Scribes and Scripture: The Amazing Story of How We Got the Bible

Written by John D. Meade and Peter J. Gurry

Narrated by Tim H. Dixon

Answers to Common Questions about the Writing, Copying, Canonizing, and Translating of the Bible

There are many common questions and misconceptions surrounding the formation and history of the Bible: Why is the Bible composed of the current 66 books instead of others? Why are there so many translations? How are we to understand both the human and divine elements of the Bible? In Scribes and Scripture, scholars John D. Meade and Peter J. Gurry answer these questions and give readers tools to interpret the evidence about God’s word.

Beginning with the history of the Bible―from the invention of the alphabet to the most recent English translations―the book focuses on three main areas: the writing and copying of the Bible, the canonization of the Bible, and the translation of the Bible. Using Old and New Testament scholarship, Meade and Gurry help God’s people better appreciate the story of the Bible as a way to better appreciate the stories in the Bible. 

• Collaboration of Old Testament and New Testament Scholarship: Written by experts in both Old Testament (Meade) and New Testament (Gurry) textual scholarship 
• Answers Common Questions: Specifically regarding textual criticism, the canon, and Bible translations 

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Audiobooks
• Release date: Oct 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9781646895038

John D. Meade

John D. Meade (PhD, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is professor of Old Testament and codirector of the Text & Canon Institute at Phoenix Seminary. He is the coauthor of  The Biblical Canon Lists from Early Christianity: Texts and Analysis  and the author of A Critical Edition of the Hexaplaric Fragments of Job 22–42. He and his wife, Annie, have four children and are members at Camelback Bible Church.

Reviews for Scribes and Scripture

[Chad Garber · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This books leaves out many very important aspects of the New Testament canon such as the four different gospels, including who wrote them and when, and how Matthew and Luke copied from Mark, etc. Also gives a lot of technical details showing there were many issues and variations of manuscripts but then somehow magically draws the conclusion that there is so much agreement about “the core” that we should feel great about it (without going into what core parts the author is referring to). Also when explaining why we should trust the Bible he says that Jesus said that the law would not pass away etc. so we should trust it. This is incomplete though because Jesus did not say anything about the New Testament. Why should we trust it? The author doesn’t bring up the large number of Christian forgeries that sprang up during this time. Also the author concludes the section saying he had shown how the canon came together but really didn’t. He did not clearly state how the books were chosen. Finally, the author concludes by praising someone for calling a liberal Bible scholar derogatory names.

[Colton Harding · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent explanation of how we got our modern scripture. If anything, this book too detailed. Really good analysis