Title: A General Introduction to the Bible: From Ancient Tablets to Modern Translations
Author:
David Ewert has served as a Professor of New Testament at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Harisonburg, Virginia, and at the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary in Fresno, California. He is presently President of Mennonite Bible College in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
He is an talented writer in his denomination, with his piece of writing published in several Mennonite journals (e.g. Direction Journal). He has also printed many essays that speak on an enormous selection of issues that the Mennonite brethren face in the 20th century. His essays were published in a book, Finding Your Way. To get to know more about his journals and articles visit the web.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Introduction
The Book Called “the Bible”
The Books of the Bible
The Languages of the Bible
God’s Word Written
The Old Testament Canon
Extracanonical Books
The Text of the Old Testament
Ancient Versions of the Old Testament
The Beginnings of the New Testament
The New Testament Canon
The New Testament in Manuscript Form
The Printed Greek New Testament
Early Eastern Versions of the Bible
Early Western Versions of the Bible
English Bible Prior to 1611
The Authorized Versions and Its Revisions
English Bibles in the First Half of the Twentieth Century
English Versions in the Fifties and Sixties
Versions of the English Bible in the Seventies
God’s Word in Human Language
What is the book all about?
There are two elements woven together in the history of the Bible and its renditions. One is the progress of the biblical text: its materials, texts, and versions. The second is the story of the people who went to great extremes, at times risking death, in order to endow with their age band with the Word of God in a lingo that could be tacit. Ewert adeptly combines both these elements in this educational and attractive book, beginning with what ‘Bible’ means, how the Bible is structured, and how diverse books were named. He investigates such other concerns as the advance of the biblical languages, the canon and the history of the testaments, and early translation of the Bible. English translations, from the time of Wycliffe to the present, are the focal point of a number of chapters. It is packed with snaps of early texts, pages from a variety of Bibles, photographs of important peoples and background—of which add appreciation to the Bible’s history. Maps and charts show the progress of languages, textual families, and the connection of various translations and revisions. There are suggested readings and an extensive glossary and index.
A General Introduction to the Bible is a source of background facts on the written Word of God. An interesting part of the pages are the history of its transmission and canonization, and the coming about of different personalities who to the extent died for the Word of God. The book coalesce stories of the biblical text to the story of men and women who went great boundaries to provide their community with God’s Word in a lingo that could be grasped. Other pages include clarification of the modern English renditions. For easier identification of the topics of interest to an individual layman it gives a systematic arrangement of issues (titles) from giving meaning to what the Bible is to a chapter on God’s Word in Human Language. “Since the church holds that the Bible is its final authority in all matters of life and doctrine, it is only to be expected that all Bible readers would want to know as much as possible about the formation, transmission, and translation of the Scriptures” (p. 17), which this book addresses.
Amazon Link and photo of the book:
http://www.amazon.com/General-Introduction-Bible-David-Ewert/dp
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