The Oxford illustrated history of the Bible

the long version

Tells how and why a collection of writings in Semitic languages and Greek came to be written over a period of about 800 years; and how even before the Bible existed as one volume its constituent parts were interpreted and subjected to a scrutiny that no other writing has had to endure. Traces the several routes whereby what was to be called the canon of Scripture was determined, and controversies surrounding which writings should be regarded as authoritative. Describes how over centuries the writings were copied, translated, and printed; how interpreted in Judaism and in the churches in the East and the West, and concludes with surveys of how the Bible is being used today in feminist criticism, and in movements for theological liberation in Latin America, Africa, and Europe.