How We Got The Bible Summary

How We Got the Bible, Maxie Boren, 200pp How We Got The Bible by Maxie Boren seeks to provide the readers with a more intermediate knowledge of historical data concerning the translation, transcription, and various versions of the Bible, their origins, transcribers, publishers, and content therein. There are three major section of the book. The introduction lays them out in order of appearance. First is Basic Information and contains “The ‘mechanics’ of how we got the Bible - a look at the materials used and the manuscripts extant” (pp 3-12). Second is “The formation of the canon - a look at how the books of the Bible came to be accepted” (pp 13-26). This section is a two part look at how the canon used to determine the acceptance of the

In the first major section, Brother Boren conducts an excellent survey of “things from ancient times pertaining to languages, writing materials, manuscripts, etc” (p 3). He begins by explaining very basic fundamentals of the Bible and it’s origin beginning with the Old Testament, it’s books, writers, and the timeframe of it’s authorship. He then provided the same information for the New Testament. Having provided the historical background, Brother Boren then competently discusses the materials used in the writing of the early books of the bible and in doing so also adequately conveys the time and care which was taken in the painstaking and difficult processes of early transcription. Not only were

Devoting the remainder of this work to the translations of the bible, He carefully expounds on the languages in which the Bible has been rendered throughout the course of history and the many times it has passed through human translations and versions. Stating such facts as “No other book in the history of humankind has ever even come close to being translated into so many languages as has the Bible” (p 29), the origin of the Septuagint, the translations from the Old Testament Hebrew into Latin as accomplished “by a man named Jerome toward the end of 4th century A.D.” (p 40), examples of those who created entire alphabets in order to translate into languages which were otherwise lacking them such as Mesrob, whom Brother Boren hails as “A man of Genius! A man of dedication!” (p 45). Laboriously compiling the translations of the Bible from the original Greek and Hebrew all the way through the newest versions of Bibles we have today, our Brother takes great care in providing details, dates, and definitions which help the reader to understand the background of the translators, compilers, editors, and publishers involved. Doing so aides the reader greatly in understanding and pinpointing