The Decline and Fall of Sacred Scripture: How the Bible Became a Secular Book

What is wrong with biblical scholarship today? What is it that the last place one should go to study Sacred Scripture is a biblical studies program at virtually any university? Why are so many faithful priests and pastors, and the people in their pews, unaware of the centuries-long effort to turn Sacred Scripture, the inspired world of Word of God, into just another secular book? In The Decline and Fall of Sacred Scripture: How the Bible Became a Secular Book, authors Scott Hahn and Benjamin Wiker trace the devolution of biblical scholarship that has led to a devastating loss of trust in the inspired Word of God. From the late Medieval period through the Reformation to the Enlightenment and beyond, Hahn and Wiker sketch the social revolutions and radical figures that led to the emergence of historical criticism and the pervasive ill effects that are still being felt today. The Decline and Fall of Sacred Scripture makes accessible the argument of the authors' magisterial 2013 study Politicizing the Bible: The Roots of Historical Criticism and the Secularization of Scripture 1300-1700 and carries the story down- to our day. Book jacket.