The Oxford Illustrated History of the Bible. - Review - book review

Contemporary Review, May, 2001

The Oxford Illustrated History of the Bible. John Rogerson, editor. Oxford University Press. [pound]25.00. 395 pages. ISBN 0-19-860118-2. This latest in Oxford University Press's 'illustrated history' series tackles the Bible in four sections. The first two, are concerned with 'The Making of the Bible'.

Section one discusses the historical background to the Old Testament, the Apocrypha and the New Testament while the second section deals with the text and translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha, the New Testament and modern translations. The third section, the largest of the four, has seven essays dealing with 'the study and use of the Bible'. The first four essays follow a chronological plan, from the early Church to the present while the final three essays tackle the Bible in the Eastern Churches, in Judaism and in Literature. The final section deals with contemporary interpretation. The essays in this part are biased towards fashionable topics and no fewer than three discuss 'liberation theology' w hile one deals with what is termed 'feminist scholarship'. Seventeen scholars have contributed to this volume. The introduction adds little. Sadly, O.U.P. have dropped the centuries old Christian custom of using B.C. and A.D. and adopted the American custom of 'before the common era' and 'common era' presumably to placate the thousands of atheists who are queuing up to buy the book and interested pressure groups in America. (J.M.)