A History of the English Bible as Literature by David Norton

A History of the English Bible as Literature by David Norton

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Summary

This book, first published in 2000, explores 500 years of religious and literary ideas, explaining how the King James Bible went from being mocked as English writing to being 'unsurpassed in the entire range of literature'. It studies Bible translators, writers such as Milton and Bunyan, and a fascinating range of critics and commentators.

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A History of the English Bible as Literature by David Norton

Revised and condensed from David Norton's acclaimed A History of the Bible as Literature, this book, first published in 2000, tells the story of English literary attitudes to the Bible. At first jeered at and mocked as English writing, then denigrated as having 'all the disadvantages of an old prose translation', the King James Bible somehow became 'unsurpassed in the entire range of literature'. How so startling a change happened and how it affected the making of modern translations such as the Revised Version and the New English Bible is at the heart of this exploration of a vast range of religious, literary and cultural ideas. Translators, writers such as Donne, Milton, Bunyan and the Romantics, reactionary Bishops and radical students all help to show the changes in religious ideas and in standards of language and literature that created our sense of the most important book in English.
'A most instructive and fascinating work' Expository Times
'David Norton's long book fills a large gap very well: so well, in fact, being comprehensive and especially well written, that one hears of it being recommended to classes, by default, as a history of translations. His story is remarkable. It is compelling reading as a study of literary positions in successive centuries.' Reformation
'The clarity and drive of Norton's own writing happily matches the fulness of his material: though too well-mannered to raise his voice, he successfully challenges the now-fashionable dismissal of the English Bible from history.' Oxford Academic Journals
'The clarity and drive of Morton's writing happily matches the fulness of his material … he successfully challenges the now-fashionable dismissal of the English bible from history.' The Journal of Theological Studies
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780521778077
ISBN 10 0521778077
Title A History of the English Bible as Literature
Author David Norton
Series A History Of The Bible As Literature
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Year published 2000-05-29
Number of pages 524
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.