God's Last Words: Reading the English Bible from the Reformation to Fundamentalism

by David S. Katz

This wide-ranging book is an intellectual history of how informed readers read their Bibles over the past four hundred years, from the first translations in the sixteenth century to the emergence of fundamentalism in the twentieth century. David Katz recreates the response of readers from different eras by examining the "horizon of expectations" that provided the lens through which they read. During the Renaissance, says Katz, learned men rushed to apply the tools of textual analysis to the Testaments, fully confident that God's Word would open up and reveal shades of further truth. Other developments that altered readers' experiences included the politics of the English Civil War, Newtonian and Darwinian scientific theory, the rise of the disciplines of anthropology, archaeology, and geology, and the development of the novel and a concept of authorial copyright. Katz discusses all of these and more, concluding with the growth of fundamentalism in America, which brought biblical interpretation back to the Lutheran certainty of a demonstrable authority.

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 9, 2004

About the author

David S. Katz FRHistS (born 1953) is Director of the History of Ideas Program and a member of the Department of History at Brandeis University and Professor Emeritus of early modern European history at Tel Aviv University in Israel, where he taught from 1978 until retiring in 2019.

Reviews

[Ted Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The description for this book here on Goodreads is accurate. Also, the comment by a reviewer "quirky" is accurate. I have read and reread this one though I don't recall how many times. The first chapters ARE as another reviewer notes most interesting though the entire work explores how people read the English Bible.

This history differs significantly from David Daniell's "A History of the English Bible" by being quirkier and really more fun to read. The Katz book is an intellectual history of reading the English Bible while the Daniell book is a history of English translations of the Bible. Both works are valuable background on our intellectual history.

[Benjamin Fry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Particularly the earlier chapters on early modern vernacular bibles and it's dissemination in England.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Quirky".

[Sandy McFadyean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could be described more as an eye opener than a page turner. It has been a long read and is best dipped in and out of.

The chapter on fundamentalism is particularly interesting, probably as it refers to the most recent period. It could use a revision covering the last 20 years, but otherwise an excellently researched and enlightening read.