and tell the story for exactly what it is. The bible is nothing more than a collection of fictional works from the minds of deluded and possibly mentally ill men, which tells the story of the most powerful wizard ever to exist.

Told from the perspective offered here, the absolute ridiculousness of this book becomes painfully transparent. Leaving the reader to wonder how anyone could have ever believed it as fact.

Genres: Religion, Atheism, Nonfiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published December 19, 2014

About the author

Casper Rigsby is a 34 year old husband and father. He is the author of the bestselling title The Bible in a Nutshell, a prominent blogger at Atheist Republic, and a very vocal advocate for out of the closet atheism. His works seek to address fundamentalism at its roots through theological and philosophical discourse, which is also highly irreverent and often even blasphemous. His straight-forward and blunt approach can be abrasive to some and refreshing to others.

Reviews

[Christina Knowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was too abbreviated for my tastes although the author clearly states that it is broken down to its simplest form on purpose to show how ridiculous it is. However, I don't think it really does the job. If you don't already know this much about the bible, you don't live in America.

As well as leaving out some of the more crazy and horrific details, which he does admit, he gets a few things wrong like in Genesis-It's the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil--of course, it makes them smart. And the resurrected Jesus appearing to Paul right after the resurrection (implied). Paul's experience included Jesus talking as a beam of light a long time later and not as an actual person.

I really wish he had included at least one of the talking donkey stories. And when telling Samson's story, I wish he would have told how the spirit of the Lord came over him, so he would kill 30 men to take their clothing to pay a bet. Oh well, when seen as a collection of blog posts, I think this book was very good. It was quite humorous and I enjoyed it.

[D Steven Ledingham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moderately entertaining but a bit to "hip" in its humor even for me. I don't regret reading it. Well, it's 2019 and for whatever reason I've read this book again. I really do like what it says and agreed, the Bible is just a bunch of made up stories, or even worse a political system designed to control the world (all three of the Abrahamic religions and others). YES it is a good book and I do recommend it.

[John MacIntyre · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I first started reading, it kind of had the tone of a teenager who just converted to atheism, but about a third of the way through, my reading voice changed to the guy from 'Thug Notes' (see @wisecrack on YouTube), and then the book became kind of funny.

I found these quotes amusing:

“John runs around and tells everyone that he met that guy from the thing that those people mentioned that one time”

“So everyone pigs out on Christ Crackers and Jesus Juice”

But for the most part, I'd give this one a pass.

[Carla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nah

Too simplistic and also quite mean. Not recommended as an explanation for the bible. Not funny either. Don't bother to read this.

[ANGEL · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bible, in its simplest form

I loved it ! As a huge fan of Bart Ehrman, Richard Carrier and all the smaller YouTube Atheists like AronRa, I love whenever anyone shows the Bible for what it is. An ancient fairy tale. Since I was a young 'in and sunk my teeth into Hitchens, I an an avowed anti theist, not just an atheist. As in I believe religion does more harm than good and needs to be actively worked against. The author does a great job of bringing the Bible into reductio ad absurdum and it's a laugh riot. Reminds me of one of my favorite speeches where the speaker, discussing Jesus on the cross described it as thus- " So God, after creating people who were gonna sin, in order to forgive them for it, separated a part of himself and sent it to earth so that we could torture and kill himself, in the name of himself and sacrifice himself to himself in order to forgive us of the sins he set us up to sin ?"

[Michael Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The nutshell bible with a bitter fruit.

Reading Casper Rigsb's The Bible in a Nutshell did indeed make me laugh. Its an irreverent and humorous take on the Christian Bible. In a sense its a perfect introduction to the Bible, for those millions of Christians who fight the "good" fight for Jesus yet who have never actually read the Bible. Through Casper's little vignette these Jesus warriors might actually learn about their Bible.
As I said it's a light, humorous read, and without a doubt will make people laugh out loud. Goodness knows but laughter is something you will not achieve reading the actual bible.
The Bible in a Nutshell tells gives the most basic outlines and story of the Old and New Testaments something which is necessary. But I can't help feeling that the actual Bible and Yahweh himself gets off very lightly in Casper's book. The Bible is for me overall an appalling and repugnant book. It is replete with the most immoral actions and the most dangerous commands ever to be given to humanity. It was actually reading the bible that made me an atheist. The first five books Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy contain appalling acts of murder, genocide, infanticide, slavery, racism, misogyny, lies and outright cruelty that turned me against this alleged "all merciful god" in all its manifestations. The bible verses have been the cause of untold suffering and continues to do so to this day.
But I understand that to put the bible in a nutshell, Casper Rigsby had a difficult task. Is it even possible to write a humorous short rendition of this dreadful and repugnant bible while giving an account of it's horrors, absurdities and contradictions? Perhaps it's not possible to do this. But I'm glad that Casper did try and so humorously at that. I recommend The Bible in a Nutshell. It can be picked up and read as a quick reminder of the stupidity of the bible, and as a reminder the insanity of those who take it as a means of epistemology, as a means of obtaining truth in one's life.

[Harry Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent synopsis of a ridiculous book, although the Bible it is not really a book, just an abstract collection of nonsense. Casper captures the essence of its stupidity by melting it down to a simplistic notion.
And as we all know, the two most common things in the Universe are hydrogen and stupidity.
I doubt very many people have read the Bible, I have, although it take took me a long time to plough through, mainly due to the wording and the numerous contradictions, the main vibe I took from it was "Do as I say and not as I do".
Religious people should definitely read this book and if they don't believe the message, read the bible and find out for yourselves.
Well done Casper.

[MR GERALD L HARRIS · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the whole book, which made a number of telling points. The Book, after all, was largely written at a time when most people believed that the sun revolved around a flat earth and would take any old nonsense at face value. Nonetheless, the Book is taken seriously by millions of otherwise sane people and Casper Rigsby could have made a more persuasive case if he had approached his subject with a bit more gravitas. I guess he adopted the hip/flip, down-with-the-kids style to demonstrate his utter dismissal of what he rightly sees as a lod of old twaddle

[Richard Faulkner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious and Fun

This was absolutely one of my favorite tales of the bible I have read to date. When you want a humorous telling of the most often recalled biblical stories, this book is the book to read. It's also perfect for while waiting at the doctor for an appointment as reading it only takes a few minutes.

[Bryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A great idea, but poorly executed. This book is called ... in a nutshell but seems to tell only the most well known myths from the Bible in a satirical way. The author is very dismissive. This book is great for those who are already atheist (like me), but will not help in converting anyone to atheism.

[Kenjo707 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great antidote to the insanity of the book that continues to pollute the thinking of too many of my fellow creatures.

But, dear Caspar, for the sake of the clarity, please distinguish between Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah Witnesses, publishers of the Watchtower...equally crazy but each with their unique story.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very concise, enjoyable read. I grew up on bible stories and I like the angle from which this book portrays them. I am tempted to share his book with some of my more liberal Christian friends to see what they think of it. It could spark some very interesting conversations. Thank you!

[Gabrielle T Landers · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most accurate depiction yet!

I hadn’t laughed so much in quite some time. I love that it was brought to such a simple, quick story and was the most ridiculous story. I just shared the link to my social media. I’ve got quite a few friends will be thoroughly entertained!

[David O'Reilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another cracker

I read this book in one sitting. I laughed in parts. A great retelling of biblical stories. Great job indeed 👍👍👍

[Joseph Stalingrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazingly light read full of humor and fact. A true honest telling of the Bible.

[Giselle Rodriguez]

The best book ever

[Evan Odell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick and fun read

This short read does just what it says, the Bible in a nutshell, the absurdity intact. If you don’t believe, it’s still good to be familiar with what Abrahamic religions are and this is a good view of the Christian religion.

[Carly Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable read. I was previously only fairly familiar with the stories of the bible, having never read it fully myself, yet I truly believe that in order to really judge something you have to know it a little more deeply than that. I chose this book to give me the highlights, while also providing many laughs and wonderful insight. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to become a little more familiar with the bible, while not falling asleep during reading, and who doesn't plan to actually read the bible itself. There is clearly a great bit of knowledge behind the writing, and what is offered to the reader is funny, enjoyable, and basic. I'll definitely read this one again after some time.

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bible is such a big and often confusing book. It's about time that someone takes a look at the core narrative with humorous accuracy.

Years ago I started a personal quest for truth. After reading about 10,000 pages of holy texts (including the Bible) I realized that they all have contradictions, poetic passages, awful parts, and page after page of excruciating boring trivia.

One way to cut through the confusion is to simplify the narrative to its core elements, and then ask, "does this make sense?" That's what Casper Rigsby has done for the Bible. This book is super short, readable, humorous, cuts out the fluff and gets to the point.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to follow

Well if you are religious you probably not going to get past the first chapter. But it does seem to give a reasonable rendition of the bible. The quotes from the bible did nothing for me. I have never been able to figure out what those verses meant. I have always had to relie on religious people to interpret them. So what this book says they mean makes a lot of sense to me. Since I already question the bible I found it a fun read however most of my friends would dis me if they saw this review!

[Eddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fitting title

Having read the bible myself (it was what made me an atheist), this book does what the title implies and does it quite humorously. This book should be placed in nightstand drawers of hotels across America.... perhaps more would see the lunacy that is the holy bible. I also dug some of the pop culture references as well as the special edition DVD style format (alternate and deleted scenes). A fun and quick read that I definitely recommend.

[Cory Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A complete chuckle-fest from start to finish!!! I've read the actual bible from front to back and this book captures the main elements of it and delivers them in a humorous and pleasurable way. I highly recommend this to anyone who's looking to brush up in the main stories of the bible or is looking for something humorously naughty.

[Allyn Bernkopf · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was hilarious. I found it's brevity fairly useful in researching the actual bible for my literary studies. It doesn't cover every story, as the author states in the book, but he covers the biggest events.

[Madhan Kolappan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and enjoyable

It is concise but assumes that reader has already read the bible at least once. Difficult to follow at times due to the considerable reduction. But I enjoyed it, and makes me want to read the real thing just for the fun of comparing both.

[nameless · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely

I loved this book because it gives a general idea about what the Bible is really about. It's very helpful especially for those who are not introduced to the Bible just like people coming from an Islamic background.

The title of the book is really straightforward.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the book. Straight to the point and hilarious. But it is too few. Should have added more ridiculous events that happened in the bible. And I was hoping that the author could add on the footnotes on which verses of the bible the story was taken, for an easy cross reference.

[david short · Rating 4 out of 5]

U sounded taller on the radio.

I gave it four stars for the simple fact that the book is exactly what it says it is The Bible in a Nutshell well written and humorous I chuckled more then a few times,as well it simplifies the complexities of the bible,I enjoyed reading it.

[Frank W. Redden · Rating 5 out of 5]

You gotta read

Simply written covering all bases for any borderline Atheist . Really turns me on every time I review it .which says a lot since I have a large library of of a few hundred books.

[Tony Anuci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious

As anyone who has read the bible knows, the quickest way to become an atheist is to read the material. This take is absolutely hilarious.

[Mark Wilder · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for more from this. Apparently it's just a collection based off of a blog. It was okay but not great.