Customer Reviews

General Introduction to the Bible

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book contains an amazing amount of background information on the Bible and how it came to be in it's present form. It covers such topics as the way men were able to determine which books belonged in the Bible and which ones did not, how the books were preserved down through the centuries, how scholars are able to determine and correct mistakes that were made by well-meaning or not so well-meaning scribes, the history of our English translations of the Bible and much much more. If you want a well written book by two highly recognized Bible scholars that will be an excellent supplement to your study and understanding of the Bible plus provide an excellent reference to use whenever you need to find a quick and accurate answer to a historical Bible question, this is the book for you.

A great one volume work on the inspiration, canonization, transmission and translation of the Bible. There are also good B&W photos, e.g. the Habakkuk Commentary, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, so one of the earliest extant manuscripts of the OT; and P52, the oldest NT fragment.

There are good refutations of a number of false views, e.g. that an inspired Bible can contain error. The authors demonstrate that Biblical errantists confuse several concepts:

Adaptation to human finitude vs accommodation to human error: the former does not entail the latter. A mother might tell her four-year-old `you grew inside my tummy' - this is not false, but language simplified to the child's level. Conversely, `the stork brought you' is an outright error. Similarly, God, the author of truth, used some simplified descriptions (e.g. using the earth as a reference frame, as modern scientists do today) and anthropomorphisms, but never error.

Limitation vs misunderstanding: while the Second Person of the Trinity was incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth, He voluntarily limited His omniscience (Phil. 2:5-11). I.e., in His humanity, He did not know all things. But this does *not* entail that He was mistaken about anything He said. All human understanding is finite, but this doesn't entail that every human understanding is errant. Also, what Jesus *did* preach, He proclaimed with absolute authority (Mt. 24:35, 28:18), because He was speaking with the full authority of God the Father (John 5:30, 8:28), who is always omniscient. So if errantists wish to maintain his charge that Christ was mistaken because of His humanity, they must logically charge God the Father with error as well.

Geisler and Nix also show that canonicity was *not* determined by men (e.g. the Church), but determined by God and *recognized* by men.

The sections on the accuracy of transmission and translation should help Christians have confidence that when they read a Bible accurately translated into their own language today, they *are* reading the very Word of God.

Christians should have a good reference book at arm's length on the subject of bibliology (the study of the nature, origin and reliability of the Bible). A General Introduction to the Bible by Geisler and Nix does a great job in filling this need.

The book is not a small book (it weighs in at a healthy 724 pages). However, it is a great resource. In addition to the chapters themselves, there are plenty of charts, photographs, indexes, a glossary, and a well annotated bibliography.

The book is divided up into four major parts,

Part one: Inspiration of the Bible

Part two: Canonization of the Bible

Part three: Transmission of the Bible

Part four: Translation of the Bible

You will find the authors articulating the traditional evangelical view of verbal plenary inspiration. Their chapters on the claims of inspiration in the Old and New Testaments are particularly helpful. They also interact in some detail with the divergent views on revelation and inspiration.

Canonization tends to be a bit of a blind spot for evangelicals. The authors do a terrific job in articulating a God-centered and historically consistent view of canonization. This is obviously quite helpful in light of the contemporary fascination with Gnostic writings. One quote that is particularly helpful:

"Canonicity is determined by God. A book is not inspired because men made it canonical; it is canonical because God inspired it. It is not the antiquity, authenticity, or religious community that makes a book canonical or authoritative. On the contrary, a book is valuable because it is canonical, and not canonical because it is or was considered valuable. Inspiration determines canonization, and confusion at the point not only dulls the edge of authority but it mistakes the effect (a canonical book) for the cause (inspiration of God). Canonicity is determined or established authoritatively by God; it is merely discovered by man." (p. 221)

A General Introduction to the Bible is a great resource to further equip and encourage you as to the ways and means by which God has given us his world.

This book has a lot of helpful insight on the history of how we got our Bible. Of course the book is not in favour of the Textus Receptus/KJV, however the information found in this book concerning Canonization, and Inspiration is good.

I have had to study this book in depth as part of an MDiv program. It is extremely detailed and covers many things in depth. For example the list of English translations runs to over 30 pages. The authors view the current Holy Bible as the end of a chain involving the divine inspiration of scripture, the collection of inspired autographs (Canonization), the transmission (covering textual criticism) and finally translation.

The take a strong, conservative approach to scripture that should satisfy all bible believing Christians and they give more than enough detail to act apologetically towards any that have doubts as to the accuracy of the information in our hands.

One caveat: the authors are extremely pro modern (lower) textual criticism and the Nestle-Aland text. Those that prefer the Majority or Textus Receptus text and especially those that favor the KJV are likely to find much of the latter two sections to be at variance with thier beliefs. That doesn't mean the work doesn't have value - but some of the blatant denigration of the KJV and Textus Receptus can get a trifle old.

All in all a good book for those interested in how the Word of God came to us today.

This book claims to be a general introduction of the bible. It is general in the sense in cover everything in general about how the bible was put together. It has nothing to do with the bible doctrines but with the canon.

Excellent, in depth look at how the Bible was put together and passed down through the ages. Lots of church history included that shows how some of the divisions of Christendom came to be.
This book should be part of every person's reference library.
There are tons of footnotes and references to other works on both biblical and non-biblical subjects.
This book is much more comprehensive than other volumes out there that give a brief overview of biblical development.
Must reading "to give an answer for the hope that lies within you..."

I was frankly disappointed with this book. I purchased it from Amazon for a new Christian so she could become familiar with the broad outline of the Bible. It might have been helpful if Amazon's review was more descriptive than simply stating that this was an update of the popular work of this well regarded apologist. The simple truth is that I bought it based on its title, its author, and the number of stars it had. I ended up confusing the poor girl with the information Geisler supplied. It was a lot of meat - admittedly Prime Rib -- but she needed Similac.

I gave this book a single star because I feel that the title is misleading and I want to call attention to that fact before someone repeats my mistake. That being said, the information within the book is solid historical and apologetic material. The authors begin by discussing the inspiration of the Bible. They them discuss the process by which the canon of Scripture came to be recognized. They conclude with a section on the translation of the Bible into various languages, particularly English. Their work is scholarly and sound -- they have produced an excellent general introduction to the HISTORY of the Bible. Had that been noted, I would not have bought this for my friend.

What exactly is a general introduction to the Bible? The first thoughts are, this must be really basic, this probably includes things like basic bibliology (doctrines of inspiration, inerrancy etc.), a basic overview of manuscripts and canonization including biblical themes. That is what I was expecting. You will find some of these themes in this book but it will be treated at a much more thorough and academic way. If you are familiar with Josh McDowell's Evidence that Demands a Verdict particularly the section on manuscripts and historical evidence you will recognize some of the things in this book. Take those facts (from McDowell's work) and imagine them being skived off the very brim of this masterpiece. This book can serve as the end all reference for matters of this type (see the table of contents, in the excerpt, and expect each topic to be masterfully treated). It is packed deep and dense yet will be one of the best references in your library. Also, the thickness of this book was unexpected it is more than 700 pages. Very exhaustive, in a good way! If you ever teach a lesson over Bibliology, or any type of survey class this book is a must have. It does not serve as an old and new testament survey (Geisler has other good books on those topics). It serves more as a detailed tome of other topics related to the Bible (see the table of contents). Get this book! Geisler is a true scholar and has a myriad of books, this one, in particular, seems almost more academic then most you will come across. Academic in the sense that it is packed with facts and discusses issues that you normally don't see in other books on this topic. That is not a bad thing as you can always skip over sections you find too difficult. There are so many good things in this book that you should not let its level of scholarship deter you from getting this book. Enjoy!

Absolutely excellent, a must have. I'm a professor, and this is a core book, something I don't outgrow. I've taught from it, and it's great. Out of my 500 books, if I could only keep 20 books, this would be one of them. Explains why we believe in the inerrancy of the canon.