Description
Book SynopsisHow did the Bible survive the Enlightenment? Showing how Protestant translators and scholars in the 18th century transformed the Bible from a book justified by theology to one justified by culture, this book offers a history of the Bible in the century of its greatest crisis and, in turn, a new vision of this century and its effects on religion.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 2005 George L. Mosse Prize, American Historical Association One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2005 "Sheehan's narrative is engaging and replete with fascinating detail... Sheehan's scholarship is praiseworthy, his erudition impressive, and his writing often elegant. This book represents a welcome contribution to modern European intellectual history and the history of biblical scholarship."--Thomas Albert Howard, American Historical Review "[A] splendid and clever book... [Sheehan's] work makes sense of the enlightenment Bible within historical and intellectual processes."--Scott Mandelbrote, English Historical Review "This is a book that needed to be written, and it has been written very well... [V]ery important, stimulating and accessible."--Anthony Page, Journal of British Studies "A model of comparative history... This book is not only a work about the Enlightenment; it is also a work of enlightenment."--David Kling, Church History "[A] fascinating story... [Sheehan's] inclusion of Jewish scholars and scholarship is especially welcomed... Highly recommended."--Choice "For those happy that the Bible should be a cultural artifact, and for those who seek to encounter the God of Abraham and Jesus through its pages, this is a valuable account of how modernity's characteristic construal of the Bible came about."--Walter Moberly, Reviews in Religion and Theology "Sheehan's scholarly accomplishment and historical contribution comes from the extensive new research he has done on the largely unrecorded history of Bible translation... Sheehan has thus introduced a whole new set of books and characters to track down and lines of questioning to explore. For that gift alone, German historians should rejoice."--John R. Holloran, H-Net Reviews
Table of ContentsPreface: Forging the Cultural Bible ix Abbreviations xvii Chapter One: The Vernacular Bible: Reformation and Baroque 1 Part I: The Birth of the Enlightenment Bible Chapter Two: Scholarship, the New Testament, and the English Defense of the Bible 27 Chapter Three: Religion, the New Testament, and the German Reinvention of the Bible 54 Part II: The Forms of the Enlightenment Bible Chapter Four: Philology: The Bible from Text to Document 93 Chapter Five: Pedagogy: The Politics and Morals of the Enlightenment Bible 118 Chapter Six: Poetry: National Literature, History, and the Hebrew Bible 148 Chapter Seven: History: The Archival and Alien Old Testament 182 Part III: The Cultural Bible Chapter Eight: Culture, Religion, and the Bible in Germany, 1790-1830 223 Chapter Nine: "Regeneration from Germany": Culture and the Bible in England, 1780-1870 241 Afterword 259 Index 261
