A History of the Bible

Cerebral entertainment of the highest class. This is an absolutely fascinating book, a staggeringly learned exploration of the origins of all those Bible stories – Dominic Sandbrook * The Sunday Times (Books of the Year) *A superb overview … Barton wears his erudition lightly, but even for those deeply familiar with the Bible there is much here to be learnt – Bart D Ehrman * Telegraph *As eminently readable as the best of travelogues, it floods with light a subject too often regarded by many as a closed book. … An extraordinary tour de force – Peter Stanford * Sunday Times *John Barton’s magisterial history brings the Good Book splendidly back to life … It is an exhilarating achievement – Julian Coman * Observer *Rare is the common assumption about the Bible that Barton fails to render problematic – Tom Holland * Financial Times *Vital, hugely informative – David Sexton * Evening Standard *A work of exceptional merit … a joy to read – Linda Hogan * Irish Times *Compelling and endlessly intriguing, it courageously looks at the problems of variants, apocrypha, questions of translation and very much more. It should be in the armoury of anyone, whether a believer or not – Stuart Kelly * Scotsman *Hugely important, very readable and judicious – Anthony Phillips * Church Times *The learning Barton brings to bear for this large undertaking is prodigious as well as judiciously deployed, and everything is conveyed in lucid, precise prose. If A History of the Bible is academic popularization, it may well be the finest example I have ever encountered – Robert Alter * Jewish Review of Books *

John Barton was the Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford from 1991 to 2014 and since 1973 has been a serving priest in the Church of England. He is the author of numerous books on the Bible, co-editor of The Oxford Bible Commentary and editor of The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2007 and is a Corresponding Fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.