Simon Loveday trained as an anthropologist and a literary critic, teaching at UEA and Oxford. He also edited the psychological journal Typeface and wrote The Romances of John Fowles. He lectured at Keele University and lived in Wells, Somerset, where he was at one time Chair of the Wells Festival of Literature. Simon Loveday died in October 2016.
List of illustrations
About the author
Permissions
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Part One: The Old Testament
1. The structure of the Bible
2. The authority of the Bible
3. The historical context: the world in which the Old Testament took shape
4. The structure and purpose of the Old Testament: the mission statement
for the Israelites
5. The Old Testament as history: what story does the Old Testament tell?
And is it true?
6. The Old Testament as morality: what kind of god is God? What morality
does the Old Testament teach? And is it 'right'?
7. Who wrote the Old Testament? First attempts at a scientific reading
8. So- who did write the Old Testament?
9. Conclusion: if there is no single message in the Old Testament, what are
its messages?
Part Two: The New Testament
1. The historical context: the world Jesus was born into (587 BC - 1 AD)
2. The structure and purpose of the New Testament: the mission statement
for Christians
3. The New Testament as history: is the story true?
4. The New Testament as morality: what morality (and what theology) does
the New Testament teach?
5. The historical context (continued): the events 130 of the 1st century
AD, the world in which Jesus lived (4 BC to the early 30s AD) and the New
Testament was written
6. So- who wrote the New Testament?
7. Who did Jesus think he was?
8. The New Testament: conclusion
Part Three: A Vision of Freedom
1. Is there a different way to read the Bible?
2. Three Bible passages: a literary appreciation
3. The sum of the parts: reading the Bible as a unity
Appendix 1: Books of the Old Testament
Appendix 2: Books of the New Testament
Bibliography
Notes
Index
