Testament: The Bible and History (An Owl Book) [Paperback]

John Romer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1993 | Series: An Owl Book

Testament describes the making of the Bible, the creation of both the Old and the New Testaments and charts the book's survival through the long centuries of its life. John Romer uses his considerable experience of the worlds of art history and archaeology to advantage as he unravels the story of the making and the use and misuse of the world's most beautiful and influential book. With a sure touch he sets the historical scene and brings to vivid life the Bible's creators.

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

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Notwithstanding the Old Testament account of the Israelites' enslavement in ancient Egypt, Romer claims that slavery on the scale described in the Book of Exodus simply did not exist there. Biblical scribes grafted the theme of national liberation--distilled from the Jews' subjugation in Babylon and Roman Judaea--onto this earlier epoch, he argues. Elsewhere, he draws remarkable parallels between the Genesis creation myth and Enuma Elish , a Mesopotamian epic. In this provocative and entertaining synthesis, a tie-in with a TV series, the noted Egyptologist gauges the historical validity of the Bible against archeological records and early texts. Through his wide-angled focus (enhanced with scores of illustrations), we look afresh at the New Testament, "a soup with many exotic ingriedients," born amid a multiplicity of sects and faiths. In the book's second half, which traces the Bible's impact over the centuries, there are brilliant cameos: Constantine plundering his empire to decorate his Christian city of Constantinople; Petrarch, hit by a flash of revelation while climbing Mount Ventoux; Jerome, Irenaeus, Luther, Henry VIII, Gutenberg, Galileo, Thomas Huxley. Romer is a superb storyteller, and this history stands on its own, quite apart from the TV series.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Romer takes readers on a historical journey of several thousand years. Along the way he moves from evaluating history's place in the Bible to the Bible's place in history. Though his lively style makes the long trek easy for the nonspecialist, this very ease, combined with an air of authority, is at the same time a disadvantage. Romer warns against using archaeology and ancient history to prove the Bible true, yet he uses these same disciplines to prove the Bible at best unprovable. The most he will grant is that the Bible's portrait of its world is in keeping with what is known from nonbiblical sources. In addition, he views the Bible and the faiths it chronicles as amalgams of bits and pieces of the religions and cultures they encountered. Some influence is certain, but Romer overstates the case. An interesting work that, unfortunately, lacks balance.
- Craig W. Beard, Harding Univ. Lib., Searcy, Ark.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 367 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co (P) (December 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805026924
• ISBN-13: 978-0805026924
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,213,520 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A history of meaning, March 21, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Testament: The Bible and History (An Owl Book) (Paperback)

This is quite a book. If you can't find this book here (shh, don't tell anyone at Amazon!) you might be able to find it a bigger chain book store. If you really want to understand the beginnings of our civilization, and our search as humans for a sense of purpose and destiny, this is the book to read. The Bible has been at the center of this search for the sacred. Even for the non-religious, its story must be considered as quite a spectacular attempt by humanity to reach for that higher pinnacle. I would also strongly recommend the documentary based on this book if you can get ahold of it.

I have set up a page on Romer at http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~pruffini/romer.htm. It grew out of a project for my English class last year. Much to my surprise, I have gotten e-mails from around the world by people who had a similar interest in John Romer and the Testament series.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A history of sacred words, July 6, 2003

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Testament: The Bible and History (Hardcover)

John Romer's Testament: The Bible and History is an accessible, interesting account of both the Bible in history, and the history of the development of the sacred text. Romer explores various issues according to the timeline of events, incorporating issues of archaeology, textual redaction, philosophy and sociology into the discussion.

Romer subscribes to the basic, academically-accepted division of authors for the Hebrew scriptural development (J, P, D, etc.). But instead of simply recounting the theories, he interjects personality into his discussion, talking about Ezra as a strong possibility for redactor, and going into the issues, personally and religiously, that would have impacted his work at compilation and redaction.

Romer also recounts a lot of legendary material. The gravesite of Eve, the pools and ponds of Abraham (including the carp of Abraham that is still caught and eaten to this day), the various sites identified as pilgrimage sites by Romans and then later Crusaders -- these bring up lots of extra-biblical folklore that is truly interesting when coupled with the Biblical text. 'In popular imagination they [Abraham's people] are condemned to bend under the Egyptian lash, make pyramids and palaces. But this vision, both of ancient Egypt and the foreigners who came to live there, is largely false, and serves only to distort our understanding of the Egyptian stories in the Old Testament.... For just as the ancient Egyptians in their day had thought the rest of the world to be somewhat primitive, so many Western historians have similarly regarded the ancient Egyptians; a part of an old colonial dream of sensuous cruelty mixed with simpleness. It is certainly a world that neither the ancient Egyptians nor Abraham ever knew.'

Romer does not say things like this to discredit or discount the biblical testimony; far from it, Romer is probably more sympathetic to the idea of divine inspiration than many modern scripture scholars. But he is careful to distinguish interpretation from text, historical development from poetical extension, and let both the historical record and the biblical texts speak for themselves, sometimes in harmony and sometimes in discord.

Romer's recounting of the original writing and compilation of the Hebrew scriptures is very interesting. The original need for a 'bible' arose in the face of repeated destructions, exiles, and, particularly, the destruction of the Temple, twice. 'The vice-like pressure of these two national disasters forced into being the Hebrew Bible, which is also the Christian Old Testament. But these disasters also affected the very identity of the God that the ancient books defined. For ancient gods changed when they were uprooted. These gods, with their cults and rituals, were bound into the life and character of the cities and civilisations in which they were first worshipped.'

The Bible became a way for the preservation of this way of life and worship, and in the end provided the primary means for the preservation of the identity of the people of Israel even when there was no geographic centre to call home.

Romer's discussion of the closing of the canon and subsequent development of the Bible in the Christian world is fascinating, too. From discussions of the early church fathers, such as Jerome, to the political intrigues over the vernacular translations of the Bible in the early Renaissance, he provides interesting details. Speaking of Jerome (during a discussion of the Latin Vulgate): 'At once a saint and among the greatest doctors of the church, Jerome was yet a man of whom it has been said that he was canonised not for his qualities of saintliness, but for the services he rendered the Roman church. Hot-tempered, outspoken, passionately devoted to his work and his friends, Jerome is certainly one of the most extraordinary figures in church history. And doubtless, it is due to this special temperament that his Latin Bible has come to be regarded by many people almost as if it were the unmediated word of God himself.'

Of course, many today (especially in America) see the King James Version of the Bible in much the same light. To ignore the background to the development of this Bible does it a disservice; yet, to discount the true inspiration that is apparent on the pages of the King James Version is also to do it a disservice.

From the Israel stela of Thebes to the motion pictures of Cecil B. DeMille, this book covers the large expanse of history humour and graceful prose, without getting bogged down in minute points. There is plenty to argue with in this book, but then, of which book on this theme is there not?

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some good & Interesting ideas to think about, May 6, 2005

By 

D. D Lawson (Pasadena, Calif. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Testament: The Bible and History (Paperback)

John Romer it seems just can't write a bad book. This one concerning the story of the Bible is just fascinating to me.

Especially on the history of the Early Church, what with the politics and ecomonics that helped shape the Book of God that we

use today. If you approach it with an open mind you will find some really thought provoking ideas presented.

Altogether I really enjoyed it and commend it to you!