Recommended books about the Bible

Last Sunday at church, we looked at the wonderful gift that God has given to his people in the Bible. We have the words of God, given through different people over a long period of time, adding up to one big story of God’s work in the world. The sermon touched on a range of things from how the Bible came to be copied and transmitted to us, what the Bible says about itself, Bible translation, what this means for how we read it, and the importance and trustworthiness of the Bible. All of these are big issues and important for us.

If this has prompted anyone to want to know more and dig a little deeper, we are blessed to have many good books on this topic. In this blog post I want to direct you to a few that I have found helpful.

The Books and the Parchments, F.F. Bruce

This is a classic work, though slightly dated now. As an introduction to understanding how the Bible moved from being collated to being copied to being translated, this is a great place to start. Bruce is pretty easy to read and goes into some depth.

The Origin of the Bible, P. Comfort

This book aims to cover more ground than the first recommendation. It is made up of chapters written by experts in each of the fields, people who hold to the trustworthiness of the Bible. It covers the theology of the Bible, how these books were chosen, how the Bible was transmitted, and Bible translation. As a one-stop resource on the topic, this is very helpful.

Can we still believe the Bible? Craig L. Blomberg

Craig Blomberg is a world-class Bible scholar, though not well known as a popular level author. Admittedly, this book is more in-depth than the first two, though it focussed on recent challenges to the Bible. Many dismiss the Bible as being culturally bound or corrupt, or they accuse the books of the Bible of being chosen by politics. Others think miracles rule out the Bible being believable. It is refreshing to see a scholar of Blomberg’s standing defend the traditional view of the Bible as God’s word, trustworthy in all it addresses. If you are prepared to think deeply, this is worth the effort.

Taking God at his Word, Kevin DeYoung

I read everything Kevin DeYoung writes (and not only because he also has Dutch heritage!). His books are always clear and helpful and on topics that need to be addressed. This is a book I have given away several times, for I think it explains the traditional understanding of the Bible as God’s word winsomely and clearly. This book explains why Christians believe that the Bible is sufficient, clear and trustworthy. It is not overlong and intended for ordinary Christians.