The Bible

'Wonderful' JOHN BARTON

Even the best-informed readers will have much to learn from Bruce Gordon's erudite and accessible history of the Bible, which ranges knowledgeably across eras and Christian traditions, and indeed across continents. It deserves to find the widest possible audience -- Philip Jenkins, author of THE NEXT CHRISTENDOM
With stunning prose and relentless insight that could only come from this rightly celebrated historian, Bruce Gordon has given us the book that we need at this moment, a real history of the Bible. In Gordon's capable hands, the Bible becomes a sojourner through history who constantly makes history, and through whom history can be fruitfully understood in all its depths. This book is, quite simply, an intellectual feast -- Willie James Jennings, author of THE CHRISTIAN IMAGINATION
This extraordinary book is both a stupendous intellectual achievement and a marvellously accessible guide that will delight everyone interested in how the Christian texts became the Bible, and why it has played such an enduring role in reading and worship in the millennia since -- Andrew Pettegree, author of THE LIBRARY
If the word of God is alive, it has now met its best modern biographer. Filled with surprises, and sometimes aching with beauty, this is a book to take you wide-eyed round the world and then lead you back to that old leather-bound volume on your shelf -- Alec Ryrie, author of PROTESTANTS
What I loved best about this book - aside from the elegant prose and the abundance of startling facts - is the sense of a strong, wise mind behind it. Bruce Gordon has written a book that will engage anyone interested in the Bible, which is anyone interested in human history -- Christian Wiman, author of ZERO AT THE BONE
Bruce Gordon guides us on the boundless, unending odyssey of the 'Book of Books.' The Bible is a testament to the power not only of Scripture but of the written word itself to connect humanity, to educate, liberate, and also to repress. Gordon bears witness to the individual lives leavened by the ever-changing form of the 'Book of Life,' from Frederick Douglass to the football fans of today's South Africa. This is a compelling account of two millennia of Western book culture, and the places and, above all, the people the Bible has touched -- James G. Clark, author of THE DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES
This is the best survey yet written of the global transmission, and impact, of the world's most influential book. It is readable enough to be enjoyed by anybody, while any expert is likely to learn something new from it -- Ronald Hutton, author of PAGAN BRITAIN
This is a stunning love song to the Bible. Bruce Gordon has managed the rare feat of telling a complicated story that spans two thousand years in an engaging and accessible way, that brings new perspectives and a fresh energy to the rediscovery of the Bible. In years to come, this will be a classic text for anyone intrigued by the most popular book of all time -- Chine McDonald, author of GOD IS NOT A WHITE MAN
Wonderful. The word "global" is fully justified, because this book covers the appropriation and use of the Bible in a far wider range of cultures than are covered in any other book known to me. Yet it manages to do so without ever becoming either superficial or breathless - you never feel as though items on a list are being checked. It is a highly comprehensive guide to the worldwide reception of Scripture, that remains measured and even. I shall certainly use it to learn about the reception of the Bible outside the western world -- John Barton, author of A HISTORY OF THE BIBLE
This is a beautifully written exploration of the journey of the Bible, as the most influential book in the world. It goes from manuscripts to translations, from antiquity to the contemporary world, from the Mediterranean to Africa and China. It shows how the Bible, in all its richness, plays multiple roles: used for good or ill, and certainly as a tool for colonialism. Yet, the Bible is vitally important in the twists and turns of world history, as is shown everywhere in the pages of this fascinating narrative -- Joan E. Taylor, co-author of WOMEN REMEMBERED
Smoothly capturing a sprawling and complex history, Gordon frames the Bible as a cultural artifact and a dynamic site where identity is negotiated; a force that binds communities; and an arena where foreign influences are contested. The result is a fascinating look at how the "most influential book in the world" came to be -- Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Bruce Gordon is the Titus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Yale Divinity School. He taught at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland where he was professor of modern history and deputy director of the St. Andrews Reformation Studies Institute. He has received honorary degrees from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and the University of King's College, Canada. He is the author of John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin, a biography of the Genevan reformer, and Zwingli: God's Armed Prophet. He has written widely on early modern history writing, biblical culture, Reformation devotion and spirituality, and the place of the dead in pre-modern culture.

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