Book Review - 'History of the Bible' by John Barton

It may seem remarkable in today’s secular society that a book on the history of the Bible should be BBC Radio 4’s ‘Book of the Week’. But that was the case just after Christmas when John Barton, formerly Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at Oxford University (and an ordained Anglican priest), presented extracts from his latest book. The BBC’s choice was a sign of the continuing place of the Bible in our culture even though fewer people admit to an active faith; some 500,000 Bibles are sold each year in the UK.

In this book, Barton sums up a lifetime of study of the Bible and its origins. Acknowledging that that many aspects of Biblical history are still the subject of debate, he sets out both his own views and those of other scholars. He points out that because the Bible is for us a single book between covers, we tend to overlook the fact that it is a collection of books, with very different styles of writing, produced over a long period of time and varying hugely in the ways that they have come to their present form. Seeking uniformity of outlooks and teachings across such a diverse set of writings may therefore be a challenge, as demonstrated by the range of beliefs across the Christian faith groups who  claim to derive their doctrines solely from the Bible. Indeed, he makes the more general point that both Judaism and Christianity, although having Holy Scripture at the core of their beliefs, have doctrines and practices that cannot be clearly derived from Scripture. Thus while there is an overlap between Biblical texts and both faiths, it is by no means a complete overlap.

Barton first discusses the Old Testament, where archaeology has greatly illuminated textual studies. While the events recounted in the opening books go back well before 1000BC, the scholarly consensus that he presents is that the original texts themselves are unlikely to date from before 900BC or so, and then will have been amended by later writers. They may well, of course, reflect stories that are much older that have been passed down orally but the accounts that they present, of the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan for example, are not supported by archaeology. They might best be considered foundational stories for the Jewish people and nation, reflecting something in their past (perhaps that they are the product of different migrations). Maybe we have our parallels in the stories of Arthur and Canute (my comment, not the author’s).

For later OT books, there are historical reference points in the form of invasions by Assyria and Babylon and records from those empires which illuminate the Biblical accounts. But the changes introduced by subsequent editing have always to be considered and a key focus of study has been to try to identify the older elements that are still evident in the texts. And crucial to interpretation is understanding the uses to which such texts were put – whether in worship, ceremonial occasions or guidance for those in authority – and this at present is still largely obscure.

The texts of New Testament books exist in manuscripts of the second and third centuries that are much closer to the dates when they were written (but even so they are not originals, and several passages, such as the final verses of Matthew, are widely considered to be later insertions). There is little dispute about the texts themselves but they do not tell a consistent story. The differences in the accounts of Jesus’ ministry in the four Gospels are well known and Barton also discusses the difficulty of reconciling the account of Paul’s travels in Acts with his references to his visits in the Epistles.

Barton provides an account of the process by which the books in the New Testament came to be accepted as Holy Scripture. These, of course, did not exist at the time that the earliest Christian communities were founded and even in the second century it was unlikely that a Christian community would have access to all the writings, which were expensive to produce. But by the end of that century lists of books that correspond closely with our present New Testament appeared in writings, although in some cases others were also included. Progressively, the texts gained authority through use – this can be tracked through the quotations included in the works of early Christian writers. Thus the Councils of the church that produced the definitive list were essentially formalising a situation that had evolved and did not, as some have suggested, reject books because they were unacceptable (eg because of their views about women) to the church authorities of the time.

Barton’s discussion of the difference between Jewish and Christian readings of the Old Testament is particularly illuminating. For Christians, the Old Testament provides an account of God’s relationship with Israel which foreshadows the advent of Christ. It is an account of sin and salvation with many pointers to God’s final act of salvation, the coming of Christ. For Judaism, it is a guide to living – a set of instructions on how God wants his people to behave and, as a secondary aspect, an account of what happens when they do not follow these. This very different emphasis underlies the different order of the books in Jewish Bible. While in the Christian Old Testament, the order is (with some exceptions) the Law (ie the first five books) followed by the books of History and then the Prophets, the Jewish Bible has the Law and the Prophets followed by the History. Thus 2 Chronicles, with its account of the return to Jerusalem, is the last book of the Jewish Bible. Moreover, it is only the Torah (the Law) that is systematically read in synagogue services – there are some readings from the other books but nothing comparable to the systematic use of much of the Old Testament that is provided by the Lectionary.

As the previous paragraph shows, this book is about much more than the history of the texts. It is also about how interpretations have evolved and translations created. It paints a comprehensive picture of the processes by which the present texts and the understandings that come from them have come into being, and of their relationship with the doctrines of the faiths that regard them as authoritative.

For many, this book will provide hugely informative background to Bible study, raising questions and providing guidance on the ways in which we should read Scripture. Some, however, may consider that such background information is not fundamental to our understanding of Scripture; the texts that we have (in their various translations) are those that God intends us to have and their study will provide all that we need for understanding his truths. Recognising this widely held approach, Barton discusses how the concept of divine inspiration can be reconciled with the variety of teachings contained within the Bible.

Written not for the Biblical scholar but for the lay reader who wishes to deepen their understanding of Scripture, this book can be highly recommended.

Roger Courtney

‘A History of the Bible’ by John Barton (Penguin, £10.99)