'Wonderful' JOHN BARTON

'A stupendous intellectual achievement' ANDREW PETTEGREE

'A stunning love song to the Bible . . . this will be a classic' CHINE MCDONALD

The remarkable history of the most influential book in human history. The Bible is the most well-known text in the world. Yet, it is a book that never existed - its original form does not exist and probably never did. What we have is the legacy of generations of Christians who tried to hear God speak. Available in over three thousand languages and in countless forms, each version is a revelation, evolving as a reflection of its own culture and moment.

Bruce Gordon traces the Bible's astonishing journey from its emergence as a codex in the second century, through the Reformation, and to the impressive growth of Christianity in the Global South today. For centuries a source of inspiration, it has also been a tool of violence and oppression, used in the name of colonialism, while expressing hopes for freedom in the struggle for liberation.

Found in remote monasteries and Chinese churches, in Byzantine cathedrals and Guatemalan villages, it is a book in motion from its earliest beginnings, a product of more than two thousand years of wandering, restlessness, and change. Impressively global in its reach, the Bible is an extensive history of this sacred book told through the stories of diverse human encounters in the quest for the divine - revealing not a static text but a living, dynamic cultural force.

Pages: 528, Year of Publication: 1231, Dimensions: 15.2x15.2cm