The rise and fall of the Bible : the unexpected history of an accidental book / Timothy Beal.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [200]-225) and index.

An acclaimed author takes readers back to early Christianity to ask how a box of handwritten scrolls became the Bible, and forward to see how the multibillion-dollar business that has created Biblezines and Manga Bibles is selling down the Bible's sacred capital.

The end of the Word as we know it : a personal introduction. Magic 8 ball Bible ; The rise of a cultural icon ; The way of salvation ; So long, Judas ; The course of this book ; My utmost, revisited -- The greatest story ever sold. Sodom and Gomorrah equals love ; Biblical consumerism ; Expectations of Biblical proportions ; By whose authority? -- Biblical values. Felt needs ; Values added ; Finding your niche ; Necessary supplements ; If that's what it means, why doesn't it say so? ; Manga Bibles ; A different cookie -- Twilight of the idol. The evangelical dilemma ; Selling out ; Type's setting ; Distress crop ; Behold your God -- What would Jesus read? Jesus sings ; Christianity before the Bible ; No original ; No canon ; Early Christian network society -- The story of the Good Book. Remembering what's lost ; Scrolling down to the book ; Scattered throughout the whole world ; After Gutenberg ; Multiplying the leaves ; Lost in translations ; Not a rock but a river -- Library of questions. Mark Twain's drugstore ; Letting suffering speak ; Trials of God ; Weak rope theory ; Is the Bible a failure? ; Faith in ambiguity ; Nothing but a burning light ; The Bible by the side of the road -- And I feel fine. Cracking the binding ; Loose canon ; Back to the future ; Living conversations ; Seeds to go around ; Word without end.