A concise history of the Bible: its creation, use, and interpretation.What is the Bible? To answer this question we must understand the Bible’s origins in the early church. In this book, celebra
A concise history of the Bible: its creation, use, and interpretation.
What is the Bible? To answer this question we must understand the Bible’s origins in the early church. In this book, celebrated church historian Justo González introduces the reader to some important features of the earliest Bibles—for instance, the Bible’s original languages, its division into chapters and verses, and even its physical appearance in its first forms. González also explores the use of the Bible in the early church (such as in worship or in private reading) and the interpretation of the Bible throughout the ensuing centuries, giving readers a holistic sense of the Bible’s emergence as the keystone of Christian life, from its beginnings to present times.
“This is the best introduction to the Bible in the early church currently available. In clear and accessible prose, González surveys the Bible as a physical artifact, its uses in various settings, and the different ways it was interpreted by its earliest readers. The Bible in the Early Church is both conversational and dependable, hallmarks of González’s scholarship over the decades. The book is ideally suited for general readers and undergraduate classrooms.”
— Peter W. Martens
professor of early Christianity at Saint Louis University
“Finally. A book on the Bible in early Christianity that answers the important questions that everyone asks and does it in a way that everyone will want to read. This is González at his best. He cuts to the chase, anticipates our queries, leads us to the best of the primary sources, gives us enough, but not too much, and does it all in the genre of bedtime story.”
— D. Jeffrey Bingham
professor of historical theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
“Reading The Bible in the Early Church is like being transported across time to experience Scripture the way the first believers would have encountered it. In this excellent, accessible book, Justo González allows us to see the Bible come together before our eyes from separate scrolls, to codices, to the printing press. But he doesn’t stop there; he immerses us in the world of early Christians to show us what their relationship with Scripture was like in everyday practice, worship, and interpretation. This book is a wonderful introductory resource that fosters gratitude for the generations that preserved and passed down the Bible to us.”
— Karen R. Keen
founder of the Redwood Center for Spiritual Care and Education, Garland, Texas
“Justo L. González has gifted us in The Bible in the Early Church with a very personal, clear, and erudite introduction to the writing, use, and transmission of the biblical text for the life of the church. He explains from a historical and faith framework the special place and function of the Bible in the worship, education, and social order of the church. He enlightens us also concerning models of interpretation used in the past to understand three crucial themes in Scripture: creation, the exodus, and the Word. Dr. González hopes that the lessons learned from this past may be transformed into new lessons for the future. This book should be a most welcome addition to introductory courses on the Bible in theological schools and universities as well as in parochial settings.”
— Alberto L. García
professor emeritus of theology at Concordia University Wisconsin
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Justo L. González is a retired United Methodist minister and professor of historical theology. His more than one hundred books include The Story of Christianity, A History of Christian Thought, Teach Us to Pray, Knowing Our Faith, and A Brief History of Sunday.
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Part One: The Shape of the Bible
1. The Languages and Contents of the First Christian Bibles
2. The Shaping of the New Testament
3. The Physical Appearance of Early Christian Bibles
4. Chapters and Verses
5. The Transmission of the Text Through the Centuries
6. From Manuscripts to the Printed Bible
Part Two: The Use of the Bible
7. The Reading and Use of the Bible in Worship
8. The Use of Psalms
9. Private Reading
10. The Bible and Education
11. The Bible and the Social Order
Part Three: The Interpretation of the Bible
12. Models of Interpretation
13. Crucial Texts: Creation
14. Crucial Texts: The Exodus
15. Crucial Texts: The Word
16. Lessons from the Past and Promises for the Future
Cast of Characters
For Further Reading
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