A History of the Bible: The book and its faiths, by John Barton

Author: John Barton. Review by Michael Wright

Two religions, Judaism and Christianity, draw their basic convictions from the Bible, yet each draws very different key ideas from the material they cherish.

Judaism is concerned with patterns of belief and practice that, as John Barton says, ‘relate at best obliquely to the biblical text’. He states that Jews are much more focused on studying post-biblical material than the biblical books themselves.

For Christians the four key themes of both scriptures are creation, the fall, the redemption wrought by Christ, and the final consummation of all things described in Revelation. Yet Barton queries why, for example, the bodily ascension of Jesus, which he argues is mentioned only twice in the New Testament (Luke 24.51 and Acts 1.9), is so important that it becomes a key feature of Christian belief – yet the teaching and healings of Jesus are not included in the creeds. ‘Why did Trinitarian language become so central to the rule’s structure, when the New Testament hardly knows it? The answer is that these were all issues for the second-century Church, which therefore read the New Testament in their light.’

Barton explains that the themes of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, as described in their classic teachings, are ones which developed from reflections within the life of the Jewish and Christian communities. Yet both faith traditions insist that their teachings are determined by what they find in the Bible. As he illustrates again and again, however, ‘the belief system in both faiths is to some degree independent of the Scriptures, which each reads according to its core tenets. Scripture is for both a resource, but it is not determinative of either as it has in fact developed… Once we look beyond fundamentalism, we find that the beliefs and practices of Christians and Jews do not map exactly onto the Scriptures to which they appeal… Starting from the Bible, one would not predict the Christian Church or Judaism as we see them today; starting from modern Judaism or Christianity, one could not reconstruct the Bible.’

This has considerable significance for me. Like many Quakers I am sometimes less than comfortable about how I relate to biblical material and Christian doctrines. This book is a helpful resource. From it we learn how the writings originated, how they have been edited, and some indications of what we can make of them today. It opens new pathways to understanding the Bible and making rational sense of its contents. It helps us understand the historical and social context.

This is an impressive exploration of how the Bible came to be written, and the social and political contexts from which it grew. It is mostly very readable, but part three, ‘The Bible and its Texts’, I found rather tedious. I would recommend a reader to read the first two parts – ‘The Old Testament’, and ‘The New Testament’ – and then move on to part four: ‘The Message of the Bible’. Then go back to part three if you wish to explore the textual records.

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