Wilson, A. N. The Book of the People: How to Read the Bible. London: Atlantic Books, 2015.

This is not a textbook on the methodologies or theories on biblical interpretation. This is rather an autobiographical work that presents the authors experiences, and struggles and to a certain extent experiments with the Bible. The author who is a renowned journalist also offers insights in to a lay person’s struggles with the critical theories on Bible. The style is unique. The author adopts at places the style of an autobiography, at times he turns to a dialogue with his conversation partner, an anonymous L.

The book is divided into chapters which are not quite self-explanatory. ‘1.This Mountain’, ‘2. The Vulgate Experience’, ‘3. Prophets’, ‘4. Holy Wisdom’, ‘5. Job’, ‘6. Living in a Metaphor: Psalms’, and ‘7. The Rebirth of Images.’ It also has a prologue and an epilogue.

Though not an academic work it does take even a biblical scholar on an enjoyable tour through the landscape of our cultures’ struggles with the Bible. I found the author’s company as a tour guide extremely enjoyable and to a considerable extent informative.