The Rise and Fall of the Bible: The Unexpected History of an Accidental Book - Rilegato

Beal, Timothy

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0151013586 ISBN 13: 9780151013586

Casa editrice: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011

Riassunto

In this revelatory exploration of one of our most revered icons, a critically acclaimed author and professor takes us back to early Christianity to ask how a box of handwritten scrolls became the Bible, and forward to see how the multibillion-dollar business that has brought us Biblezines and Manga Bibles is selling down the Bible’s sacred capital. Showing us how a single official text was created from the proliferation of different scripts, Beal traces its path as it became embraced as the word of God and Book of books. Among his surprising insights:

· Christianity thrived for centuries without any Bible—there was no official canon of scriptures, much less a book big enough to hold them all. Congregations used various collections of scrolls and codices. 

· There is no “original” Bible, no single source text behind the thousands of different Bibles on the market today. The farther we go back in the Bible’s history, the more versions we find. 

· The idea of the Bible as the literal Word of God is relatively new—only about a century old. 

Beal’s is an inspiring new take on the Bible. In calling for a fresh understanding of the ways scriptures were used in the past, he offers the chance to rediscover a Bible, and a faith, that is truer to its own history—not a book of answers but a library of questions.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

"This amazing book will make you see the Scriptures in a new light. Beal shows us that the origins of the Bible are messy and shaped by chance, but also that the Bible still can move us and needs to be taken seriously . Thou shalt read Beal." 
-A.J. Jacobs author of The Year of Living Biblically

"Beal's exciting book offers both fascinating history and a new and insightful way to approach the 'sacred text'." 
-John Shelby Spong, author of Eternal Life: A New Vision

"The Bible, an infallible book of answers to all life's questions? Timothy Beal demolishes that claim using the texts themselves, and offers the vision of a productive future in which the biblical process of argumentation will thrive in the digital environment." 
-Bruce Chilton, author of Rabbi Jesus

"Partly autobiography, partly social scientific research, partly shrewd discernment, and partly theological interpretation, Tim Beal has written a zinger of a book about the cultural history of the Bible. This welcome and important book will cause a pause before we make glib claims for "the Word of the Lord." 
-Walter Brueggemann 

"A lot of us know just enough about the Bible to make us dangerous. Tim Beal wants to take us deeper in our understanding - not just about what the Bible says, but about what it is, and how it came to us in its many current forms. Under Beal's instruction, we will lose some of our naivete, but we'll gain maturity of insight that will more than compensate. A needed book from a talented writer." 
- Brian D. McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christianity 

"Remarkably accessible...Beal is more than just a debunker; in fact, once evangelical, he still considers himself a Christian. He exhorts readers to see the Bible not as a book of finite answers but as a crucible of questions that provoke, inspire, and even anger those who pick it up. The same might be said about his own book." 
- STARRED review, Booklist

"Well-written and engaging...A laudable look at the Good Book." 
- Kirkus

Dalla seconda/terza di copertina:

In this revelatory exploration, a noted religion scholar and former evangelical Christian takes us back to early Christianity to ask how a box of handwritten scrolls became the Bible, and forward to see how the multibillion-dollar business that has brought us Biblezines and manga Bibles is selling down the Bible’s sacred capital. Showing us how a single text was created from the proliferation of different scripts, Beal traces its path as it became embraced as The Book of books and the Word of God. Among his surprising insights: 
·Christianity thrived for centuries without any Bible. Early congregations used collections of scrolls; there was no official canon of scriptures and no book existed that was big enough to hold them.
·There is no “original” Bible behind the thousands of different Bibles on the market today. The further back we go in the Bible’s history, the more versions we find. 
·The idea of the Bible as the literal Word of God is only about a century old. 
In calling for a fresh understanding of the ways scriptures were used in the past, Beal offers a chance to rediscover a Bible, and a faith, that is truer to its own history — not a book of answers but a library of questions.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Data di pubblicazione: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0151013586
• ISBN 13: 9780151013586
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 256