As eminently readable as the best of travelogues, it floods with light a subject too often regarded by many as a closed book. … With emotional and psychological insight, Barton unlocks this sleeping giant of our culture. In the process, he has produced a masterpiece. … If it can only be liberated from such a straitjacket and allowed to become its full self, the Bible might just chime once more in a sceptical age. Barton’s extraordinary tour de force is the first book I have ever read that makes that feel possible.

A superb overview … Barton wears his erudition lightly, but even for those deeply familiar with the Bible there is much here to be learnt

John Barton has written a wise and eminently sane book about a book which has inspired both insanity and wisdom. It is a landmark in the field, and it will do great good

Belief in the Bible as ‘the preserved word of God’ is prevalent in many sections of the Christian Church, but it is one Barton sets out to challenge in this calm and magisterial work

Barton remains the scholar that he ever was. … Barton’s book is an achievement in the finest tradition of Anglicanism: learned, mild-mannered and quietly anxious about the challenges of reconciling scepticism with faith.

This magisterial account of the book and its history … is the book to hurl at the new atheists who quote from the embarrassing bits of the Old Testament to discredit the God project. … It’s fascinating.

Barton is a sure-footed guide … A serious book for serious readers. In it they will find all they want and much more, lucidly set out and explained

Hugely important … This very readable and judicious work should be a must for preachers, teachers, and all who are serious about the Bible’s place in their religion.

This is a remarkable book. … It is just the thing for educated and intelligent readers who want to know more about the Bible, which has left so deep a mark on the cultures of the world. … This is a book for our time, and it is warmly recommended.