John Barton

La historia definitiva del libro más influyente del mundo La Biblia es el libro central de la cultura occidental, pero, por sorprendente que parezca, hasta el momento ninguna obra ha contado su historia. Para los creyentes, es la piedra angular de su fe, pero para los no creyentes tambien tiene un estatus imponente: esta entretejida hasta un grado sin parangon con nuestra forma de ver el mundo. En este libro excepcional, escrito por John Barton, uno de los principales eruditos biblicos del mundo, descubriremos, entre otras cosas, como se escribieron las distintas partes de la Biblia, que se incluyo en ella y que se quedo fuera, como la Biblia se difundio e interpreto a lo largo del mundo y cual ha sido su repercusion en todo el planeta. Barton demuestra que la Biblia no es un texto fijo desde un principio, como solemos creer, sino el resultado de una larga y fascinante evolucion, y que tanto el cristianismo como el judaismo no derivan solamente de la Biblia, sino tambien de otras fuentes y tradiciones. Historia de la Biblia es una portentosa y detallada investigacion, una obra de referencia imprescindible tanto para lectores laicos como para creyentes. Libro ganador del Premio Duff Cooper Libro del Año para The Guardian

Esta obra constituye la primera guía completa sobre el estado actual de los estudios bíblicos. Los capítulos de la Primera Parte abarcan todos los métodos y enfoques actualmente practicados en el estudio academico de la Biblia, mientras que los de la Segunda Parte examinan los principales bloques de libros de la Biblia desde la perspectiva de la investigacion reciente por ejemplo, los libros historicos del Antiguo Testamento, evangelios, literatura profetica..., abordando importantes cuestiones en un cuidado tono de divulgacion.

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of A History of the Bible, this is the story of how the Bible has been translated, and why it mattersThe Bible is held to be both universal and specific, the source of fundamental truths inscribed in words that are exact and sacred. For much of the history of Judaism and almost the entirety of Christianity, however, believers have overwhelmingly understood scripture not in the languages in which it was first written but rather in their own - in translation.This book examines how saints, scholars and interpreters from ancient times down to the present have produced versions of the Bible in the language of their day while remaining true to the original. It explains the challenges they negotiated, from minute textual ambiguities up to the sweep of style and stark differences in form and thought between the earliest writings and the latest, and it exposes the bearing these have on some of the most profound questions of faith: the nature of God, the existence of the soul and possibility of its salvation.Reading dozens of renderings alongside their ancient Hebrew and Greek antecedents, John Barton traces the migration of biblical words and ideas across linguistic borders, illuminating original meanings as well as the ways they were recast. Translators have been among the principal agents in mediating the Bibles message, he writes, even in shaping what that message is. At the separation of Christianity from Judaism and Protestantism from Catholicism, Barton demonstrates, vernacular versions did not only spring from fault lines in religious thinking but also inspired and moulded them. The product of a lifetimes study of scripture, The Word itself reveals the central book of our culture anew - as it was written and as we know it.

WINNER OF THE 2019 DUFF COOPER PRIZETHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERWith emotional and psychological insight, Barton unlocks this sleeping giant of our culture. In the process, he has produced a masterpiece.Sunday TimesThe Bible is the central book of Western culture. For the two faiths which hold it sacred, it is the bedrock of their religion, a singular authority on what to believe and how to live. For non-believers too, it has a commanding status: it is one of the great works of world literature, woven to an unparalleled degree into our language and thought.This book tells the story of the Bible, explaining how it came to be constructed and how it has been understood, from its remote beginnings down to the present. John Barton describes how the narratives, laws, proverbs, prophecies, poems and letters which comprise the Bible were written and when, what we know - and what we cannot know - about their authors and what they might have meant, as well as how these extraordinarily disparate writings relate to each other. His incisive readings shed new light on even the most familiar passages, exposing not only the sources and traditions behind them, but also the busy hands of the scribes and editors who assembled and reshaped them. Untangling the process by which some texts which were regarded as holy, became canonical and were included, and others didnt, Barton demonstrates that the Bible is not the fixed text it is often perceived to be, but the result of a long and intriguing evolution.Tracing its dissemination, translation and interpretation in Judaism and Christianity from Antiquity to the rise of modern biblical scholarship, Barton elucidates how meaning has both been drawn from the Bible and imposed upon it. Part of the books originality is to illuminate the gap between religion and scripture, the ways in which neither maps exactly onto the other, and how religious thinkers from Augustine to Luther and Spinoza have reckoned with this. Barton shows that if we are to regard the Bible as authoritative, it cannot be as believers have so often done in the past.

«He aquí un libro valioso para todas las personas que estudian la Biblia en cualquier nivel, y particularmente para los agentes de pastoral y los animadores de grupos bíblicos... Es una ayuda excelen

Playing Shakespeareis the premier guide to understanding and appreciating the mastery of the worlds greatest playwright. Together with Royal Shakespeare Company actorsamong them Patrick Stewart, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Ben Kingsley, and David SuchetJohn Barton demonstrates how to adapt Elizabethan theater for the modern stage. The director begins by explicating Shakespeares verse and prose, speeches and soliloquies, and naturalistic and heightened language to discover the essence of his characters. In the second section, Barton and the actors explore nuance in Shakespearean theater, from evoking irony and ambiguity and striking the delicate balance of passion and profound intellectual thought, to finding new approaches to playing Shakespeares most controversial creation, Shylock, from The Merchant of Venice. A practical and essential guide, Playing Shakespearewill stand for years as the authoritative favorite among actors, scholars, teachers, and students.