What Is the Bible?

The Bible, undoubtedly the most widely read book of the Western world, has outsold every other book in the history of publishing. Despite its popularity and cultural importance as the foundation of Christianity and Judaism, few people have more than superficial knowledge of the actual contents of the Scriptures. In What is the Bible? Carl Lofmark clearly and succinctly synopsizes the basics of biblical scholarship and criticism. Designed for the reader with little or no prior knowledge of the subject, Lofmark's approachable, well-organized presentation cuts through the complexities of biblical exegesis and rationalist critiques, and outlines the basic structure, history, and inherent theological controversies of the Bible. The first half of Lofmark's discussion summarizes the essential facts of biblical scholarship: how and when the various books of the Bible were compiled, a brief history of scriptural translations, the evolving understanding of the Bible's original languages, and how the various editions we know today were developed and codified across two millennia. The second half delves into major critiques of the Bible as an authoritative guide for living: its self-contradictions, its mixture of fact and fiction, the questionable and even deplorable morality of many biblical passages, the intellectual difficulties of literal or symbolic interpretation, and its inadequacy as a foundation for modern ethics. As an introduction to an important and often controversial subject, What is the Bible? will be useful to believers and skeptics alike.