How to read the Bible

In this careful study of the sacred texts of Judaism and Christianity, John Barton, former Oriel and Laing professor of the interpretation of holy scripture at Oxford  University, tells us that the OUP sells a quarter of a million Bibles in the King James or Authorised version every year. He doubts if many of them are actually read by the people who buy them or receive them as presents, with the possible exception of one important group. In Britain and the US the churches that are bucking the trend of decline are usually those that take a conservative approach to the interpretation of the Bible; and for many of them the King James is the version they use.

But not because of the beauty of the language. It is because they believe it is inspired and inerrant to an even greater extent than the ancient Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts of which it is a translation. For them it is a case of an already inspired — or God-breathed — text receiving an added burst of divine oxygen. To emphasise the point, Barton cites a notice seen outside a church in Charlotte, North Carolina:.

ATTENTION CHRISTIANS!
 
Are you tired of hearing your pastor correct the preserved word of God (the authorised King James Version) with the Greek or other translations? Are you interested in attending a Bible-believing Baptist church in the Charlotte area?
 
If so, call 394-8051
Tommy H. Hefner, Pastor
Bible Believers Baptist Church
3608 Dick Road, Charlotte NC 28216#

Though it is an exaggerated example, Pastor Hefner’s belief in the Bible as ‘the preserved word of God’ is prevalent in many sections of the Christian Church, but it is one Barton sets out to challenge in this calm and magisterial work, because it posits a Bible ‘that never existed’. He reminds us that the Bible is ‘not a book produced at one time, but an anthology of books, and some of those books are themselves anthologies’.