The Journey from Texts to Translations: The Origins and Development of the Bible

The Journey from Texts to Translations: The Origins and Development of the Bible. By Paul D. Wegner. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999 (corrected printing, 2000), 462 pp., $29.99. Paul Wegner has produced a very useful, wonderfully designed textbook in five

parts, on the canon, text, and translation (primarily English) of the Bible.

Part 1 ("Preliminary Matters regarding the Bible") constitutes about 10% of the book and serves as a general introduction to the names and order of books in both the OT and NT, along with comments on the relationship between the two testaments. This section includes an appendix on the "Synoptic Problem," which favors the priority of Mark and very gently seems to support the existence of Q.

Part 2 ("Canonization of the Bible"), about 20% of the book, first presents a good overview of writing and the production of texts in the biblical worlds, and then discusses the canon history of both the OT and NT. It also includes brief accounts of the OT apocryphal and pseudepigraphical writings and the NT apocryphal texts.

Part 3 ("Transmission of the Bible"), also about 20% of the book, ably discusses textual criticism of both the OT and NT. It is a clear and comprehensive guide for students.

Parts 4 ("Early Translations of the Bible") and 5 ("English Translations of the Bible"), the largest section of the book (about 40%), briefly cover the ancient versions of the Bible and the first printed Greek New Testaments, and then give a fairly extensive history of English translations of...