Lee McDonald offers here a stimulating discussion regarding the history of the Bible as we know it today. How did the Jewish and Christian Bibles come together? Why were some ancient texts excluded or included? What were the criteria for such inclusion or exclusion? These and many other puzzling questions are answered in this volume.
We have received
three excellent reviews from James H. Charlesworth, Timothy H. Lim and Peter
Balla. All three are displayed below:
‘Lee McDonald is widely perceived to be in the front ranks of specialists on the origin of the Bible and the evolution of the canon. In this book, in a lucid engaging fashion, McDonald guides those who are perplexed about such origins. Jews and Christians find the revelation of God’s Will in the Bible and thereby establish a deeper self-identity. These, and all interested in Bible and canon, will find out from a luminary how the texts and words in the biblical canon were defined and deemed inspired. How did we get our Bible? This book gives you answers. It is superb for classes. I recommend it enthusiastically.’ - J.H. Charlesworth, George L. Collord Professor of New Testament Language and Literature and Director of the PTS Dead Sea Scrolls Project, Princeton Theological Seminary, USA.
‘In this ‘Guide for the Perplexed’, Lee McDonald has unravelled the intricacies of canon research for the scholar, student and interested public. Writing in a bracingly accessible style, McDonald clarifies how the Christian Bible of the Old and New Testaments came to be formed and finally fixed. Including numerous extracts from primary sources, McDonald achieves the near impossible in discussing texts ranging from the Hebrew Bible to patristic literature.’ - Timothy H. Lim, University of Edinburgh, UK.
‘Professor Lee McDonald is an expert in the field of the history of the biblical canon. His contribution to the Guides for the Perplexed series is a helpful summary of what can be gathered from the often scattered remarks in the ancient sources. One of the strengths of the book is that it quotes most of the relevant sources at length. The author rightly emphasizes that the ancient data are often open to various interpretations. His own reconstruction of the origin of the Bible is well argued, clear and readable; yet the author honestly warns the reader that there remain open questions, and there are areas in this history where other reconstructions may still be possible.’ – Péter Balla, Head of the New Testament Department at the Faculty of Theology, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary.
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