Series: Lives of Great Religious Books

An essential introduction to Josephus's momentous war narrative, The Jewish War is Josephus's superbly evocative account of the Jewish revolt against Rome, which was crushed in 70 CE with the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple. Martin Goodman describes the life of this book, from its composition in Greek for a Roman readership to the myriad ways...

The life and times of Milton's epic poem about Satan's revolt against God and humanity's expulsion from paradise John Milton's Paradise Lost has secured its place in the pantheon of epic poems, but unlike almost all other works in the pantheon, it is intimately associated with religious doctrine and its implications for how we live our lives. For more than...

From Pulitzer Prize-winner Garry Wills, the story of Augustine's Confessions. In this brief and incisive book, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Garry Wills tells the story of the Confessions—what motivated Augustine to dictate it, how it asks to be read, and the many ways it has been misread in the one-and-a-half millennia since it was composed. Wills also addresses the reception of...

The life and times of C. S. Lewis's modern spiritual classic Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis's eloquent defence of the Christian faith, originated as a series of BBC radio talks broadcast during the dark days of World War Two. Here is the story of the extraordinary life and afterlife of this influential and inspiring book. George Marsden describes how Lewis...

How The Book of Common Prayer became one of the most influential works in the English language. While many of us are familiar with such famous words as "Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here..." or "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," we may not know that they originated in The Book of Common Prayer, which first appeared in 1549....

The life and times of the New Testament's most mystifying and incendiary book. Few biblical books have been as revered and reviled as Revelation. Many hail it as the pinnacle of prophetic vision, the cornerstone of the biblical canon, and, for those with eyes to see, the key to understanding the past, present, and future. Others denounce it as the...

Unraveling the controversies surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls Since they were first discovered in the caves at Qumran in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls have aroused more fascination—and controversy—than perhaps any other archaeological find. They appear to have been hidden in the Judean desert by the Essenes, a Jewish sect that existed around the time of Jesus, and they continue...

An essential history of the greatest love poem ever written, The Song of Songs has been embraced for centuries as the ultimate song of love. But the kind of love readers have found in this ancient poem is strikingly varied. Ilana Pardes invites us to explore the dramatic shift from readings of the Song as a poem on divine love...

During its 2,500-year life, The Book of Genesis has been the keystone to important claims about God and humanity in Judaism and Christianity. It plays a central role in contemporary debates about science, politics, and human rights. The authors provide a panoramic history of this iconic book, exploring its impact on Western religion, philosophy, literature, art, and more.

The life and times of the most important theological work of medieval Christendom, Thomas Aquinas's Summa theologiae, holds a unique place in Western religion and philosophy. Written between 1266 and 1273, it was conceived by Aquinas as an instructional guide for teachers and novices and a compendium of all the approved teachings of the Catholic Church. It synthesises an astonishing...

The untold story of how the Arabic Qur'an became the English Koran For millions of Muslims, the Qur'an is sacred only in Arabic, the original Arabic in which it was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century. To many Arab and non-Arab believers alike, the book literally defies translation, yet English translations are growing in both number and...

The life and many afterlives of one of the most enduring mystical testaments ever written, The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila is among the most remarkable accounts ever written of the human encounter with the divine. The Life is not really an autobiography at all, but rather a confession written for inquisitors by a nun whose raptures and mystical...