The Next Testament

Maybe sacrilegious in its question, but still an intriguing proposition: given that the Bible is a collection of books, which ones would a secular Next Testament consist of if stitched together today for the coming ages. Cullen Murphy suggests works as groundbreaking as A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawkings and The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. As for poets:

A possible replacement candidate for the entire Book of Psalms would be the poems of Emily Dickinson. Dickinson is more taut and reserved than the psalmodist, to put it mildly, but many of the same themes (loss, solace, searching engagement with the divine) are there.

It's a worthy topic for contemplation and maybe one that should be reserved for a single bookshelf in every contemporary home.

The Next Testament by Cullen Murphy on Atlantic Online