A distinguished team of scholars assesses the importance of the Bible and retraces its history in words and images across two thousand years.

A general history of Christianity to 1800 in chronological order.

The Oxford Illustrated History of the Holy Land covers the 3,000 years which saw the rise of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--and relates the familiar stories of the sacred texts with the fruits of modern scholarship. Beginning with the origins of the people who became the Israel of the Bible, it follows the course of the ensuing millennia down to the time when the Ottoman Empire succumbed to British and French rule at the end of the First World War. Parts of the story, especially as known from the Bible, will be widely familiar. Less familiar are the ways in which modern research, both from archaeology and from other ancient sources, sometimes modify this story historically. Better understanding, however, enables us to appreciate crucial chapters in the story of the Holy Land, such as how and why Judaism developed in the way that it did from the earlier sovereign states of Israel and Judah and the historical circumstances in which Christianity emerged from its Jewish cradle. Later parts of the story are vital not only for the history of Islam and its relationships with the two older religions, but also for the development of pilgrimage and religious tourism, as well as the notions of sacred space and of holy books with which we are still familiar today. Sensitive to the concerns of those for whom the sacred books of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are of paramount religious authority, the authors all try sympathetically to show how historical information from other sources, as well as scholarly study of the texts themselves, enriches our understanding of the history of the region and its prominent position in the world's cultural and intellectual history.

In 14 original essays, this book reveals the history of books in all their various forms, from the ancient world to the digital present

A unique visual history of the bestselling book of all time, Bibles: An Illustrated History from Papyrus to Print provides a snapshot of the biblical tradition through over fifty rare and important Bibles.Following a general introduction, the Bibles are presented in chronological chapters giving a short introduction for each period. Every example, from the oldest biblical fragments dating from c. 200 AD to the lavishly decorated gospels of the fine press tradition in the twentieth-century, is illustrated and accompanied by a caption which explains its particular significance.Drawing exclusively on Oxford’s collection, one of the finest in the world, this book tells the remarkable story of the development of the Bible across media, language, and provenance. Containing many unusual examples, some of which have never been illustrated in print before, it includes many of the great biblical texts of the Eastern and Western tradition, including the Magdalen Papyrus, the Laudian Acts, the Anglo-Saxon Exodus, St Margaret’s Gospel-book, the Douce Apocalypse, the Bible Moralisee (MS. Bodley 270b), the Kennicot Bible, the Guttenberg Bible, and the King James Bible.Published in the year of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, Bibles: An Illustrated History from Papyrus to Print brings together an extraordinary range of biblical texts and marks a milestone in the history of one of the most influential and enduring books in the world.

This wide-ranging volume looks at the reception history of the Bible's many texts; Part I surveys the outline, form, and content of twelve key biblical books that have been influential in the history of interpretation. Part II offers a series of in-depth case studies of the interpretation of particular biblical passages or books.

A literary history of our most influential book of all time, by an Oxford scholar and Anglican priest In our culture, the Bible is monolithic: It is a collection of books that has been unchanged and unchallenged since the earliest days of the Christian church. The idea of the Bible as "Holy Scripture," a non-negotiable authority straight from God, has prevailed in Western society for some time. And while it provides a firm foundation for centuries of Christian teaching, it denies the depth, variety, and richness of this fascinating text. In A History of the Bible, John Barton argues that the Bible is not a prescription to a complete, fixed religious system, but rather a product of a long and intriguing process, which has inspired Judaism and Christianity, but still does not describe the whole of either religion. Barton shows how the Bible is indeed an important source of religious insight for Jews and Christians alike, yet argues that it must be read in its historical context--from its beginnings in myth and folklore to its many interpretations throughout the centuries. It is a book full of narratives, laws, proverbs, prophecies, poems, and letters, each with their own character and origin stories. Barton explains how and by whom these disparate pieces were written, how they were canonized (and which ones weren't), and how they were assembled, disseminated, and interpreted around the world--and, importantly, to what effect. Ultimately, A History of the Bible argues that a thorough understanding of the history and context of its writing encourages religious communities to move away from the Bible's literal wording--which is impossible to determine--and focus instead on the broader meanings of scripture.

The story of the 'long Renaissance' for a new generation from Giotto and Dante in thirteenth-century Italy to the English literary Renaissance in the first half of the seventeenth century.

An anthology of American poems, is arranged chronologically, from colonial alphabet rhymes to Native American cradle songs to contemporary poems. 50 illustrations, 20 in color.