The Jewish Bible and the Christian Bible: An Introduction to the History of the Bible [Hardcover]

Julio C. Trebolle Barrera (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0802838308 | ISBN-13: 978-0802838308 | Publication Date: February 1998

This wide-ranging handbook presents an overview of our current knowledge on the history of the Bible, enriched with new information from the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and scholarship across a wide range of academic disciplines.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Decrying the tendency to compartmentalization and excessive specialization in biblical studies, Trebolle offers a broadly based and "interdisciplinary" history of the Bible, aimed primarily at students. Handy as a reference book, this intelligently co --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Spanish --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 600 pages
• Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co (February 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802838308
• ISBN-13: 978-0802838308
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,849,591 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bible History: its Ancient Milieu to its Modern Hermeneutics, May 15, 2004

By 

Didaskalex "Eusebius Alexandrinus" (Kellia on Calvary, Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: The Jewish Bible and the Christian Bible: An Introduction to the History of the Bible (Hardcover)

Condensed but Thorough:
In this bench marking reference on the subject of Biblical History, for which its translator W. Watson should be highly praised, and Brill Eerdmans is commented, is a rare reference in depth on the subject.
In five integral Chapters he takes you in a fast and masterful scholarly erudition from the Bible, an ancient world Book, to Modern Hermeneutics and Interpretation, in a logical and thoughtful order, not sacrificing the vivid details for the textual instructional target. Continuing in chapter II; in Collection of Biblical books, and their Canon, criteria of canonicity, it delves in chapter III, elaborating (100 pages), on the OT & NT Versions (Syriac Vetus Syra & Pesitta to Arabic & Slavonic), and their history. The author got time and space, to even include some Patristic quotations, and review the witness of some of the most ancient and trustworthy Alexandrian texts: Alexandrinus, Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, and last century great discoveries of oldest bible papyri, in Egypt.

Serious but Legible Book:
A criterion for deciding on such a scholarlya book, is to check few subject enteries to find answers for your queries.
Q: I was curious to see if any book of the genre ever mentioned the proto- Canaanite script.
A:The answer may be found on page 83: "The oldest alphabetic script, however was found in 24 inscriptions from the Sinai peninsula, and according to many scholars, can be dated around 1400 BCE, but which could well go back to 1800 more or less. These Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions were written in a consonantal alphabet derived from Egyptian hieroglyphic writing by the acrophonic system."
Now, you could ask your own questions and find out if you are satisfied with the answers!

Book for Scholars?
Barrera Hebrew bible scholarship speaks for its merits, and his editorial work in "Qumran Cave 4. IX: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Kings," is a scholarly break-through.
Professor Barrera took a challenge of availing such biblical scholarship to all interested on a vital subject, lay and and scholars, and excelled. Although this encyclopedic, up to date, reference book on the subject that guides the specialized through, deserve praise, yet the hard back price is beyond the reach of the lay, even the paperback edition is relatively costly, as a text book

Barrera, Julio Trebolle:
Julio Trebolle Barrera, a member of the Dead Sea Scrolls International Editors, is a Spanish professor of Hebrew/Aramaic, who translated, authored and edited many books from Qumran and on Biblical and literary criticism to contemporary hermeneutics. His book "A 'Canon within a Canon': Two Series of Old Testament Books Differently Transmitted, Interpreted and Authorized," Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995, is a fine witness to this book.
His diversified though in depth expertise, that enriched his scholarly career, while his Biblical and other linguistic tools, supported by a wealth of unparalleled information, available to few of the Dead Sea Scrolls experts, grant him a unique authority in this field.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a wonderful book, October 1, 2007

By 

Jeri Nevermind "loves to read" (Idaho) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Jewish Bible and the Christian Bible: An Introduction to the History of the Bible (Hardcover)

Right from the start, this book is interesting. It aims to "build bridges between fields of study which used to be connected at the beginning of modern criticism but which the demands of specialization have increasingly separated" (p 8).

To give an example: under the section on Hellenism, Judaism and Christianity, there is an overview of the History of Religions theory, and the problems with it: "(mystery religions) were not so widespread as had been thought, and did not have the missionary character attributed to them. And most important of all, they did not reach the peak of their development until the 2nd century" (p 31).

There is an overview, also, of all current research into the Old Testament, including the most recent scholarship. The Qumran material is gone into, with explanations to why recent studies no longer emphasize sharp distinctions between normative, official, and marginal Judaism.

I was especially impressed with the section on books, oral transmission, and the ancient world. While the "codex became the best travelling companion for the missionary" (p 99) for the Christian, the roll was kept in Judaism. The bible was never meant to be read in private in a low voice, "but to be declaimed in a loud voice and even accompanied by psalmody in a liturgical assembly" (p 105). Oral transmission was paramount in the Torah. Even today, there are Jews who can recite the Torah from memory.

Also it's very helpful that after each section, such as hermeneutics, there is a list of the books for further study.

The research from so many different fields is included that I can hardly go into them all. Some issues discussed: the lectory didaskalos, who made sure the text was faithfully copied, Jerome, Augustine, the Gnostics, all the different varieties of the bible, from the old Syriac version to every other copy and the Vulgate, and odd bits of information such as the fact that Coptic did not become a written language until the need to translate the bible in 200 AD.

Anyone with any interest in biblical studies would find this book invaluable.