The Bible in the Modern World, 2nd Edition

James Barr

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The problems which Professor Barr examines have been borne in upon him over the years as a teacher of Old Testament to theological students, but more recently by active participation in a variety of international and ecumenical colloquia where the Bible as a whole has been under discussion. As we should expect, he asks us to consider what we mean by words like ‘inspiration’, ‘authority’, ‘the Word of God’, ‘revelation’, and devotes chapters to the Bible as Literature, the Bible as Information and the Bible in Theology.

Dr Barr argues for the possibility of a multiplicity of theologies, but if they are to be Christian and not merely theistic, he claims that they must be based on the Bible as the ‘classic model’ for understanding God, the world and ourselves, and that they must be founded on the centrality of Jesus and the God who was already known in Israel.