The New Testament is an invaluable book, though I confess to having been slightly prejudiced against it in my very early days by the church and the Sabbath school, so that it seemed, before I read it, to be the yellowest book in the catalogue. Yet I early escaped from their meshes. It was hard to get the commentaries out of one's head and taste its true flavor. - I think that Pilgrim's Progress is the best sermon which has been preached from this text; almost all other sermons that I have heard, or heard of, have been but poor imitations of this. - It would be a poor story to be prejudiced against the Life of Christ because the book has been edited by Christians.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Thoreau reflects on his early prejudice against the New Testament, later discovering its depth and valuing Pilgrim's Progress as a superior sermon.
- In plain terms
- He overcame early bias to appreciate the New Testament and its teachings.
- What can you take from it?
- Open-mindedness can reveal hidden value in familiar works.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How does bias affect our reading?
- What makes a sermon effective?
Another view
His view may not apply to all readers or texts.
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