John Barton’s fascinating A History of the Bible investigates the origins, development and contemporary meaning of this greatest of unread bestsellers. From a disparate collection of writings that first emerged deep in the distant past Barton charts the gradual emergence of both the Old and the New Testaments and their evolution into what have become the two revered volumes of authoritative Scripture that we know today. In a series of lively and engaging essays Barton shows how meaning has both been drawn from the Bible and been imposed up on it and explores how differently Judaism and Christianity approach and interpret the books of both the Old and the New Testaments.

In this final episode A History of the Bible Barton takes the famous Nine Lessons and Carols Service as a starting point to explore the markedly different Christian and Jewish readings of the Scriptures, underscoring how the Bible offers a never-ending source of fascinating and fruitful investigation.

Read by Hugh Bonneville
Adapted for radio by John Barton and Richard Hamilton
Produced by Karen Holden Show less