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A History of the Bible: The Story of the World’s Most Influential Book by John Barton

A History of the Bible: The Story of the World’s Most Influential Book by John Barton Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/common-knowledge/article-pdf/27/1/116/867416/0270116.pdf by DEEPDYVE INC user on 30 March 2022 using everything from handwritten notes to “cut and pastes” from the internet. In turn, the interfaces of the paper sheet, scan, download, and note- taking soft- ware profoundly inu fl ence how we produce knowledge from our own gatherings. — Rebecca Bushnell doi 10.1215/0961754X-8723189 John Barton, A History of the Bible: The Story of the World’s Most Influential Book (New York: Viking, 2019), 640 pp. Barton’s admirable history examines how a collection of ancient texts represent - ing a diverse set of eras, genres, authors, methods of composition, intentions, and theological viewpoints became authoritative scripture for both Jews and Christians. Uncertainty is a recurring theme in Barton’s discussion. The or- i gins of most of those texts are far from clear, and the texts themselves survive, in whole or in part, in manuscripts that may vary substantially from one another in regard to wording, length, and contents. Although both Jews and Christians look to their scriptures as the basis of their faith, there is no direct connection between what is found in the texts of the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament and beliefs and practices of the various forms of Judaism or Christianity, despite their protests to the contrary. This disparity has led to a variety of interpretive approaches to the Bible undertaken by Jewish and Christian scholars throughout history to bolster what the adherents of their faiths have “always” believed and done. At the same time, these interpreters have almost without exception sought to demonstrate that what the books of the Bible have to say is true, however much the meaning of true has varied over the centuries. As Barton demonstrates, the ideas of a “literal” meaning, or of the “inerrancy” or “inspiration” of the bibl- i cal texts, have been understood very differently by inu fl ential scholars among both Jews and Christians over time, and modern ways of approaching and unde- r standing the Bible are sometimes distorted echoes of the practices of earlier eras. Barton is concerned to develop, through his historical examination, an intellectu - ally defensible approach to the texts of the Bible as documents that ree fl ct diverse expressions of the faith of ancient Israel or the early Jesus communities and yet may legitimately continue to inspire and define the beliefs and practices of their spiritual descendants in the twenty- first century. — Glenn S. Holland doi 10.1215/0961754X-8723201 C OM MO N K N O W L E D G E 116 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Common Knowledge Duke University Press

A History of the Bible: The Story of the World’s Most Influential Book by John Barton

Holland, Glenn S.
Common Knowledge , Volume 27 (1) – Jan 1, 2021
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Copyright © 2021 Duke University Press
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0961-754X
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1538-4578
DOI
10.1215/0961754x-8723201
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Abstract

Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/common-knowledge/article-pdf/27/1/116/867416/0270116.pdf by DEEPDYVE INC user on 30 March 2022 using everything from handwritten notes to “cut and pastes” from the internet. In turn, the interfaces of the paper sheet, scan, download, and note- taking soft- ware profoundly inu fl ence how we produce knowledge from our own gatherings. — Rebecca Bushnell doi 10.1215/0961754X-8723189 John Barton, A History of the Bible: The Story of the World’s Most Influential Book (New York: Viking, 2019), 640 pp. Barton’s admirable history examines how a collection of ancient texts represent - ing a diverse set of eras, genres, authors, methods of composition, intentions, and theological viewpoints became authoritative scripture for both Jews and Christians. Uncertainty is a recurring theme in Barton’s discussion. The or- i gins of most of those texts are far from clear, and the texts themselves survive, in whole or in part, in manuscripts that may vary substantially from one another in regard to wording, length, and contents. Although both Jews and Christians look to their scriptures as the basis of their faith, there is no direct connection between what is found in the texts of the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament and beliefs and practices of the various forms of Judaism or Christianity, despite their protests to the contrary. This disparity has led to a variety of interpretive approaches to the Bible undertaken by Jewish and Christian scholars throughout history to bolster what the adherents of their faiths have “always” believed and done. At the same time, these interpreters have almost without exception sought to demonstrate that what the books of the Bible have to say is true, however much the meaning of true has varied over the centuries. As Barton demonstrates, the ideas of a “literal” meaning, or of the “inerrancy” or “inspiration” of the bibl- i cal texts, have been understood very differently by inu fl ential scholars among both Jews and Christians over time, and modern ways of approaching and unde- r standing the Bible are sometimes distorted echoes of the practices of earlier eras. Barton is concerned to develop, through his historical examination, an intellectu - ally defensible approach to the texts of the Bible as documents that ree fl ct diverse expressions of the faith of ancient Israel or the early Jesus communities and yet may legitimately continue to inspire and define the beliefs and practices of their spiritual descendants in the twenty- first century. — Glenn S. Holland doi 10.1215/0961754X-8723201 C OM MO N K N O W L E D G E 116

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Common Knowledge – Duke University Press

Published: Jan 1, 2021

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