Looking for a book on the history of the Bible...

[Postman]

written from the perspective of a non-Christian or just someone that is unbiased.

Anyone know of such a book?

I'm not looking for a "pro-Christianity" book. I want a history of the Bible, warts and all.

[China_cat]

1. Isaac Asimov's "History of the Bible"

I understand it's now in one volume but you can also find it in old and new testament flavors.

[Hieronymus]

2. Elaine Pagels has written several books on the subject,

but I'd like to hear other suggestions as well.

[aquart]

7. Ho, ho, ho.

I would never call her unbiased.

Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis by Robert Graves and Raphael N. Patai

Graves uses the same techniques as his Greek Myths (highly recommened, as is his White Goddess) in which he gives you the myth, then its sources, then explains it.

Who Wrote the Bible by Richard E. Friedman

Writes it like a gossip column from the ancient past. Great dirt.

And ANYTHING you can get your hands on by Robert Eisler. Eisler is largely out of print, but his study in Orphic and Christian cult symbolism, Orpheus the Fisher, is a wonderful education in the New Testament's underpinnings. And Judaism's as well. Wait till you read about the messianic fish meal. Yowza. (btw, Eisler seems confused about the milk pail in early Christian art. It's a pun. Probably Ast Artet which may be place of milk in Egptian and sooooooo close to Astarte who is, coincidentally, usually pictured as offering her breasts.)

(Which reminds me that you might also want to download a Sumerian glossary. Turns out the whole Lot's wife thingy is a pun on salt and woman in ancient Sumerian.)

If you want your head to explode, hunt out Eisler's The Messiah Jesus and John the Baptist. I just mention it. It gives a physical description of Jesus.

School libraries will allow you to request a book from other libraries, that's how I originally read the Eisler books.

[pelagius]

11. Pagels and Bart Ehrman offer...

...popular views that are considered alternatives to mainstream scholarship. There is, in my opinion, a fair amount of axe-grinding going on in their work. May I suggested starting with a history of the canonical Bible in order to understand Pagel's and Ehrmann's views in context?

[stray cat]

3. A history of Israel by John Bright is good

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0664220681/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/002-0704550-1655243?v=glance&s=books&st=*

Its more a history of Israel from the old testament to the new testament and how it relates to the Biblical account. It is pretty in depth and not for the fainthearted. However, it was not biased.

[flyingfysh]

4. here are a couple of very good sources

There is a series "The Anchor Bible" which is a series of very detailed scholarly studies of the various books. These are written by scholars who are not necessarily believers. I have been subscribing to the series for many years.

On the New Testament, there are some very good book by Bart Ehrman, "Lost Christianities" and "Lost Scriptures" (he has written several others also).

You might also check out the magazine Biblical Archaeology Review. It has very recent archaeological discoveries and controversies, and the letters show the tensions between scholars and believers.

[Malva Zebrina]

5. You might want to try Karen Armstrong

A History of God

Also

The Other Bible by

Willis Barnstone

[baby_bear]

6. Definitely check out Christopher de Hamel - a literary art perspective

In the "unadulterated wow" category is the dazzling offering The Book: A History of the Bible by paleographist Christopher de Hamel, who served for a quarter century as the head of the Western Manuscripts department at Sotheby's in London. Packed with full-color representations of illuminated manuscripts, ancient scrolls, stained glass windows and early published editions of the Bible, the art takes center stage here. (Even the back cover should win an award for the most imaginative, startling religion book jacket design in recent memory.) The narrative history of the Bible's many translations and editions is also captivating, particularly the closing chapter on 20th-century biblical discoveries such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library.

The above is from a review on Amazon-
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0714837741/002-5227015-2264012?v=glance

b_b

[onager]

8. Check out Joseph Wheless

I'd also highly recommend the Asimov book(s) already mentioned. They're probably among the most "accessible," non-technical, won't-put-you-to-sleep works on Bible history. Asimov is a master storyteller, and he applies those awesome abilities to the Bible.

Another good, readable author I've cited elsewhere is Dr. Randal McCraw Helms, author of "Gospel Fictions" and "Who Wrote The Gospels?"

Then there's Joseph Wheless, one of the most original thinkers and writers ever on the topic of the Bible. It's a shame he's neglected and forgotten nowadays.

Wheless was raised a devout Midwestern Methodist, and as a boy won prizes for his knowledge of the Bible.

Later he became a lawyer, and set off on a long campaign to find the "truth" in the Bible. He approached this task as a lawyer, literally cutting apart a Bible and re-arranging the "evidence" in a logical manner.

What he found shocked him, as evidenced by the titles of his books:

"Is It God's Word : An Exposition of the Fables & Mythology of the Bible & the Fallacies of Theology" (1926)

"Forgery in Christianity : A Documented Record of the Foundations of the Christian Religion (1930)"

You can read his books for free here:

http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_wheless/index.shtml

[pelagius]

9. After you read an introductory text or two...

...you might want to pick up a copy of the Oxford Annotated Bible (New Revised Standard Version). The text is one of best word-for-word translations out there and the accompanying notes and introductory articles do an excellent job of explaining the material in context. There's several essays on the history of Biblical texts.

The notes and essays in the OAB contain most of the "bombshells" detractors of the Bible drop here on DU to prove the Bible "isn't true." There's plenty of Christians ready to rise to their bait, but both sides of the argument seem to be quite ignorant of the last 150 years or so of Biblical scholarship.

Another good book is the one-volume Erdmann's Bible Commentary. It offers more material than the OAB. In fact, if you bought and used both these books, you'd know more about the Bible than 99% of the people out there -- and that includes many ministers!

[pelagius]

10. And, by the way...

...unlike the some of the other books being mentioned here, I freely declare the bias of the commentators in in the Oxford Annotated Bible and the Erdmann's Bible Commentary to be solidly Christian and, in some cases, Jewish. If you have stereotypes about "dumbshit believers", though, prepare to have them shattered.