Abstract
This book is fact-packed and critically informed throughout. Archaeological evidence is foregrounded and often illustrated in black and white, and the usefulness of data from external witnesses, such as Eusebius, evaluated. An increasing focus on the reception of ‘the Bible’ (as differently defined across Jewish and Christian cultures) in the second half backs the claim in the subtitle, ‘from the first fragments to sacred Scripture’. This volume was originally published in German in 2019, but the English-speaking reader should not be deterred: Peter Lewis’s translation style is fluent and accessible.
‘The oldest scriptures which eventually became the Bible were created within an environment where no appreciable religious function was assigned to texts’ (p. 46). Here begins the ‘story narrative’ along the lines of which this volume is conceived: we begin with ancient Israel’s gradual transition from being a ‘cult religion’ to becoming a ‘book religion’. As we journey through, there are many individual stories of how certain kinds of biblical literature came into existence, and in what historical contexts: prophetic literature and Psalms; and – later – the Gospels and Paul’s letters, for example. Collection, canonicity, translations and reception (mainly in the West and including in the arts) are eventually discussed. The mention of the role of the Bible as sacred Scripture in modern-day Pentecostal Christianity is noticeably absent. Stylistically and compositionally the book works as a continuous read. Yet, given the quality and critical detail of the information, could it have been more appropriately framed within a ‘dictionary’ format? Dispersed across the volume there are three sections that focus on the Psalms, for example: careful index work is needed to consolidate their riches.
What the ‘story’ format does reveal is how a saga of uneasy dialogue between Judaism and Christianity (which continues) has been highly significant in helping to shape both traditions, reminding us all of how the same texts can be interpreted in different ways. The chapter entitled ‘The Jewish Bible, the Mishnah and the Talmud’ (p. 281) takes these issues beyond the New Testament period and towards their mediaeval and early modern European settings. The interweaving of the studies of the Jewish and Christian stories and perspectives, almost making them one story, is a major strength of the book.
Notably, a relentlessly critical perspective has been embraced. The ‘enlightened and ethical’ role of historical criticism is referred to (p. 321). Today, many ‘Bible introductions’ are written and marketed with the needs and sentiments of a confessional readership in mind: they may feature over-generous assessments of the capacity of evidence from antiquity to ‘prove’ the form and integrity of the received text of the Old Testament, for example. In contrast, Schmid and Schröter are not in the business of offering such comfort: their evidence and data are unembellished and meticulously referenced and provide much of what is needed to address many of the half-truths that are in circulation in the churches, and even in the academy, today.