Testament - Softcover

John Romer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1854796534 ISBN 13: 9781854796530

Publisher: Michael O'Mara Books Ltd, 1996

Synopsis

The Bible has had more influence upon Western civilization than any other book. So splendid are its phrases that many have taken them to be the unmediated word of god. Since its texts were gathered together the book has been venerated & enshrined, execrated & burned. But whether we are believers or not the Bible still remains our heritage. It's provided the West with a sense of the sacred & a sense of historical destiny. Testament describes the making of the Bible, the creation of both the Old & New Testaments, charting its survival thru the centuries of its life. This is a unique book: no other single volume tells the story of the Bible's journey from the ancient East to the heart of the modern West. Romer uses his experience of the worlds of art history & archeology to advantage as he unravels the story of the making & the use & misuse of the West's most influential book. With a sure touch he sets the historical scene & brings to life the Bible's creators.
List of Illustrations & Maps
Foreword
Genesis
Chronicles & Kings
The making of the Old Testament
Jesus & the New Testament
Deo Gratia: by the grace of God
Darkness & Illuminations
Paradise lost
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index of Bible References
General Index

About this title

About the Author

John Romer is the author of numerous works on archaeology. He directed a survey of the royal tombs of Thebes that carried out the first excavation in the Valley of the Kings since the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922. He has also produced documentary television programs for the BBC and the Discovery Channel.

From Publishers Weekly

Notwithstanding the Old Testament account of the Israelites' enslavement in ancient Egypt, Romer claims that slavery on the scale described in the Book of Exodus simply did not exist there. Biblical scribes grafted the theme of national liberation--distilled from the Jews' subjugation in Babylon and Roman Judaea--onto this earlier epoch, he argues. Elsewhere, he draws remarkable parallels between the Genesis creation myth and Enuma Elish , a Mesopotamian epic. In this provocative and entertaining synthesis, a tie-in with a TV series, the noted Egyptologist gauges the historical validity of the Bible against archeological records and early texts. Through his wide-angled focus (enhanced with scores of illustrations), we look afresh at the New Testament, "a soup with many exotic ingriedients," born amid a multiplicity of sects and faiths. In the book's second half, which traces the Bible's impact over the centuries, there are brilliant cameos: Constantine plundering his empire to decorate his Christian city of Constantinople; Petrarch, hit by a flash of revelation while climbing Mount Ventoux; Jerome, Irenaeus, Luther, Henry VIII, Gutenberg, Galileo, Thomas Huxley. Romer is a superb storyteller, and this history stands on its own, quite apart from the TV series.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Michael O'Mara Books Ltd
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1854796534
• ISBN 13: 9781854796530
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 480