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The Bible has been the most influential text in all of Western culture. It's difficult to understand medieval or early modern or much of modern literature without knowing it...

Prof. Barbara Newman, Northwestern University
from 2006 Bible Literary project

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It's not that it's impossible to read some writers without a Biblical background, but that you would miss a whole dimension to their work.

Prof. Steven Goldsmith, University of California at Berkeley
from 2006 Bible Literary Project

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I can only say that if a student doesn't know any Bible literature, he or she will simply not understand whole elements of Shakespeare, Sidney, Spenser, Milton, Pope, Wordsworth

Prof. Robert Kiely, Harvard University
from 2006 Bible Literary Project

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...there is truth in the remark. "without Tyndale[Bible translator], no Shakespeare"...

Prof. David Daniell, University College London
from The Bible in English

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You can't really study Western literature intelligently or coherently without starting with the Bible.

Prof. Gerald L. Bruns, University of Notre Dame
from 2006 Bible Literary Project

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...a familiar understanding of Christian doctrine in historical perspective thus contributes to a fuller appreciation of Shakespeare's art, but Shakespeare's art

Prof. Roland M. Frye
from Shakespeare and the Christian Doctrine

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In English tradition and also for an American tradition begun by Puritan writers, a knowledge of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament is even more crucial than classical references.

Prof. Ulrich Knoefplmacher, Princeton University
from 2006 Bible Literary Project

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There is no book more important for our culture than the Bible, and it is fundametal to the study of English literature and language.

Prof. David Jasper and Prof. Stephen Prickett
from the Bible and literature

Shake the dust off one’s feet (Matthew 10:14)/ Acts 13:50-51

bible verse

“If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.” (Matthew 10:14)

meaning

This action is used to show how much you want to separate yourself from something unpleasant.

origin and application

This expression appears in two places in the Bible. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus asked the disciples to shake the dust of a town off their feet if their preaching was not welcomed there. This practice was a demonstration of their separation from those who rejected the word of God. The practice of “shaking dust from one’s feet” was recorded in the Book of Acts. While Paul and Barnabas were teaching the Gentiles in Antioch, who gladly received the word of God, both of them were rejected and expelled from the region by the Jewish community. So Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet in protest against them.

example

I don’t like this city. I am hoping to shake the dust off my feet and move on.

Keywords

dust    feet    leave    shake    unpleasant   

Related Information

NIV official site
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