Scribes & Scripture: The amazing story of how we got the Bible
John D. Meade & Peter J. Gurry
Crossway, 2022
The question of how we got the Bible is one on which many Christians are ignorant, sometimes wilfully so. When this is the case, it exposes believers to having their faith shaken when a sceptic comes along – or even when they simply realise that the Bible didn’t come about they way they assumed it did. As Meade and Gurry say in this book, conservative Christians (which they both are) face the temptation to jump from their theology of Scripture to ‘what must have happened’ to fit with this theology. This book is their attempt to counter such assumptions, as well as the disinformation spread by both textual sceptics and textual absolutists.
The book is divided into 3 main sections: text, canon and translation, and is a fantastic reference – full of interesting tidbits about manuscripts and translations – eg that Wycliffe may not actually have translated the Wycliffe Bible or that the 1971 NASB was the first time that pronouns for God were capitalised. It rightly highlights the theological problems which inadvertently arise from gender neutral translations, such as with the 2011 NIV in Hebrews 2. Although published by Crossway, the section on ‘What’s the best Bible translation’ doesn’t simply answer ‘ESV’!
While I loved the book, it’s probably not the resource you’re looking for to hand out to the average person in your church who asks you where the Bible came from. Having two authors makes sense as Meade is an Old Testament expert and Gurry a New Testament one. However I felt that the New Testament sections were noticeably more accessible than those on the Old Testament. Most of the New Testament-related content probably could be handed to a lay person, whereas a lot of the Old Testament content is more seminary level or even beyond. I haven’t read it, but I imagine that Greg Lanier’s ‘A Christian’s Pocket Guide to How We Got the Bible’ from Christian Focus (which is half the length) might be more suitable for the person in the pew.
But for ministers or lay people who want all the details it’s a brilliant resource.