Wanting to learn more History of Bible, recommend any books? (Historian authors preferred)?

Question

I know the best place is the Bible (that I'm reading) but also there is things that historians have found out through years and years of study that help open up the reading of the Word even more.

I would rather take historian authors because a true historian writes history without adding his opinion or interpretation. There are thousands of books with Bible history where authors give their interpretation of what happen here and their interpretation of what they think happen there, THEN there are the actual facts.

I know there has to be some theologian or historian books out there that focus on the facts and not THEIR beliefs. I want the facts. The Holy Spirit will be my interpreter. Please help!

Also interested in history of the Church. (ex: about Martin Luther, Paul, John Wesley, etc...)

THANKS IN ADVANCE ALL!!!

Answer 1

Secret Origins of the Bible - Tim Callahan

Answer 2

Don't swallow the idea that historians write without adding things to it or voicing their own opinion. They are just as bad at it as anyone. Just look at Josephus. He traveled with and wrote about he Roman Emperors. If he did not write what they wanted his life was on the line. You can be sure his writings favored the Romans and exagerated the conquests.

There are lots of excellent books out their though. There is a little book called "The Silent Years" written by a Harry Ironside about the years between the Old and New Testaments. It is a Small book but excellent information from that time when no Bible passages were written.

Answer 3

If only it were that simple. With the Bible you're dealing with an incredibly complex subject--textually, historically, and spiritually. You can't "disprove" the Bible textually, at least not entirely, because it exists! That is to say, the collection of books known as the Bible have validity as a collection of books. The various textual considerations (manuscript and translation issues, meanings of words, poetic language, figures of speech, etc) include those of any other work of literature, and many others since you're dealing with multiple authors, ancient languages, and long periods of time. You have a very hard time disproving the Bible historically. While there's no proof for the book of Genesis, the events it describes are pre-historic. For the most part, historians see the Old Testament as a very important document. The many facts, such as units of measure, names of rulers, locations of cities are often corroborated by archeology. The New Testament comes from a more modern period, with much more historical documentation. While no written evidence for the person of Jesus of Nazareth exists outside of the Bible, the many details of Jewish, Greek, and Roman life and culture match up perfectly with contemporary secular accounts. Finally, the spiritual test. This is where personal experience comes into play. Since you can neither prove nor disprove an internal emotional experience, let's leave that aside. But how about miracles? Something like a supernatural healing should be subject to scrutiny. It wouldn't be a hard thing to debunk a story of a miracle if it was made up. Somewhere, there would be evidence of fraud. There's so many claims of supernatural events in Christianity. While, I imagine, some have been debunked, most haven't. You could say, the burden of proof is on the claimant. But it still stands to reason, that the testimonies of miracles may, in fact, be true. To draw the line somewhere in regards to truth is helpful, but hard to do. Yours in Christ, Nick

Answer 4

The Great Controversy by E.G. White, if you go to her website, you can read the whole book online and others. And you can go to www.sabbathtruth.com, or www.amazingfacts.org, or www.amazingdiscoveries.org.
In The Great Controversy, you will learn about the struggles of Martin Luther, Wesley and all the others Reformists, about the plight of the Waldenses, and others.

Answer 5

One I can recommend is "Wide As the Waters" by Benson Bobrick. It is the story of the creation of the King James Bible.

Answer 6

Norman Geislers Systematic Theology Series is a great reference for all Theological areas.

Matt

Answer 7

If you wanted to learn more about what happend in the bible you could read one of the scriptures not printed in the bible. ie: Judas, Mary

Answer 8

Why not read the works of Flavius Josephus.

Answer 9

Very Good Question!

Please check out my site!

Answer 10

try this

http://www.returntogod.com

click on the scriptures on the left tool bar

David T