How We Got the Bible

The Assembly of the Most Published Book in Human History

Book Purpose

• Explain how the Bible came from ancient writings to the Bible people hold today.
• Walk readers through composition, copying, collection, canon recognition, preservation, translation, printing, and worldwide circulation.
• Answer questions people often have about:
• Who wrote the Bible?
• What languages was it written in?
• What was it originally written on?
• Who decided which books belonged in the Bible?
• What books were excluded?
• How was Scripture copied?
• Can we trust that the text was preserved?
• How did we eventually get English Bibles?

The book describes the Bible not as something that simply appeared complete and bound, but as a text carried through centuries of composition, preservation, recognition, translation, and transmission.

What Makes This Book Interesting

This is essentially the behind-the-scenes story of the Bible.

Readers usually know biblical stories.

Far fewer know the story of the physical Bible itself.

What the Reader Will Discover

• The diverse backgrounds of biblical writers.
• The three primary biblical languages:
• Hebrew
• Aramaic
• Koine Greek
• How Scripture moved through different writing technologies:
• Stone
• Papyrus
• Parchment
• Scrolls
• Codices
• Paper
• Printed books
• Digital formats
• How the Old Testament developed as a recognized collection.
• How New Testament writings circulated among early churches.
• How the early church evaluated books.
• Why some ancient writings were not accepted as Scripture.
• The role of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
• How scribes preserved biblical manuscripts.
• The development of English translations.
• The Gutenberg Bible.
• Wycliffe.
• Tyndale.
• The Geneva Bible.
• The King James Bible.
• Modern translations.
• The global spread of Scripture.