The Book That Conquered Time: How the Bible Came to Be Rob Suggs. Whitaker House, 2023.
The story of how God gave the Bible and how it became the book we know today is fascinating and complicated. Large volumes have been written about the authority, inspiration, canonicity and translation of Scripture.
Rob Suggs gives the reader a handy primer that covers the highlights of the whole story in a concise and understandable way in “The Book That Conquered Time: How the Bible Came to Be.”
Suggs, a native of Atlanta, has written or helped write more than 60 books. He worked as a senior editor of Walk Through the Bible Ministries, and he has contributed cartoons to Christianity Today and other publications.
Inspiration behind Old and New Testament
His book is well written and full of helpful explanations about how God inspired the Old and New testaments. He discusses how language and writing developed in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 walks the reader through a helpful discussion of how the Old Testament was written and collected in ancient Israel.
In Chapter 4, Suggs explains the Greek translation of the Old Testament — called the Septuagint —which was so influential during the New Testament times. Likewise, he shows in Chapter 5 how the early church gathered together the inspired writings of the apostles and others. His description of the relationships among the four Gospels in Chapter 6 is very helpful. He deals with how the official canon of Scripture came to be recognized, and he notes various non-biblical writings that were important in the era after the New Testament was written.
Suggs surveys the role of the Bible in history, especially noting its impact on the Reformation and how that led to translating Scripture into the languages of many cultures. He traces the development of English Bible translations and notes the role of the King James Version in Chapter 11. Suggs also shows the differences in the philosophy of translation that undergird various modern translations.
For anyone interested in understanding the story of “how the Bible came to be,” this is an excellent resource.
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