Product Description

Many books have been written about the Bible, but few explain its origins. This volume provides a fascinating overview of how the Bible was first inspired, canonized, read as sacred literature, copied in ancient Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, and eventually translated into the languages of the world. No other one-volume work can match this wealth of information about the historical development of the Bible.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33578 in Books
• Published on: 2003-12-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

About the Author
Philip W. Comfort, Ph.D., has studied English Literature, Greek, and New Testament at the Ohio State University and the University of South Africa. He has taught these classes at a number of colleges, including Wheaton College, Trinity Episcopal Seminary, Columbia International University, and Coastal Carolina University. He has contributed a number of books to the Tyndale collection, both as author and editor: The New Greek-English Interlinear New Testament, The Origin of the Bible, The Tyndale Bible Dictionary, Essential Guide to Bible Versions, The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts (with D. Barrett), Who's Who in Christian History.

Philip lives in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, with his wife Georgia. His three children and grandchildren live nearby.

Customer Reviews

Superb accomplishment
This book is a well written, moderately concise overview of the history of the Biblical texts. The authors and editor perform a superb job of making the book easily understood, while remaining scholarly in their approach.

This work not only reviews the early history of the Bible, but also the recent revisions. The book also objectively presents the orthodox approach to Biblical inspiration, along with the more liberal approaches that are rife in today's society.

The authors then review the development of the Biblical canon, including a survey of the Old Testament and New Testament. Next, a review of the Bible as literature is presented succintly. Then, a review of the ancient manuscripts is performed.

Lastly, the authors review the methods of translating the Bible. I found this section to be the most interesting of all, as it reveals insights into the nuances of the Greek and Hebrew languages.

Overall, this is an excellent work of scholarship, upholding the authority and validity of the Bible.

Solid, hype-free, but dry Biblical origins starting point
Recent works of fiction have regenerated interest in the Bible's origin. Many new best-sellers and best-seller hopefuls have been rushed to market in an attempt to capitalize on the interest to prove or disprove the "facts" behind the fictional "Da Vinci Code." Although I must be one of the last people not to read the Code (I read one of Brown's other books and it was so bad I didn't feel the need to torture myself with another) I wanted to start my own journey of understanding of Biblical origins. I turned to a couple of seminary students I know for book recommendations but unfortunately they had none so I struck out on my own. My main criteria was to read something that was written by a Christian Biblical expert or experts, that it was written prior to Brown's novel so it isn't a reactionary book, and that it cover a range of issues regarding Biblical origins and the authority or lack thereof of individual books that are or aren't included in the modern standard Bible.

This book fit all of these criteria. It is a collected work (some of the chapters appear to be articles from scholarly publications). The positives I gained from it are a good foundation to allow me to understand other books on the topic. I think having read this I can now arm myself with the questions to read and analyze books more specific to apocryphal works and the accuracy of our current translations relative to original writings.

The problems I faced in reading this are that parts of it were redundant from article to article and author to author. Parts of it were also well over my head as a lay person, introducing scholarly terms that were never explained or defined. In general, I was able to follow most of it by context. The writing is also extremely dry, and I believe it was never intended for a general audience. This paperback edition was probably released (following the original hardcover 10+ years ago) in reaction to seeing the new found interest for other books.

Fortunately, it's also easy to skip around in, and doesn't require a complete front-to-back read. I'd recommend it for you if you have a real interest in starting a solid understanding of Biblical origins and translations and you are looking to avoid the books being turned out by the current hype machine. But, it isn't an easy read, so prepare yourself for some work.

The Origin of the Bible
Back in August while on vacation in Pennsylvania, I "stumbled" across a sizeable Christian bookstore. (Those who know me realize that happenstances don't exist with me and bookstores.) To my delight, one of the books being carried was _The Origin of the Bible_. This book is a compilation of essays from writers, some of whom I would classify as modern stalwarts of the evangelical stream within Protestantism. Notable contributors include F.F. Bruce, J.I. Packer, R.K. Harrison, and R.T. Beckwith to name a few.

In providing a brief review of _The Origin of the Bible_, I feel it necessary to state a couple of important observations upfront: Firstly, this book is written from a perspective which assumes an evangelical readership. Secondly, and consequently, this book is not an apologetic for, say, the divine origin of Sacred Scripture; this belief is assumed a priori. Thirdly, _The Origin of the Bible_ is not overly ecumenical. It is a Protestant presentation of the Bible's origin. While this is not an overt emphasis in the book, the scattered references to Roman Catholicism, for example, are not always flattering, though I would not say they are acerbic or malicious either.

The content of the book is subsumed under five sections, the first of which deals with two prominent characteristics of the Bible, namely, its authority and inspiration. This treatment is followed by sections on canonicity, the Bible as literature, textual criticism and manuscript evidence, and translational theory/biblical languages/history of the Bible.

Admittedly, this breakdown is, to all appearances, pedantic and prosaic (a nice way of saying, "Boooooring"). However, the authors write in a popular and accessible style. (There are next to no footnotes.) This makes the material palatable even to the reader who has nothing more than an inkling of interest in the origin of that Book, which has had the greatest influence on the world in general and on western civilization in particular, not to mention western literature.

_The Origin of the Bible_ is a general treatment of a subject for which a huge corpus of material exists. It will whet the appetite of the neophyte just beginning to embark upon a journey of discovery of the Bible's origin and transmission through time. For those of us with a little knowledge in the area, _The Origin of the Bible_ serves as a well-written summary of what we already know, while also solidifying some things that we didn't catch from other sources the first time around.

One particular section with which I was pleasantly surprised was Section Three on the Bible as literature. From my own church experience, I have found that the Bible is more often manipulated and treated as a "magic" book than viewed for what it really is: A literary text, albeit with God as author. Nonetheless, this section reinforced what I had heard elsewhere: "The Bible is more than mere literature, but it is literature."

I commend this book to the evangelical Christian reader. For those coming from other perspectives, unless you're a glutton for frustration and/or have a genuine interest in the evangelical understanding of the Bible, I recommend you look elsewhere for a book on the Bible.