The Bible: A Biography, by Karen Armstrong (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2007), part of the Books That Changed the World series. My rating: 5 of 5.
You have probably heard someone insist that the only faithful way to read the Bible is the literal way. You may have quietly wondered whether the church always read it like that. It did not, and this short history shows how Jews and Christians have actually read their Scriptures for more than two thousand years.
What the book covers
Armstrong is a former Roman Catholic nun and a widely read historian of religion. In about 320 pages she traces how the Hebrew Scriptures took shape during and after the Babylonian exile, how the New Testament grew alongside them, and how both were collected and accepted as sacred texts. Most of the book follows how people read those texts over time.
She covers the rabbis and the Mishnah, the early Christian apologists, Origen and Augustine, monastic reading, medieval allegory, the Jewish mystics, the Reformation, the Enlightenment and the rise of modern historical criticism. It is a fast tour, and she writes it well.
What stayed with me
Reading was a spiritual practice. Armstrong writes that “Exegesis was always a spiritual discipline rather than an academic pursuit.” For most of history, people read Scripture to be changed. Being informed was a side benefit.
The four senses of Scripture. John Cassian taught the West to read for the literal, moral, allegorical and anagogical senses. Bernard of Clairvaux pictured them as a garden, a storeroom and a bedchamber. The Jewish tradition has a close parallel. This alone would fill a fine adult forum.
The rule of charity. Augustine held that any reading of Scripture that spreads hatred is a wrong reading. That rule deserves a wider audience today.
The Mass as the people’s Bible study. Medieval Christians read the Mass as a walk through the life of Christ: his ministry in the readings, his sacrifice at the offertory, his rising at communion. Armstrong calls the Mass “the laity’s lectio divina.” For a parish that wants to teach the liturgy, that is a gift.
The Incarnation as the plan all along. She summarizes Maximus the Confessor’s view that God would have become human even without the fall. It makes a rich theme for Christmas and the Annunciation.
Daily Scripture as a habit. Benedictine monks spent hours each day in Scripture and the early church writers. The Daily Office keeps that pattern open to the rest of us.
A few notes
Armstrong writes as a historian, and some of her positions are scholarly views rather than settled facts. She reads Isaiah 9:6 as written about King Hezekiah, while the church reads it of Christ at Christmas. The source theory she uses for the books of Moses is one model among several and has been widely revised. Her claim that Hosea’s wife served as a temple prostitute is speculative. And her statement that there was no messianic hope before the first century goes too far, since texts such as the Psalms of Solomon and some of the Dead Sea Scrolls show it.
Who should read it
Adult education leaders, seminarians and curious lay readers who want the big picture on how the Bible has been read. Read it as a historian’s account, and keep a good study Bible nearby.
Quotes are short excerpts credited to the author. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The price you pay does not change. I read this book on my own, and no one asked me or paid me to review it. My faith writing reflects my own views, not those of my parish or diocese. See Disclosures.