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 priest in the Church of England. His bestselling A History of the Bible- The Book and Its Faiths was shortlisted for the Wolfson Prize for History, won the Duff Cooper Prize and has been translated into more than ten languages. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2007 and is a Corresponding Fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
I found a whole new world opening up ... the joy of The Word isn't
reaching its final conclusion, but the unexpected journey itself,
told so well that it will engage those who have never set foot in
churches as readily as the faithful in the pews
*The Sunday Times*
Immensely scholarly, well written and sprinkled with light touches.
Who knew, for example, that there is a Lowland Scots version of the
story of Christ's temptation in which the Devil speaks like a posh
Englishman? Barton's book demonstrates that the history of biblical
interpretation, with its vast implications for centuries of
theology and politics, is inseparable from the issue of
translation
*Literary Review*
Fully displays John Barton's great gift for explaining complicated
things lucidly and judiciously
*Robert Alter*
Scholarly intelligence, a readable style, and insights at every
turn ... It is decades of expertise in the fine wood-grain of
biblical texts and languages, applied to the clump of trees in a
landscape that is scripture as we mostly encounter it
*Church Times*
Ought to be of interest to anyone interested in what we mean by our
words. ... a book bejewelled with insight and erudition and
compassion
*Scotsman*
Enjoyable ... A great point that Barton made in his 2019 bestseller
A History of the Bible is that the Bible has, for most of its
history, been read in translation
*Telegraph*
His writing is sage and measured, scholarly but accessible
*Spectator*
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
