Living Traditions of the Bible: Scripture in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Practice (Paperback)

~ James E. Bowley (Editor)
Key Phrases: sacred library, deuterocanonical books, New York, Dead Sea Scrolls, Hebrew Bible (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The 10 essays collected in this volume began as a 1997 lecture series at King College, a Presbyterian school in Bristol, Tenn. The book's overall tone is conversational and informal, which serves to widen its appeal beyond a strictly academic audience. The first two essays, by editor Bowley (a King religion professor) and Adam Kamesar (who teaches at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati), establish a historical context and introduce the Bible as a library rather than a single book. John C. Reeves (Univ. of North Carolina-Charlotte) and Bruce Metzger (emeritus, Princeton Theological Seminary) examine scriptural authority in early Judaism and the formation of the Christian canon. Kathryn Johnson (Univ. of North Carolina-Charlotte) offers the lone treatment of Islamic practice in this collection, emphasizing the tensions between traditional Islamic approaches to the Qur'an and modern textual criticism. Essays on the Bible's role in Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran traditions (by Demetrios Constantelos, Joseph Fitzmyer and David Steinmetz, respectively) are followed by James McClanahan's (Associate Professor of Religion at King College) "contemporary Protestant approach" to the Bible and Michael Meyer's (Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion) essay on Scripture in modern Judaism. This readable and informative introduction to biblical interpretation emphasizes Christian (primarily Protestant) and Jewish traditions, while tipping its hat to Islam. (Sept.)

Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: Chalice Press (September 17, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0827221274
• ISBN-13: 978-0827221277
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,384,816 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Bible: What your Sunday School teacher didn't tell you, December 12, 1999

By	David Floyd (Arizona) - See all my reviews

This is an excellent collection of essays that explores how the bible came to be what it is today: a library of ancient writings that is held in unique esteem by a variety of religious traditions. The "bible" here refers to a broad variety of scriptural traditions including Judaism, Islam, and the major groups of Christianity (Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant). If you were raised in one of these traditions, it is likley that you were taught about the authority of the bible, and probably some very traditional ideas on who wrote it, etc. You may never have been exposed to a study of how those scriptures came into their current literary form, and why they are viewed as authoritative. Further, you may have never heard perspectives on the bible in other tradtions, by people from those traditions. In the words of one of the reviewers on the back cover, this book "Provides answers to a lot of questions that you have wondered about." The best thing about the book is that it addresses those questions with no particular sectarian agenda. Rather, it is a thinking persons' guide to this most famous and well-read literature. This is an outstanding book for any thoughtful person with an interest in the bible.