Lightfoot covers the history of the written word from the first century to our translations today. Chapters discuss and explain the different Greek manuscripts, ancient versions, textual variants, the development of the canon, English translations and more. He presents the material in a way easily understandable. It is good for use in a Bible class.

Most Christians don't know the history of the Book and that has led to lots of confusion about translations and versions. If we are to be people of the book, we need to know everything we can about it. Knowing this information will help us have more reasons to trust our Bibles. Also, we will have more evidence for those who think the Bible has been altered and tampered with throughout the centuries. This information would be very helpful for teaching helping those who are "KJV-only." ( )

I enjoyed Lightfoot’s informative book on how the text of the Bible came to us through the ages. This is a good primer for anyone wanting to know or get into a deeper study of this subject. This would certainly be a good place to start.

I had a copy of his 2nd edition printed by ACU Press and had read that, but the 3rd edition is greatly improved with a lot more updated information so if you have read his earlier editions and enjoyed them, you will only get more out of this one.

Certain points jumped out at me. In chapter nine, I found his discussion of textual variants interesting. It seems that any book that discusses the canon of Scripture would need to include the topic of textual variation and Lightfoot does here in this chapter.

In chapter twelve, he discusses the reason as to why there are no early extant copies of the Old Testament that date any earlier than the 9th century A.D. The fact that older copies of the O.T. scriptures were burned and buried when newer copies were completed was the custom and tradition; however, the fact that these scribes were so precise and immaculate in their transmission of the text does speak to its reliability as well. He also discusses in this same chapter the Dead Sea scrolls and their significance to Old Testament scholarship and its authenticity.

He also addresses the alleged problem of “lost gospels” in the canon of scripture. With all the hype and sensationalism of the Gnostic scriptures such as the “Gospel of Thomas” and the “Gospel of Judas” being touted as “lost books” of the Bible, Lightfoot here reminds us that scriptures like these cannot be lost gospels because they were never a part of the canon or collection of the 1st and 2nd century churches. No council came together to canonize anything. The canon eventually came about as churches universally recognized the inspired teachings and doctrine with which they were familiar with. Christians would do well to ignore the sensationalism of those today who promote these “lost gospels” in efforts to destroy the credibility of the Bible.

In chapter eighteen, the author gives a good chapter by chapter summary, of what had been discussed previously in the book. If you want to know what the book discusses more in-depth, aside from the chapter headings in the table of contents, then read the chapter summaries in this chapter.

Overall, this is a great book. It serves its purpose well. ( )