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and Theology
Biblical Theology Bulletin: A Journal of Bible
DOI: 10.1177/014610799902800409
1999; 28; 168 Biblical Theology Bulletin: A Journal of Bible and Theology
Terry W. Eddinger
Press, 1997. Pp. xi + 100. Paper, $10.00
Book Reviews: John Barton, HOW THE BIBLE CAME TO BE. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox
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168
the West to an end,
is treated in some detail,
including
the shameful
disregard
of Huss at-
tendance under a safe-conduct
pass
issued
by
Emperor Sigismund
and his death at the
stake voted
by
the assembled fathers. Al-
though
he was
charged
with a list of 260 er-
rors, he seems to have been condemned on
the basis of one:
namely,
denial of the
hypostatic
union of the Word with
Jesus
hu-
man nature, from which a trinitarian error
and one of
worshiping
bread and wine and
not the true
body
and blood of Christ were
somehow deduced. In the event, his condem-
nation seemed to be based on his
adoption
of
Wyclifs teaching
more than on his
responses
to direct
questioning by
the
Spanish
Francis-
can Moxena while incarcerated.
The Council of Basel-Ferrara-Flor-
ence-Rome comes in for a full
treatment,
in-
cluding
the
thoroughgoing
mutual misunder-
standings
of Church doctrines as held
by
East
and West. In the final
signing
there were
many
mental reservations on both sides. The
intransigence
of the Latin
theologians gener-
ally
and of Mark
Eugenicus, Metropolitan
of
Ephesus,
in
particular,
was a formula for fail-
ure. The condition of the
Jews
of
Spain,
both
the rabbis who became Catholics out of
conviction and the
many
more
Jews
who ac-
cepted baptism
for
protection
after a
persecu-
tion that
began
in Seville in 1391 (the anuzim
or &dquo;forced&dquo;), and the Muslims
(Mudjars)
of
similar condition, is likewise described as a
problem receiving
cruel resolution
through-
out the fifteenth
century.
On balance this
immensely
erudite vol-
ume, despite
its occasional lack of editorial
discipline, opens
a window on an era that is
often
reported
on from a
quite
different
standpoint.
It is a serious work on the
history
of
theology,
which is what it claims to be.
Gerard S.
Sloyan
The Catholic
University
of America
Washington,
DC
John Barton,
HOW THE BIBLE CAME TO BE.
Louisville,
KY: Westminster
John
Knox
Press, 1997. Pp. xi
+ 100.
Paper, $10.00.
John Barton,
Professor of the
Interpreta-
tion of
Holy Scripture
at Oxford
University,
has written a short introduction to the devel-
opment
of the Bible: i.e., how the Bible came
to be
Scripture.
He writes for the
non-technical reader, such as the
layperson.
His
premise
is that the formation of the Bible
was a
drawn-out, highly complex process.
Therefore, he
categorizes
his
writing
in two
distinct areas of biblical formation: (1) how
and when the books of the Bible were
written,
and (2) how
they
were collected to form the
First and Second Testament
Scriptures (p. x).
Barton divides the second area into three sec-
tions : (a) collecting
the
books, (b) from books
to
scripture,
and (c) the
fixing
of the canon.
Chapter one,
which
gives
a brief over-
view of the contents of each book in the Bi-
ble, actually functions, therefore,
as an adden-
dum to the book itself. Its
purpose
is to ac-
quaint
or
reacquaint
the reader with each
biblical books
general
contents.
Taking
a mainstream
scholarly approach
to the
development
of the individual books
(chapter 2), Barton
argues
that
very
few books
were written
by
an individual
person; they
are
mainly compilations
and the work of
many
authors. For
example,
he
argues
that the Pen-
tateuch and the
Synoptic Gospels
came to-
gether
from earlier collections of stories or
earlier traditions-that is, pre-existing
materi-
als. He
carefully explains
how Moses did not
write the Pentateuch as found in
todays
Bible
(p. 15),
but rather the Pentateuch is the result
of
compiling
several strands of material
through
the efforts of
multiple people
over
several centuries. Further, he discusses how
the
Synoptic Gospels
came from the hand of
an editor or redactor
creatively using existing
material to fashion the stories of
Jesus
accord-
ing
to each writers
theological position (pp.
18-22). Basically,
his intent in this section is
to demonstrate that the biblical books came
together
in a
complex
manner.
In
chapter three, Barton focuses on the
collecting
of the books. He
categorizes
his dis-
cussion of the
collecting process by
tradi-
tional
groupings:
the Pentateuch, the Law
and the
Prophets,
the Book of the
Twelve,
the
Gospels,
Pauls Letters, etc. His
premise
here
is that the
collecting process
is as
complex
as
the
writing process (p. 49).
Barton turns to the issue of the books
becoming Scripture
in
chapter
four. He de-
fines
&dquo;Scripture&dquo;
as a book
having authority
that
goes beyond
the words on the
page.
Among
other reasons, he maintains, a book be-
comes
Scripture
when it is relevant and
applica-
ble to the
present
and is considered sacred.
Addressing
the issue of canon in
chapter
five,
Barton
discusses, basically,
how certain
books were chosen to be in the Bible and
why
others were not. The
emphasis,
as in his dis-
cussion of the other
processes,
is that canon-
ization
developed gradually
and in a
complex
manner.
A brief
glossary
defines
key terms, and
brief
biographies
of
people key
to the forma-
tion of the canon (Athanasius, Augustine,
Jerome, Irenaeus, etc.) complete
the last
pages
of the book.
Overall, the book is concise and
easy
to
read. Barton
explains
terms for the non-technical
reader. He
successfully
addreseses the false no-
tion held
by many
that the Bible has
always
been the
way
it is. The book would be useful
in a church or
study group setting
as a basic
tool for
discussing
the
development
of the Bi-
ble and the
myths
often associated with this
process.
Terry
W.
Eddinger
Houston Graduate School of
Theology
NC
Campus
High Point, NC 27262
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