How To Read The Bible - Softcover

" An absolutely masterful book by one of the great theologians of our age, and of inestimable value to both scholars and beginners."--James Martin, SJ, author of Jesus: A Pilgrimage

"Scholars and students will be gratified by this pragmatic but profoundly insightful volume. The Bible is a complex, textured volume that can amaze and inspire, but also confuse and perplex. Cox has given readers a great gift--a clear path toward a fuller and richer appreciation for the sacred text."--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Cox reads the Bible as an engaging storyteller who portrays the real life drama embodied in the narratives. He also reads as a scholarly interpreter of texts, and a source of experiencing the spiritual life. Read and you will discover an integrated and intriguing way to read the Bible."--Murray W. Dempster, Director of the Center for the Study of Global Pentecostalism at Southeastern University

"Harvey Cox is a trustworthy and fearless guide to the Bible who brings us into dialogue with all its dimensions--from the literary and historical to the spiritual and political. In Cox's company, the Bible becomes again a book that can change our lives."--Stephanie Paulsell, Houghton Professor of the Practice of Ministry Studies, Harvard Divinity School

"Whether he is following in the footsteps of Moses...[or] looking over the shoulders of Gospel writers...Cox proves to be a skillful interpreter of the Bible. How to Read the Bible shines and shimmers with all the wisdom Cox has accrued from many years of teaching."--Spirituality & Practice

"Harvard's famous, forward-looking professor of divinity... Harvey Cox demonstrates how various critical methods clarify [the Bible's] meanings at the time it was written and in ages thereafter, thereby helping readers answer questions about its meaning now. For thoroughgoing amateur Bible students, a godsend."--Booklist

"Harvey Cox, professor of divinity at Harvard Divinity School and a well-traveled interpreter of things secular and spiritual, provides a word of guidance to those who wish to find in the Bible spiritual meaning for today."--Christian Century

"Fifty years later Cox... is still provocative. How to Read the Bible is a tour through both the Bible and the history of biblical criticism. Cox shows he has lost none of his talent for expressing complex ideas in accessible ways."--U.S. Catholic

"In this important book, Cox takes readers of all ages and all spiritual traditions on an excursion through some of the most confounding and deeply difficult questions bible reading has to offer. Best of all, he shows us how to go beyond the words and so become more spiritual."--Joan Chittister, OSB, author of Between the Dark and the Daylight: Embracing the Contradictions of Life

"No one who reads this will ever again approach the Jewish or Christian scriptures in the same way. This is a must read for the religious, the secular, and everyone in between. A monumental work, and fun to read."--Alan Dershowitz, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law emeritus at Harvard and author of Abraham: The World's First (But Certainly Not Last) Jewish Lawyer