'Out of his remarkable experience of the Bible as translator, theologian and monk, Henry Wansbrough has provided a brilliantly readable and attractive introduction to the understanding of the Bible from the New Testament itself to its use in the present state of Israel' Benedicta Ward SLG, Reader in Christian Spirituality, University of Oxford, UK

'This is an enchanting and wonderfully wide-ranging account of how the library that we call the Bible has been read and heard down the ages. It is written by an eminent student of the text who has given his life to biblical scholarship committed not only to the highest standards of academic integrity but also to reading the Old and New Testaments from within the faith community. The Bible is a text (or set of texts) quite like any other, and Dom Henry is an attentive and affectionate reader of it. His explorations into the readings that others have made over the centuries make this a very rich book indeed. It shows the Bible's explosive power, and chapter after chapter has an utterly contemporary feel precisely because the remarkably wide range of bible readings recounted in this book always speak to the present age, and because there is a powerful illumination that comes from learning how others have read the text. It is also good for our humility to discover what gifted readers there were in the age that is today disparagingly dismissed as "pre-critical", and in how many different ways Christians have read the same documents. This book brings Scripture alive for an age that desperately needs it.' - Nicholas King, University of Oxford, UK

Henry Wansbrough's vivid, pithy essays show consumers of scripture - an apostle, theologians, doctors of the church, a venerable heresiarch, a medieval laywoman, modern politicians with secular agendas, Christ himself - understanding and often warping the text in the light of their own times and prejudices. He brings to life the intimacies and complicities of individual relationships with sacred readings. - Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, University of Notre Dame, USA

"This is a little gem of a book, written accessibly with clarity and humour: a welcome relief from the flat and monochrome reading which often passes as 'the plain sense of Scripture', particularly in popular debate. It reminds its readers of a Christian tradition of biblical interpretation that is far more sophisticated, challenging and ultimately satisfying."  The Tablet, 22nd May 2010.

'A selection of delightful and entertaining essays' Church Times

Anthony Phillips

Features an edited lecture given by the author.

The Tablet