The Making of the Bible: From the First Fragments to Sacred Scripture

A landmark...If you have time to read only one book on the Bible this year, make sure that it is this one.--Katherine J. Dell, Church Times Excellent...With a sure touch, the authors lead the reader through the geopolitical context of the Hebrew Bible and the setting and background of the New Testament, finding something to say about practically every book's origins and development.--John Barton, The Tablet A remarkable deep dive into foundational books whose origins are often taken for granted.--Publishers Weekly In this revelatory account of the making of the foundational text of western civilization, a world-renowned scholar of the Hebrew scriptures joins a noted authority on the New Testament to reconstruct Jewish and Christian scriptural histories and reveal the underappreciated contest between them. The New Testament, they show, did not develop in the wake of an Old Testament set in stone. The two evolved in parallel, often in conversation with each other, ensuring a continuing mutual influence of Jewish and Christian traditions. A remarkable synthesis of the latest Old and New Testament scholarship, The Making of the Bible is the most comprehensive history yet of the long, transformative journeys of these texts on route to inclusion in the holy books, revealing their buried lessons and secrets.