The Bible: A Biography (Books That Changed the World) Paperback – November 1, 2008

This is an excellent, concise yet very thorough summary of how and when the various parts of the Bible were written and put together to arrive at what we have today. The Bible is not a single book, nor does it present a single overarching concept of God handed down from on high. By looking at the chronology and cultural influences of the various writings put together by different authors, based on the best scholarship available, we can get an understanding of how the concept of God in the Jewish people evolved from a tribal deity to universal God over more than a thousand year period of time, and also how the understanding of Jesus among his followers evolved during the decades following his death. Karen Armstrong is about the best at combining the best scholarship available with a very readable and understandable style. Recommended for anyone serious about going beyond the dogma of religious fundamentalism in understanding the Bible, which has had so much influence on the history of Western civilization that it should be required reading for an educated person.

Interesting history of the Bible and its interpretation. In the end the author summarizes everything in the succinct statement of “treating others as you would like to be treated “

The author has done a fabulousjob in writing that's packed with solid scholarship in easy-to-follow prose. Wow! Karen Armstrong is truly gifted. I have several of her books and I always know my education has kicked up several notches after reading them.

I purchased this book to read as part of my church book club review. It took everything I could muster to read every chapter. Now down to last chapter, thank goodness, so unless something changes, I'll be glad its done. Retrospectively, as I look back at book/author's writing, if one takes one time global review of the essence, it's how the Bible developed and changed over the centuries, but it is awfully dry reading. Good book to put you to sleep.

This is help me to understand Bible better. This book is anguidance to study Bible well.This good for all Christians.

As its subtitle implies, this book tells the story behind the creation of the various books that are assembled together as the Bible. This is a long history. The “biography” begins with the ancient tribes called Judah and Israel about 1000 BCE. It was not until the second century CE, that Jews settled on a canon of writings that now makes up the TaNaKh, or what Christians, somewhat derisively, call the Old Testament. Armstrong tells us, “By the middle of the second century, nearly all the twenty-seven books of the New Testament had been completed.” (p. 65) But the canon was not firmly fixed until the fourth century. Those who pick up Armstrong’s book expecting a history of the Bible may be disappointed. Rather than a history of the Bible’s development, it is more a story of the peoples whose lives were shaped by this sacred scripture and who in turn shaped it.Throughout this book, Armstrong uses quite a number of arcane terms, mostly Hebrew (midrash, mishnah, shekhinah, pesher), some Latin (ex nihilo), and some Greek (exegesis). The repetition of these terms had this lay reader repeatedly flipping back to the glossary until the terms could be drilled into my memory. So, the book is not an easy read.In spite of the challenges, I was glad that I stuck with it. It was enlightening to learn that “The fundamentalist emphasis on the literal reflects the modern ethos but is a breach with tradition, which usually preferred some kind of figurative or innovative interpretation.” (pp. 222-3) I wish she had just said that fundamentalism and its literalism is a dead end. What kind of thinking person can accept as fact the story of Noah and the flood? Or the one about Jonah being swallowed by a whale---sorry, I mean a big fish?

Of accurately, yet concisely tracing the West journey over past several thousand years, AS WE GROPE, endlessly, fitfully, STILL blindly, like 3 blind men and the elephant, into RELIGION. AFTER many years of study, in shadows of erudite semanarians, for whom I continue to have intellectual respect, this book BECAUSE of its brevity provides veritable path through the TOTALLY inadequate explanations e seek for biologically based horrors, which result from a defective genetic code which has provided for a defective brain.Unfortuneately, on WE can examine this defective organ. An oversimplification, i know: Religion represents the expression of the very worst expressions of our inherently violence prone amygdalas; a CONGLOMRATION of ideas around which we commit atrocities, one upon the other, about things OF WHICH WE CANNOT BE SURE.Most succinctly in Rogers and Hammerstein's THD KING and I : I wish I could be more certain of the the things of which I cannot be sure!

I have always loved Karen Armstrong's writing, and I thought I had all her books, both hard copy and Kindle versions. I was surprised I did not have this one when I saw a copy on a friend's table. So, of course, I came to Amazon.I am SO grateful I discovered this one. It was very helpful to me in sorting out issues related to our Progressive Christian study group. As an interfaith minister, I am excited about her suggestion in the epilogue for finding a common exegete. The rest of the book I highlighted way too much, so as I go back to study, I'll reduce to major highlights.If you're curious about how to take the Bible and wonder what the options are, I recommend this book. It would make an excellent text for a class for ordinary people who find the academic approach to the subject way too daunting.

This is a very difficult book to read. For me, I’ve decided to read it two pages at a time, some days another two pages, depends on the intensity of the content.I pulled through, nevertheless, after three months. But it is a thin book, about 10% of the last few pages dedicated to bibliography and appendixes. The research is thorough, making this book the authority on the subject the author expounds.I begin to see the disparities in the thoughts the most read book in the world wish to present. Although it has changed in its context due to men’s egoistic meddling over the past centuries, it is now up to the present men to decide what they want to take home.I’m still wondering, why aren’t women have a say in the text? No where in this book mentioned that women were involved in the discussion.Now I wonder - why didn’t the men seek advice from the women? Perhaps we could have a more just and feminine aspect of the thoughts... then there will be balance.

a must read if you want to understand how the bible was written and changed over 1500 years

Authoritative, well researched and insightful. The introduction and epilogue alone are worth the price of the book reminding us of the need to be charitable instead of fundamentalist.

For many years I was a fan of Karen Armstrong. She appeared to have an understanding of the mindset of the religious fundamentalist,as well as a nature essentially humane. What is more she writes beautifully. Style is not lacking here; I read this book eagerly and quickly.The book, however, lacks authority. She falls into the common trap of trying to convince herself, and thus her readers, that textual literalism or 'fundamentalism' is a recent phenomenon. 'The ancients' whoever they might have been, she asserts, had a much more subtle appreciation of myth and metaphor than, say, the Jehovah's Witnesses, one of many malign fundamentalist cults, whose cruel doctrines overshadowed my childhood.She is mistaken. Christian fundamentalism arose in early 20th century America in response to scepticism, not least amongst Christians, about the historical veracity of the six day creation, the Virgin Birth and all the myriad fantasies which make up the Old and New Testaments. Prior to the late 18th century the Bible as history needed no defenders. It was all but universally accepted throughout Christendom. Has Karen Armstrong never read Josephus? The Creation and Flood are as real to him as the Herods and Caesars of his own day.She declares that Isaac Newton ignored the Bible. The greater part of Newton's work was Biblical exegesis. He believed the Book implicitly. As an eloquent Biblical apologist, Karen Armstrong is fine. I fear she may have been beguiled by the charm of most Jews and Christians that she has met on a personal level. She is unwilling to confront the difficult truth that many of the evils perpetrated by those who claim to live by the Bible cannot be blamed on its misinterpretation. The fault lies in its absurdly exalted status.

This is the book to read before you read her book on St.Paul. It reminded me of so much I had forgotten from my A level days about source document theory and she very much took my own insights forward in this respect. I love the fact that she is so liberal, focused and well balanced in her approach to these topics and she is the same when she writes about other religions, for example: Buddhism and Islam. Highly recommended to all thinking religious people. She is a national treasure both for her insistence on compassion in the world and her brilliant work on comparative religion. What a tremendous gift for communicating difficult theologically insights she possesses.