How the Bible Came to Be

Short read but great beginning book on understanding the Bible. For Christians like me that question the who what and why of the Bible this book is great. Im starting on A History of the Bible next.

In the past the Bible was read as if it were a constitution and what it said was determined by the view of the teacher. Now we must let it say what it says and not insist that it says what I want it to say.

This was a gift and my husband found it very interesting

This is a very short summation of the author's more scholarly works on the bible. He writes about how controversial his thesis is although it seems pretty reasonable to me. I suppose if your view of the Bible's creation is a set of individuals writing down their message from God, then this more historical approach would be disturbing if not blasphemy. Barton argues that the development of the bible went through various stages. First they were written; then they were collected into a set of works. Then "such collections came to be read in special ways which do not apply to secular books - allegorically, for example, or aw universally relevant, or as full of hidden meaning." [p 87] The final stage is "where some competent authority pronounces that the category of scriptural books is not full, and draws a line under the collection to turn it into The Holy Bible." [p 87] This step is called canonization but "is less important than it sounds for either the Old or the New Testament." [p 87] It is less important because in the life of the church some books are more important than others. For example "ecclesiastical committees still debate whether it is appropriate to read Revelation in church." [p 85]. All in all this is a good book with some interesting insights into the Bible. I was surprised by the lack of drama.

I received the book very quickly from the seller and in great condition. The book itself was used for a New Testament College Class so it was required reading material. The whole class felt that the book was a little dry reading however, none of us are experts and the professor felt that the book offered great insight.

We started out with a book "History of the Bible" thinking that would tell us of the development of the Bible. WRONG.. That book gave the civilian history in the countries involved and compared the Bibical actions to the cultural and govern mental actions in the various time frames. "How the Bible Came to be" was what we were looking for and gave us material for much discussion.

This seems an average attempt to describe the process by which the Bible came to be. I liked the way the author presented his thoughts.

There is a problem, when I click on the last Star all the others light up. Nonetheless, the book is awesome and most informative...will order more in the near future for my children. Elanor Morgan

Informative and through. A great comprehensive book that explains, in layman terms, exactly how the bible came to be, how it was written down and how it came to be canonised. It covers both the old and New Testament. It explains complex concepts clearly. Highly recommend.