What do you think?
Rate this book
The Biography of the Bible
A history of the Bible. Its authors, compilation and canonization, translations, and impact on the world. New Afterword covers the Dead Sea Scrolls and the American fundamentalist Christian movement.
113 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 22, 2009
4 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
Read
July 22, 2023The Bible - containing God’s truth - did not drop from heaven to earth nor was it written by prophets or with a magic quill on magic papyrus .
So how did we get the Bible as a book ? Or more accurately - How did this collection of books , as we we have it today , became the Bible .
This biography tells us about people - popes , princes, philosophers and politics / politicians - influenced the writing , redaction , translation of the Bible .
Does this mean that the Bible is man ‘s work and not the “word of God” ? What are the implications for faith if we think of the Bible as having 2 authors - God and man ( or many a man).
The growth of the Old Testament through ages and antiquity is rather different from the gathering of the New Testament under the umbrella of Greek literary preeminence. But they came together as we have our Bible - accounts of the faithful who strayed from God, others who stayed with God and yet others who seek God.
This biography also tells how - after the Bible was firmly available in human hands - the misuse of it to launch crusades and to justify slavery.
So 7 very insightful chapters which gets the reader reaching in for more as it is like a drama reaching to a climax - so where will the Bible finally or likely to end up at - in the trash of history or …. ?
Chapters 3,4 and 5 are for me most engaging :
- Conflict over Creed and Canon
- The Bible Under Medievalism
- The Great Translations
Finally back to the beginning where the book tells us the Bible is a book about man , in fact about the average man .
So how did we get the Bible as a book ? Or more accurately - How did this collection of books , as we we have it today , became the Bible .
This biography tells us about people - popes , princes, philosophers and politics / politicians - influenced the writing , redaction , translation of the Bible .
Does this mean that the Bible is man ‘s work and not the “word of God” ? What are the implications for faith if we think of the Bible as having 2 authors - God and man ( or many a man).
The growth of the Old Testament through ages and antiquity is rather different from the gathering of the New Testament under the umbrella of Greek literary preeminence. But they came together as we have our Bible - accounts of the faithful who strayed from God, others who stayed with God and yet others who seek God.
This biography also tells how - after the Bible was firmly available in human hands - the misuse of it to launch crusades and to justify slavery.
So 7 very insightful chapters which gets the reader reaching in for more as it is like a drama reaching to a climax - so where will the Bible finally or likely to end up at - in the trash of history or …. ?
Chapters 3,4 and 5 are for me most engaging :
- Conflict over Creed and Canon
- The Bible Under Medievalism
- The Great Translations
Finally back to the beginning where the book tells us the Bible is a book about man , in fact about the average man .
Displaying 1 of 1 review