A Brief Review of "A Visual History of the English Bible"
A Brief Review of “A Visual History of the English Bible”
by Donald Brake
This recent addition to our church library is a very readable and well illustrated account of how we obtained our English language Bible. Interspersed with entertaining vignettes from the author’s experience in collecting bibles for his own pleasure, it is liberally illustrated with photographs of many historic editions and manuscripts.
Unusual will be the reader who does not walk away with a fresh appreciation of what was entailed in securing the Word of God in the vernacular of the people. While some sections delve a little too deeply into detail for the average layman, on the whole it is a rapidly moving account of the sacrifices made and effort expended to arrive at an accurate translation in the English language for us today. The ordinary reader will likely elect to skim some sections, while those interested in the more scholarly aspects of the “journey” will find ample depth to satisfy their interests.
I definitely recommend this book to our membership.
Reviewed by Barton Campbell
8/22/09