Die Entstehung der Bibel

The Bible brings together a variety of writings spanning over a thousand years, yet it reads like a single book. How did this masterpiece come to be? Konrad Schmid and Jens Schröter explain how ancient stories, songs, wise sayings, and laws, along with letters to early Christian communities and narratives about Jesus, evolved into the sacred texts of Jews and Christians through a long process, which are now read all over the world. With their wonderfully accessible book, a comprehensive overview of the Bible's origins is presented for the first time in decades, reflecting the latest research. Recent scholarship has revised many common assumptions about the history of Israel and the formation of the Bible. Events such as the Exodus from Egypt or the construction of the Temple under King Solomon are no longer considered historical. This raises the question of how the great stories of the Old Testament came to be and when they became part of "sacred scriptures." Common beliefs about the compilation of the Gospels or early apostolic letters are also being re-evaluated. This book describes, based on current research, the long journey from early narratives of ancient Israel through key texts of Jewish monotheism and early Christianity to the sacred books of the world religions of Judaism and Christianity. Anyone who wants to understand how such a historical miracle of transmission could occur should read this biography of the world's most famous book.