"A History of the Bible" by John Barton is a comprehensive and insightful exploration of the development, interpretation, and impact of the Bible throughout history. Barton's approach combines scholarly rigor with accessibility, making it an engaging read for both scholars and general readers interested in the history of this influential text.

The book delves into the complexities of how the Bible was written, compiled, and received over centuries, offering a nuanced understanding of its cultural and religious significance. Barton's expertise shines through as he navigates through the diverse interpretations and controversies surrounding the Bible.

For those seeking a well-researched and thought-provoking overview of the Bible's journey through time, "A History of the Bible" is an excellent resource that provides valuable insights into the evolution of this foundational text.

Barton’s work is magisterial in every sense. He has attempted the undoable. He takes the most influential book in history, covers over three millennia of history, the interpretations of two religions, and somehow manages to do it in one volume. Not only that but the book was then serialised as a BBC radio documentary. How many books on the Bible can claim that?

Barton approaches the Bible in the liberal tradition - of a text put together by different authors and compilers across the millennia, as opposed to a text that may have been presumed to have metaphorically fallen from the sky in popular thought. Of course, the author’s approach is far more interesting, concentrating on context and in the light of the original authors and compilers. He also shows us how later generations continued this interpretation. If something is puzzling or difficult, that makes it of even more interest for Barton. The Bible is not a tidy text, and Barton illuminates this, but in a way that illuminates, rather than increases confusion. He contests a popular misconception that there were many texts wrongfully excluded from the Bible, and it was only fringe texts that were relegated out of the canonical bounds.

We begin with what is commonly referred to as the Old Testament, and he leads us swiftly from Moses to David and to Solomon, and the division that comes after. We then come to the Exile and Daniel, with the unusual shift in language from Hebrew to Aramaic. He begins with the traditional 19th-century view of the first five books of the Old Testament being divided between four primary sources/editors/documents due to their particular emphasis, vocabulary, and how they address The Divine. However, Barton is clear to remind us of the limitations of this traditional view. Why do strange textual repetitions and inconsistencies remain if the OT has been woven together by mysterious figures?

He distances himself from this traditional view as the academy begins to move away from it. “Someone must have meant us to read them as they stand; or, even if it was no one’s intention, the books, just as they are, seem to invite a holistic reading.” Barton reminds us that in accepting the OT as inconsistent, the more fascinating the various twists and turns of the narrative and subject matter become.

The author reminds us that the Hebrew Scriptures in their Jewish form does not conclude with Malachi (as can be found in Bibles since the KJV) but with Chronicles, the end of Exile, and the Messianic promise. He then takes us through the Wisdom literature of Proverbs, so markedly different from the rest of the scriptures. ‘Wisdom literature…invites the reader into a dialogue about human life and its patterns, rather than laying down the law.’ He also reminds us that the ‘Law’ of the Old Testament is less the vision given to it by Conservative Protestantism but a covenant partnership between God and his people. Finally, Barton suggests that both OT Law and Wisdom literature ask the same fundamental question - how to live morally as God’s covenant people.

Again following on from conventional theological thinking since the 19th century, he divides the great Book of Isaiah into various sections. The second central section is the best known and ‘marking the high point of monotheistic thinking’ in the OT. He follows this with the psalter, which he interprets as being far more of a document used liturgically in the Temple than we might think - for example, the sudden shift in the subject matter in some psalms may indicate a shift in their liturgical use. Indeed, he points out that some convey a real sense of movement in processions, pilgrimages, and the movement through the Temple. He also draws our attention to the profoundly individualistic emphasis of the psalter, compared to the sweep of the nation's vocation as the people of God found elsewhere in the OT.

We then move to the New Testament, which Barton emphasises is primarily a Mediterranean text. Whereas the Old Testament was presumably written, edited and compiled over centuries, the NT took its essential form over a few decades.

Barton offers some clarifications. Much is said about the NT being written under Roman occupation, but in reality, Galilee had its own ruler, with only a small Roman presence. Herod’s descendants used the name, Herod, much as Roman Emperors adopted Caesar. Barton writes persuasively that the Hellenisation of Jewish thought, which can be found in the inter-testamental books, is a natural precursor to the thought-world of the New Testament - personal immortality, the importance of virtue, the resurrection of the righteous. The NT appears to allow a reading of the OT in a symbolic, typological fashion on occasion. Barton reminds us that this follows on from the tradition of Philo of Alexandria. “Philo does not deny that the events described actually happened, but what matters for him is that they symbolise general truths about human nature and especially about its inner constitution.” Barton ascribes the erratic Greek of the Book of Revelation to an author who was perhaps more familiar with Aramaic.

He summarises well the predominant view that letters that make up the NT may be the product of various authors and various decades - and refreshingly points out that that the ‘high’ vision of the exalted Jesus that was common in later centuries in Christian thought can be easily seen in these early letters, against the common conception that Paul taught a ‘low Christology.’ He is not afraid to point out that the early epistles, pastoral epistles and Acts depict three different stages of the formation of the church.

Much like his approach to the OT, Barton is open about the variations in the NT - the differences in the Syntopic Gospels vs John and the variations between the different epistles. He gives a digestible summary of the scholarly views that have shaped assumptions behind these over the last few centuries - particularly the shift from the assumption that Matthew was the first gospel written towards the presumption of an unnamed proto-gospel (Q) that would serve as the primary source to the Gospel of Mark.

Barton spends some time on the notable difference between the Synoptics and John as regards the Eucharist, and the fact that John appears to have a somewhat different narrative of the Last Supper - and that perhaps by the time of writing, there was a growing understanding of the danger of those outside the small Christian community knowing of such immense and sacred mysteries, and so the more veiled language of the Gospel of John as regards the Bread of Life.

Barton points out that the Church neglected to make a canonical harmonisation of the different gospels but left them to remain with their substantial differences. Barton spends much time discussing Christian interpretations of the Old Testament. Barton writes persuasively against the presumption that there was a vast amount of uncanonical literature offering radical new truths that were suppressed by the church in the earliest centuries.

Barton then jumps to the state of the Hebrew Scriptures in the Christian period and the division between Christian and Jewish assumptions regarding inter-testamental literature. He offers us the fascinating observation that the concern that canonical Jewish scriptures should be extant in Hebrew will not only resurface during the Reformation, but that the Book of Sirach, whilst once presumed to have been written in Greek, there is now growing evidence of initially being in written in Hebrew, and so could fit the original qualifications for canonical standing.

Barton takes the reader through the difference between Christian and Jewish understandings of creation and Fall, which then leads us onto his next major shift, post-Christian rabbinical understandings of the scriptures, and the unique method of interpretation and reinterpretation this took across the centuries. ‘There is no before and after in Scripture’. Abraham, David, Elijah, the revelation to Moses on Sinai, the Temple and the world to come all exist in one dimension, and the one [verse of scripture might] contribute to all of them.” This leads us to Origen of Alexandria, whose writings on scriptural interpretation marked a new stage in Christian thought and the rise of allegory.

We now make another jump, away from interpretation to the history of the Bible itself and the shift away from the Bible as a static scroll or codex. The growth of the preaching orders in the 12th century led to smaller, more portable bibles and the rationalisation of chapter numbers and section breaks. In addition, Annotated Bibles with commentaries - glosses - began to circulate. Barton points out that while Jewish commentary concentrates on connecting various passages in this period, Christian thought begins to look for spiritual meanings in every text.

This, of course, leads us onto the Reformation, which, again, Barton provides a masterful, readable summary. From this to the growth of scholarly criticism in the 19th century and to the modern theories of ‘inerrancy of scripture’ in Protestant thought.

If my review seems out of balance, then perhaps it is my fault, for the book felt predominantly dedicated to the period up the Reformation, and this portion was engaging and fascinating. However, the latter, modern period of the book perhaps felt more compressed, and I found it dry and less enthralling.
Whilst it took me a considerable time to read, section by section over the course of many months, it is a magisterial work and a real contribution to scholarship.

(As for the lateness of this review, I can only blame the pandemic.)

I don’t often read much nonfiction so I always look forward to following the Wolfson History Prize each year for guidance of what biographical or historical books I should catch up on. Last year I read Matthew Sturgis’ excellent biography of Oscar Wilde but this year I thought I’d challenge myself a bit more by reading priest and Oxford scholar John Barton’s much-acclaimed “A History of the Bible”. Firstly, I must declare that although I was raised with regular Sunday trips to a Lutheran church I am an atheist so my interest in the Bible comes from a purely secular point of view. To be honest, I’ve never had much interest in reading the Bible or thought deeply about its origins. However, its historical, social and cultural significance is of such magnitude that it feels like I should learn more about it. Barton’s intricately researched and well balanced account embraces the enormous challenge of tracing the history and many permutations of the text which makes up the Bible as used in the Judaic and Christian faiths. It was absolutely fascinating learning about its complex and lengthy history.

One of my biggest misconceptions about the Bible is that it has been at the absolute centre of both these major religions since their beginnings like a “sacred monolith between two black-leather covers”. Barton reasonably describes how Judaic and Christian faith reside more in their practices and traditions. While the Bible obviously provides many important religious insights for these faiths, they are not grounded in the Bible. It can’t be taken as a map that provides absolute laws about what is to be believed and Barton pointedly states that “Fundamentalists venerate a Bible that does not really exist, a perfect text that perfectly reflects what they believe.” This is because the actual text of the book in all its iterations and translations contains contradictory information and instruction. The Bible’s contents are instead “a repository of writings, both shaping and shaped by the two religions at various stages in their development”. This is an illuminating point of view which not only broadened my understanding of what the Bible actually is but how faith is most commonly practiced in these religions.

It’s admirable how thoroughly Barton traces the origins of the text of the Bible, detailing the many debating theories about how it was written and by whom. He also summarizes the popular consensus of scholarly research about when certain sections were completed in the form we have today. Of course, it’s very difficult to verify many details with absolute certainty; so much about the Bible’s true creation cannot be proved as it was transcribed and revised by so many different people over many years. Since I mostly read novels, I’m accustomed to reading any book as a story written by one author who created a certain narrative structure. But, of course, the Bible cannot and was not meant to be read in this way. So I found it illuminating how Barton describes the way in which different sections of the Bible weren’t intended to be chronological. Nor are many parts meant to be interpreted as providing a clear set of instructions. Instead, they were more likely meant to serve many different purposes in the practice of worship.

I’m not going to pretend to completely understand or to have fully absorbed the extensive amount of information and detailed explanations Barton provides in his book. As someone so unfamiliar with the structure and contents of the Bible, I did find reading Barton’s thorough history somewhat overwhelming at times. This is not at all a fault on the author’s part as he does a brilliant job at laying out so many complex and competing ideas about this religious text’s origins and purpose. But this historical account is over 600 pages long and there’s a lot to absorb! The Bible has obviously been scrutinized and fought over for hundreds of years. So delving into Barton’s impressive and very readable book has merely keyed me into how much more I have to learn - not only about where the Bible came from but why there is so much disagreement about its meaning. Certainly, I will never become a scholar of its text but I’m so grateful to have read Barton’s historical account as its given me an invaluable overview of the Bible’s place in these religions and our broader culture.