X-Book

The Bible

This book is not purchasable in your country. Please select another book.
How does xigxag pricing work?

Listen to a sample

What to expect

A global history of the world’s best-known and most influential book.

“A marvelous work of scholarship and storytelling." —Wall Street Journal

For Christians, the Bible is a book inspired by God, but its eternal words are transmitted across the world by fallible human hands. In The Bible, Bruce Gordon recounts the astounding story of the Bible’s journey around the globe and across more than two thousand years, showing how it has shaped and been shaped by changing beliefs and believers’ radically different needs. God speaks with one voice, but the people who receive it are scattered and divided—found in desert monasteries and Chinese house churches, in Byzantine cathedrals and Guatemalan villages.

Breathtakingly global in scope, The Bible tells the story of this sacred book through the stories of its many and diverse human encounters, revealing not a static text but a living, dynamic cultural force.

Critics Review

“What I loved best about this book—aside from the elegant prose and the abundance of startling facts—is the sense of a strong, wise mind behind it. Bruce Gordon has written a book that will engage anyone interested in the Bible, which is anyone interested in human history.”—Christian Wiman, author of Zero at the Bone
“A wonderful book. A highly comprehensive guide to the worldwide reception of Scripture.”—John Barton, author of A History of the Bible
“This extraordinary book is both a stupendous intellectual achievement and a marvelously accessible guide that will delight everyone interested in how the Christian texts became the Bible, and why it has played such an enduring role in reading and worship in the millennia since.”—Andrew Pettegree, coauthor of The Library
“Even the best-informed readers will have much to learn from Bruce Gordon’s erudite and accessible history of the Bible, which ranges knowledgeably across eras and Christian traditions, and indeed across continents. It deserves to find the widest possible audience.”—Philip Jenkins, author of The Next Christendom
“With stunning prose and relentless insight that could only come from this rightly celebrated historian, Bruce Gordon has given us the book that we need at this moment, a real history of the Bible. In Gordon’s capable hands, the Bible becomes a sojourner through history who constantly makes history, and through whom history can be fruitfully understood in all its depths. This book is, quite simply, an intellectual feast.”—Willie James Jennings, author of The Christian Imagination
“If the word of God is alive, it has now met its best modern biographer. Filled with surprises, and sometimes aching with beauty, this is a book to take you wide-eyed round the world and then lead you back to that old leatherbound volume on your shelf.”—Alec Ryrie, author of Protestants
“This is the best survey yet written of the global transmission, and impact, of the world's most influential book. The Bible is readable enough to be enjoyed by anybody, while any expert is likely to learn something new from it.”—Ronald Hutton, author of The Witch
“This is a stunning love song to the Bible. Bruce Gordon has managed the rare feat of telling a complicated story that spans two thousand years in an engaging and accessible way. His book brings new perspectives and a fresh energy to the rediscovery of the Bible and how it has been shaped and reshaped by countless communities in different decades and centuries around the world. It made me want to savor this precious book of books even more, and it reignited my enthusiasm for telling the unknown stories about its nature and origins. In years to come, this will be a classic text for anyone intrigued by the most popular book of all time.”—Chine McDonald, author of God Is Not a White Man
“This is a beautifully written exploration of the journey of the Bible, as the most influential book in the world. It goes from manuscripts to translations, from antiquity to the contemporary world, from the Mediterranean to Africa and China. It shows how the Bible, in all its richness, plays multiple roles: used for good or ill, and certainly as a tool for colonialism. Yet, the Bible is vitally important in the twists and turns of world history, as is shown everywhere in the pages of this fascinating narrative.”—Joan E. Taylor, Professor of Christian Origins and Second Temple Judaism, King’s College London
“From papyrus and purple-painted parchment, through six centuries of print and forward as far as the network-free app, Bruce Gordon guides us on the boundless, unending odyssey of the ‘Book of Books.’ The Bible is a testament to the power not only of Scripture but of the written word itself to connect humanity, to educate, liberate, and also to repress. Gordon bears witness to the individual lives leavened by the ever-changing form of the ‘Book of Life,’ from Frederick Douglass to the football fans of today’s South Africa. This is a compelling account of two millennia of Western book culture, and the places and, above all, the people the Bible has touched.”—James G. Clark, Professor of History, University of Exeter
Author Bruce Gordon
Narrator Richard Attlee
Duration 15 hours and 36 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781668644164
Format Audiobook
Publisher Hachette Audio
Genre Ancient history, Bibles, Christianity, Criticism and exegesis of sacred texts, History of religion
Availability US

More from the same

Author

Narrator

About xigxag

xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK’s only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.

There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at £8.99. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from £3.99. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.

Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.

Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.