The Indestructible Book: The Bible, Its Translators, and Their Sacrifices
This beautifully illustrated book provides a conservative Protestant overview of the history of the Bible, from its origin into the early 20th century. Connolly (Biographical Sketch of C.H. Spurgeon, Pilgrim, 1990) offers the Jewish and ecclesiastical history that he judges necessary to understand the writing, preservation, and translation of the Bible. For instance, he briefly describes the Crusades because they indirectly prepared the overthrow of church-state control of religion and brought an infusion of scholars and thinkers to the West, which in turn gave reformers the tools to understand the Bible. The overview is generally quite good, though necessarily simplistic, and it does raise interesting points; for example, that heresies served a beneficial purpose by stimulating Christian theology. Color photographs of everything from archaeological remains to woodcuts and cathedrals abound. Highly recommended as a very basic introduction for those who will not be offended by the strong Protestant viewpoint.?Eugene O. Bowser, Univ. of Northern Colorado, GreeleyCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.