A Visual History of the English Bible: The Tumultuous Tale of the World's Bestselling Book

by Donald L. Brake

With a full color layout and over one hundred illustrations, A Visual History of the English Bible covers the fascinating journey of the Bible from the pulpit to the people. Renowned biblical scholar Donald L. Brake invites readers to explore the process of transformation from medieval manuscripts to the contemporary translations of our day. Along the way, readers will meet many heroes of the faith--men and women who preserved and published the Scriptures, often at risk of their own lives.
From Wycliffe and Tyndale to King Henry VIII and the Geneva Bible, from the Bishop's Bible and the King James Version to the American Revolution and the Civil War, this tumultuous tale is history come alive. This book is perfect for history buffs, bibliophiles, and anyone interested in the colorful account of the world's most popular book.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Christianity, Faith, Church History, Christian, Christian Non Fiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2008

Reviews

[Frank Peters · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was both a lovely book as a well an irritating one. The pictures of the ancient bibles were amazing, and the story telling of the making of the English bible was very well done. Thus, the main purpose of the book was met. It was frustrating reading the side story of the author flying around the world spending enormous amounts of money while acquiring his own private library filled with hundreds of books beyond what I could conceive of ever getting. This was approximately as edifying for me as if the book was filled with sexual images – by creating in my mind an intellectual form of covetousness. As a result, I am happy to give the book away to anyone who wants it (but won’t be paying for postage).

[Phil Cotnoir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this for $10 at a bookstore in a mall and picked it up on a whim. What an interesting book! The many high quality color pictures really brought the text to life and I was very pleasantly surprised by the depth of research that went into it. It is an accessible book for interested Christians and a helpful summary resource for leaders.

"A Visual History" makes it sound like more of a picture book than a chapter book, but in reality it was more like an illustrated history, with the emphasis on the historical narrative. I learned a lot about the English Reformation and the many early English translations that came about around Tyndale's time. Dr. Brake dealt with pretty much all the major figures of the Reformation as they related to translation including Erasmus, Luther, and more. For a book about the English Bible, a lot of attention was given to the Greek source text. This was well done and very helpful for understanding the genesis and development of textual criticism and how we got to where we are today.

There were definitely some moments when the prose was clunky and awkward. This would have been a bigger deal if it wasn't a 'visual' history. It was easy enough to overlook.

One enjoyable aspect of this book was the occasional vignettes that recounted Dr. Brake's many adventures and misadventures in hunting for rare Bibles and manuscripts. It sounds like he has quite the personal collection.

[Mark Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Donald Brake provides a very interesting and engaging perspective on old English Bibles: he collects them. A Visual History of the English Bible is one of the most attractive books you could read on this subject, because full-color pictures of his own collection fill the glossy pages. More pictures—of frontispieces, long-dead translators, and ancient manuscripts—also fill the beautiful pages.

The text accompanying the pictures tells the whole story of the English Bible beginning with its most important precursors—ancient manuscripts, the Latin Vulgate, and the story of Gutenberg. He also provides a history of the Greek New Testament in a chapter on the "Battle for a Standard Greek Text."

But the bulk of the work focuses on the English Bible proper, with Wycliffe and Tyndale at one end and the English Revisers and modern versions at the other—up through the most recent versions such as the English Standard Version, the NET Bible, Today's New International Version, and the Holman Christian Standard Bible. He discusses the need for and the characters of various modern translations of Scripture, and he provides charts comparing their leading features.
Throughout the text there are many dozens of insets on all sorts of personal and historical topics. Watching a bibliophile at his work provides for some entertaining stories of Bible acquisition. The very helpful volume is rounded out with a glossary of people and terms important to the story.

On a few occasions I wondered how accurate the author's history was, but the great value of this book is probably in the pictures anyway.

[Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

a gripping story of the history of the Bible with wonderful anecdotes from the author's journey to satisfy his hunger to collect the rarest of rare Bibles!

[Cathy (Thoughts on Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book! Some of my thoughts here... thoughtsonbookss.blogspot.com/2012/06...

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full disclosure, I didn’t finish this book. Didn’t even get halfway through. I couldn’t. When you’re ten pages in and you read that “scripture comes from the Greek word for writing”, your eyes roll so far back into your head that it’s hard to continue. I mean, Greek is LIKE Latin, right? They’re both old, and the author clearly knows little about either of them, so they share that. Other than the fact that they are entirely different languages, they’re the same thing.
It was such a great idea, and had a couple good elements, namely the illustrations and photos, but overall it read like badly researched Reformed Fanfiction. It’s not a scholarly work, and won’t impress anyone who knows much of anything about scriptural history, etymology, manuscripts, or how to Google, but as a basic primer for Protestant teenagers, intelligent children, or Evangelical adults who want to know about the Bible, but only enough to be able to say what a good thing it was for the world that Luther came along to fix Christianity, it works. You have sentences like “the centuries awaited the reforms of Wycliffe and Luther” in the very first chapter, and wonder if you picked up a bosom-heaver or a historical work. How this book got published I have no idea, unless they fired all the fact checkers and exclusively hired editors who belonged to the Sola Reforma fan club.

[Elijah Abanto · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thank the Issuu app and Baker Books for providing a free e-book version of this beautiful book. Dr. Donald Brake, an avid old Bibles in English and other languages, has written an easy-to-read and sweeping history of the Bible we have on our hands. It is very readable, I have to control myself not to read the book in one sitting. I have read many books on the history of the Bible, and this one added a great deal of information to my knowledge. I am currently writing a history of the Bible myself, and I know that this will be a great reference. I don't agree with how he wrote several parts of the history, but overall I thank God for this amazing book, made even more engaging by the photographs!

[Gary Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful book detailing the history of the English bible. I would have given it five stars, except I found the choice of text and size of text irritating. It was also printed one high gloss paper, which compounded the problem. Other than this it was an exacting history of our bibles. And the price some had to pay to bring them to us. We must never forget these sacrifices.

[Sophia Keen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book that teaches readers what exactly what the Bible IS and it's fascinating history.

[Olive Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not at all a bad book. Very informative, but the information felt a bit scattered. Could have used better editing.

[Brendan Bentley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing was a little clunky at times, but the info and pictures were great!

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful overview with a pastoral bent

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book comes highly recommended, by who? by me! Dr. Brake does an excellent job narrating the path of the English bible as he covers such characters as wycliffe, Guntenberg, Tyndale, Eramus, Cranmer, Coverdale, and many others. He goes into great detail of the path the bible took as it was translated from the Latin Vulgate into English. What makes this book five stars rather than just four is the excellent photographs of originals, fascimiles, and beatiful illuminated bibles. Also Dr. Brake is an avid bible collector and throughout the book gives insight into his qwest for very rare and expensive bibles. Only small complaint is that some of the information is repeated from one chapter to the next, but this can also be seen as a good thing for it helps remind you of the basics in bible history. This book is Well done, worth the time to read!

[Cbarrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book on the history of the English Bible. Brake is a rare Bible collector and includes interesting stories about how he procured some of his favorite copies. And as the title suggests, this is a visual history. And no matter how old you are, pictures make some books better. In this book you will get a glance at the progress of the English Reformation as it coincides with the accessibility of Scripture in the common tongue. He concludes with a comparison and evaluation of the Modern Versions up to the NET Bible in 2005.

[Sean Durity · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting and in-depth tour through all kinds of editions of the English Bible. The author, through several personal sidebars, shows his own fascination with acquiring these texts. He is no casual reporter. He is a fan (in the best sense). His passion for the Word shows through.

More than a timeline of events and editions, Brake gives good context to the "whys" of the major editions. He includes lots of fun facts and anecdotes. Occasionally, he is too excited about the details and forgets to keep the context in focus.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good thing this book stresses that it's a visual history because the narration rambles in parts, isn't always clear, and sometimes delves into the authors passion for bible collecting. However, this book does whet the appetite to go online and do a little research about the people who brought us our modern day bible at great sacrifice, and it displays the beauty of the ancient texts. Good one to check out from the library.

[Lisa Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had no idea what it actually took to get the Bible translated into English. The number of men through time is also a future study. It has given me an appreciation for the people who have gone before, and only a snapshot of history. Nevertheless, very much intriguing. I've been gathering different Bibles ever since checking editions and dates of publication. This guy is a high price Bible collecter. Do you have a very old family Bible in your house? Wish I did.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't recommend this book enough. Lots of pictures, interesting stories of all the contributors from Wycliffe to Tynale to KJV on up to the modern versions. Even gives some great insight as to how the various modern translations (NKJV, NIV, NASB, etc) arrive at their various differences. Did I mention there's lots of pictures? Artsy pages from the 15-1700s. Fine stuff.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always been curious about how the Bible was translated into the English language. I had no idea that there were people who had given so much of themselves, even unto death. I can now pick up my Bible and think how possible it was that no translations had ever been done. It is indeed a precious book inspired by God.

[John Jeffcoat iii · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated with many full color photos; this is a wonderfully comprehensive and interesting history of how we got the Bible in the English language. My website at www.GREATSITE.com discusses this, but for a more detailed examination, this book is highly recommended.

[Jared A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though it took longer to read than I wanted, I love this topic and can't get enough of it. The longish timeframe to read it all had more to do with me struggling to digest it all than with the book itself.

[Lisa Cline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spent last summer reading through and taking notes on this book....so much good info!!!

[William Dicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good introduction the the history of the Bible. I would recommend it to anyone interested in history.

[Amanda Witt]

A very descriptive book of how the Bible as we know it, came into existence through the concerted efforts of a few people in the 15-1600's, and its subsequent revisions.