What kind of authority does Scripture have? How is Scripture's authority to be negotiated in relation to other sources of authority? And what are the implications of confessing the Bible to be authoritative? The Bible: Culture, Community and Society seeks to answer these questions, covering three core themes. First, reading the Bible in the context of modernity - the challenges the intellectual history of modernity has posed to the Bible's authority and how historical work can co-exist with a commitment to the Bible as the Word of God. Secondly, the Bible as a text that forms the church community - how the Bible as an authoritative text shapes a culture. Thirdly, reading the Bible as a public text and the challenges posed by holding to the Bible as the Word of God in a religiously diverse context. The highly distinguished contributors include Ben Quash, David Ferguson, Angus Paddison and Zoë Bennett.

Neil Messer is Reader in Theology and Head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Winchester, UK. He is the author of Respecting Life: Theology and Bioethics, Selfish Genes and Christian Ethics: Theological and Ethical Reflections on Evolutionary Biology, and Study Guide to Christian Ethics.

Angus Paddison is Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Winchester, UK.