This volume revisits and updates the 1975 publication of The Cambridge History of the Bible by presenting “state of the art” research into the Hebrew Scriptures, the NT, and their reception by both Christians and pagans through the period of Late Antiquity (p. xii). The volume contains 37 chapters divided into five parts: “Languages, Writing Systems and Book Production”; “The Hebrew Bible and Old Testaments”; “The New Testament”; “Biblical Versions Other than the Hebrew and the Greek”; and “The Reception of the Bible in the Post-New Testament Period.” A comparison of this work with the 1975 edition reveals significant developments in biblical research, an increasing tendency toward scholarly specialization, and a growing recognition of the importance of reception history for understanding the biblical texts. The increasing specialization is reflected in the present work’s more than doubling the amount of chapters contained in the original volume (37 compared to 18).

Jan Joosten shows how ongoing study of the Greek language has proved that both the majority of the Greek OT and the NT uses a non-literary, low register style of Greek that is close to vernacular Greek (ch. 2). Writing and book production in the ancient Near East was time-consuming, costly, and often thought of as being connected to the sacred and numinous (William Schniedewind, ch. 3). Larry Hurtado and Chris Keith show how the production and use of books occurred within private social, and often religious, networks (ch. 4).

One of the more notable differences between the 1975 and 2013 edition is the latter’s expansion of the Hebrew and OT section from four to twelve chapters. This is due, in part, to the increasing amount of research devoted to the Pentateuch, more attention devoted to the use of Scripture in distinct social settings, and recognition of the importance of Qumranic and rabbinic biblical exegesis. Ulrich shows how research on the biblical manuscripts contained at Qumran have demonstrated the “accurate reproduction of each book and occasionally the creative revised edition of some books” (p. 90). Jonathan Campbell (ch. 11) provides a nuanced treatment of the interpretation of Scripture at Qumran and argues that the most distinctive aspect of their interpretation of the Bible “is the pervasive underlying sectarian message pertaining to the community’s position as the sole locus for the continuance of God’s covenant with Israel” (pp. 264–65). One of the more interesting and yet difficult (due to the obviously hypothetical nature of many of his proposals) chapters is Joachim Schaper’s “The Literary History of the Bible,” which seeks to trace the literary pre-history of the biblical texts and their relation to discrete historical and social experiences (ch. 6). John Barton’s chapter on OT canon formation sagely notes that one’s answers to canon formation will depend upon whether canon is defined as books that have high/scriptural status or an official list of Scripture to which no more can be added (p. 152). John Collins shows how the so-called OT apocryphal works shed significant light on exegetical methods for interpreting the Bible (ch. 8). Increasing attention to the interaction between scripture and social location is nicely demonstrated in Robert Hayward’s essay where he shows how temples played a significant role both in housing and ensuring the reading and recitation of sacred and classical works (ch. 14): “Constructed and ordered according to a divine plan, the temple housed divine writings deposited in its most holy place: thus sacred writing and temple on earth embody heavenly realities, preserved indeed by priestly guardians, but made present in time and space for all Israel to know, observe, and repeat” (p. 344).

The NT section contains only four chapters (canon, text and versions, NT apocryphal writings, and use of the OT in the NT), but each of them provides a valuable introduction to the state of the question that can serve as helpful orientations for scholar and student alike. If I may interject a personal note, David Parker’s essay on “The New Testament Text and Versions” will undoubtedly make its way into my teaching of textual criticism. John Elliott’s study of apocryphal writings demonstrates how some early Christians interpreted and filled gaps within the earliest Christian writings. While Elliott notes that these texts may seem crude and naïve to many twenty-first-century persons, “their creation, enduring existence and undoubted popularity show that Christianity was vibrant, popular, and, above all, successful throughout the dark ages of the second century and beyond” (p. 469).

The longest section of the work, however, containing fourteen essays, is devoted to the reception of the biblical text. Rather than focusing on individual interpreters (e.g., The Epistle of Barnabas, Justin, Irenaeus), James Carleton Paget provides an overview of interpretation of Scripture in the second century (ch. 24). In this fascinating chapter, Paget explores how the early Christians respond to pagan and Jewish critics, how they seek to create a biblical culture or paideia through co-opting reading strategies and exegetical methods, the creating of schools and worship assemblies as the settings for the use and interpretation of Scripture, and how the rule of faith came into existence. Many of the chapters demonstrate the extent to which the reading practices of the early Christians were indebted to rhetorical techniques and methods (e.g., Origen: pp. 615–17). Individual chapters are devoted to Origen (ch. 26), Eusebius (ch. 27), Jerome (ch. 28), and Augustine (ch. 29) due to the belief that these interpreters “embod[y] the concerns of a particular age” (p. xiv) and as a result of their incredible influence on biblical interpretation. Frances Young shows the difficulty and impropriety of making strong distinctions between an Antiochene school of exegesis and an Alexandrian school (ch. 32). Earlier treatments of early Christian exegesis were, according to Young, wrong to focus “on methodology rather than traditions of identifying the reference” (p. 751).

My concluding thoughts on this work are twofold. First, the volume succeeds in demonstrating the vibrancy and the complexity of contemporary biblical scholarship. New literary methods and developments, new manuscript and archaeological discoveries, more highly nuanced treatments of the reception of the Bible and the early Christians’ reading strategies, increased awareness and study of the social settings, uses, and production of the Scriptures—all of this, combined with increasingly highly specialized scholarly research, makes a volume like this a necessary resource for every biblical scholar. Second, the volume stands in and continues the legacy of the humanist return to the sources as the origins of biblical criticism (see J. Barton, The Nature of Biblical Criticism, pp. 117–36). While this enterprise is indisputably indispensable for biblical interpretation, readers may need to remind themselves of the purported theological subject matter of the biblical texts.

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