How the Bible came to be

I enjoyed learning about how the Bible came to be, from the Hebrew books of the Old Testament to the Greek of the New Testament. It’s a history of transmission through scrolls, manuscripts, codices, and translations. There is still so much we don’t know and will never know about its authorship. I’m particularly interested in the humanness of the book: its inconsistencies, changes of genre, slippages of meaning in translation; its role in the religions of Judaism and Christianity, and their many sects. The narration by Ralph Lister is clear and easy to follow.

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Wonderful

An extremely erudite study of the relationship between faith and Scripture. The narration does justice to the clear thinking and the fairness of the author.

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5 people found this helpful

informative, kinda balanced with liberal leanings

I have to admit I chose the book at random. Didn't really know what to expect. I wanted something larger, though not exhaustive. I would consider myself a conservative protestant willing to listen to a huge variety of christian faiths. The first half was a bit harder to listen to. On occasion I felt my beloved Bible is scarcely more than scraps which fell on the ground from the severe fights of different jewish and christian parties and that many events didn't really happen, but are set up afterwards to be a justificaton for certain rites and customs. This is where I considered the liberal bias to be too heavy, though I encountered lots if new and useful pieces of information. To the second half I could connect more, I found less conjecture, and was more intriguing to me.
Overall I enjoyed the narration, the numerous references to ancient scholars, fathers of faith, jewish and christians alike. It was refreshing to listen to the long and frequent quotations from the Bible and other works as well.
I think the author is respectful, trying to be just to the different denominations and I have gotta say that both protestants and catholics will be in for a ride who give this one a shot.

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4 people found this helpful

a good book on the good book

whether one is a believer or not, the accurate observations on the history of an ancient text derived from am oral tradition is fascinating, from giving a perspective of history down to reasonable doubt on authorship, the same approach could be found in the texts of Homer, Aristotles, or even Shakespeare.
The author is extremely respectful to the faith this text generates and holds in a vast proportion of humanity, and explores this in a erudite yet stimulating fashion.

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A comprehensive and succinct account

Should be read by everyone approaching a study of the Bible. Balanced and authoritative it gives background from Jewish and various Christian perspectives. I have purchased a hard copy. Highly recommended.

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1 person found this helpful

Brilliant book, terrible narration

This is a stunning book, erudite and accessible. Based on the author's lifetime of theological study, it is richly researched, yet it is not overwhelming. It provides a clear, basic background into how the Bible came to be and the different ways it has been read; and it gives readers a taste of the fascinating debates among historians, theologians and linguists.

As an audiobook, it succeeds despite the really shoddy reading. The reader speaks clearly enough, though (for my ears at least) he has an annoying tendency to drop the ends off words – so "laws" and "lord" sound identical, and "commandments" sounds like "commandmen". At times that can obscure meaning, but mostly it's just irritating. Worse, though, is that he often reads without seeming to have thought about what Barton is saying, so frequently puts emphasis in the wrong places. This makes it much harder to follow Barton's explanations and arguments than it should be – a real shame as the audiobook is an opportunity to make the text more accessible; this reading sadly makes it less so.

Still, I highly recommend the book nonetheless.

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Profoundly important new account of the Bible

This book is a tour de force. The fruit of the author's many years of Biblical study, it approaches the Bible with deep respect, addressing the many different groups (from theologians to historians) for whom the Bible is important foundation material and showing special sensitivity toward those in various faith communities for whom the Bible is a precious and definitive source of revelation.

But at the same time, and despite its gentleness of touch, it is intellectually rigorous and does not shy away from drawing the conclusions mandated by evidence, even when these are uncomfortable for some. For instance, it must be acknowledged that there is not perfect symmetry between what most Christians believe and what the Bible actually says. Barton deals with this respectfully, showing how this disjunction came about and how it is resolved in various traditions: but he does not attempt to sweep it under the carpet, and recognises it as an ongoing difficulty.

This is not merely a study of texts, but of the different societies that gave rise to them, and the order in which they probably came into being. This last topic alone is deeply interesting, as it suggests that many of our assumptions about the relative ages of different Biblical books is probably wrong, and that some which 'appear' to be older, were actually composed more recently and therefore reflect a later view of the past, rather than being genuine documents from that past time.

But the book, although immensely detailed, is never dry. Barton manages to include both a scholar's fascination with the diverse and engaging collection of documents contained in the Bible, and a theologian's sensitivity to the significance that such texts have acquired, even if that is different from what their original authors intended.

This is the kind of book that is inherently easier to read than to listen to (and indeed I have already bought the printed version so I can go back to look at many sections again) so the narrator is exceptionally important. Ralph Lister does a very good job with a text that could, if poorly read, appear quite dry. His voice is pleasant, his diction is clear, and his pacing is excellent. However, I found he sometimes tries too hard to inject 'feeling' into the text when it was neither required nor appropriate; and more annoyingly, he very often places the emphasis on the wrong word, so that unless you are listening carefully you miss the point of the sentence. For instance, 'this was true of many Christian BOOKS' (the implication being that it was true of books but not, say of, plays) while the true meaning of the sentence would be 'this was true of many CHRISTIAN books' (but not of equivalent Jewish books). However, while I found this a frequent niggle, it should not distract from this otherwise excellent book.

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21 people found this helpful

Fascinating scholarly work

Well researched and very accessible account of the collection of writings we call The Bible

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1 person found this helpful

Excellent

A balanced analysis respecting different faiths. Well narrated .Xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx

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Tour de Force

Exceptionally well written and well read. A remarkably easy to understand exposition of the history of the Bible as used by the Christian and Jewish faiths. Challenging many firmly held precepts, it is sure to upset many, yet, while it attempts (with a high degree of success in my opinion) to be agnostic and rationalist in its approach, the book successfully expounds the massive contribution of the bible to those of faith, and those of none. A wonderful read.

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1 person found this helpful