No book has been more pored over, has been the subject of more commentary and controversy, or had more influence not only on our religious beliefs but also on our culture and language than the Bible. And certainly no book has been as widely read. But how did the Bible become the book we know it to be? This history of the Bible written by a major historian of theology, the author takes the reader through the Bible's evolution from its earliest incarnation as oral tales to its modern existence in various configurations and translations. From the earliest Hebrew texts and the Bible's appearance in Greek, then Latin, he explores the canonization of different Bibles and why certain books were adopted or rejected by certain religions and sects, as well as the development of the printing press, translation into modern languages, and the varying schools of critical scholarship.
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