Scribes and Scripture: The Amazing Story of How We Got the Bible

“This is the book I've been waiting for! With skeptical claims against the Bible readily available online, this book will be a resource I will refer to again and again. Looking for an accessible yet thorough explanation of how you got your Bible? Look no further than Scribes and Scripture.”

“Many Christians love the Bible and yet know little of the fascinating story of what happened between its original composition and the book we can hold in our hands today. In Scribes and Scripture, John Meade and Peter Gurry provide a succinct and yet amazingly detailed overview of how the Bible was written and copied, canonized, and translated. This book will enable Christians to understand why Protestants have a different canon than Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox. It will teach them how to respond to secular critics who claim the Bible has been hopelessly corrupted over time or that the process of canonization was the arbitrary result of power struggles in the early church. And it will encourage them that we can trust our Bibles without ignoring or downplaying the messy realities of scribal errors, variant manuscripts, or disagreements about canonicity in the church. Properly considered, these ‘human’ elements in the story of the Bible in no way detract from the Bible’s authority as the word of God. I enthusiastically recommend this timely, unique, wise, and God-honoring book to anyone who wonders how we have received the Bible we have today. It will be the first book I recommend on the subject to any curious inquirer.”

“Misconceptions and myths about the Bible’s origins lead many to reject it and continue to confuse sincere believers. Now, at last, we have a book that shatters these misconceptions. This impressively informative book is based on solid scholarship, yet it is accessible, easy to read, and profitable for any reader at any level. Not for a generation have we seen such a helpful book on this topic! I heartily recommend it to everyone.”

“Questions proliferate today on the Bible as scholars, and even laypeople, debate whether the Scriptures were accurately copied and transmitted, whether the books accepted as canonical are the right ones, and whether our many translations are accurate or needed. Meade and Gurry give us a sane and responsible tour on all these questions. One of the striking features of the book is its fairness and its reasonableness. No book, of course, is written without a perspective, but Meade and Gurry aren’t trying to win a debate or to demonize opponents. They carefully present and analyze the evidence so that readers can make their own judgments. I can’t think of another book that introduces in such a brief and illuminating way matters of text, canon, and translation.”

“The history of the Bible is complex: it involves multiple languages (ancient and modern), and it divides into two very much distinct (but also overlapping) branches we call the Old and New Testaments. Christians need trusted guides to lead us through that history. This is why I am so grateful for the work of Old Testament specialist John Meade, New Testament specialist Peter Gurry, and their Text & Canon Institute. They represent the newest generation of evangelical historians of the Bible, and they are both able and eager to keep a foot in the academy and a foot in the church. There are many threats to the orthodox viewpoint on text, canon, and translation. Scribes and Scripture is their attempt to serve the church by guiding Christians toward an accurate and faith-filled grasp of the Bible’s history.”