Preface to the Third Edition

Summary

The original edition of this book was published by Penguin Books in 1999 and subsequently translated into Spanish (Una introductión a la Biblia [Barcelona: Paidós, 2000], and Portuguese (O Livro de Ouro da Bíblia [Rio de Janiero: Ediouro, 2002]). A second edition was published by Equinox in 2005 after the first edition had gone out of print. It has been widely used in colleges and training schemes for ordained ministry, and it is good to have the opportunity to issue a Third Edition. The book has been thoroughly revised and, especially in the chapters on the Making of the Old and New Testaments, considerably enlarged. Since the appearance of the first editions, several works have been published with which I have had a close involvement, and which can be recommended for further study. They are The Oxford Illustrated History of the Bible (ed. J. Rogerson; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible (ed. J. D. G. Dunn and J. W. Rogerson; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), and The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies (ed. J. W. Rogerson and J. M. Lieu; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006; paperback edition, 2008). Readers who wish to follow up the topics discussed in the final chapter can now consult my According to the Scriptures? The Challenge of Using the Bible in Social, Moral and Political Questions (London: Equinox, 2007).