Smith, Wilfred Cantwell. Three superb and inspiring books from an outstanding Canadian scholar:

Belief and History (Charlottesville, 1977).

Faith and Belief (Princeton, 1979).

Towards a World Theology (London, 1981).

Ward, Keith, The Concept of God (Oxford, 1974). A useful summary of some Western Christian ideas.

Woods, Richard (ed.), Understanding Mysticism (London and New York, 1980.

Zaehner, R. H., Mysticism – Sacred and Profane (London, 1957).

Albright, W. F., Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan (London, 1968).

Alter, Robert and Kermode, Frank (eds.), The Literary Guide to the Bible (London, 1987). Includes some exciting work by major scholars on both Jewish and Christian scriptures.

Bartlett, John R., The Bible, Faith and Evidence (London, 1990). An excellent, scholarly and readable introduction.

Childs, Brerand S., Myth and Reality in the Old Testament (London, 1959).

Driver, G. R.,Canaanite Myths and Legends (Edinburgh, 1956).

Fishbane, Michael, Text and Texture, Close Readings of Selected Biblical Texts (New York, 1979). Highly recommended.

Fohrer, G.,A History of Israelite Religion (New York, 1972).

Fox, Robin Lane,The Unauthorised Version, Truth and Fiction in the Bible (London, 1991). A readable, scholarly and extremely entertaining look at the Bible from the historian’s point of view.

Frankfort, H,The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man (Chicago, 1946).

Gaster, T. H.,Tbespis, Ritual, Myth and Drama in the Ancient Near East (New York, 1950).

Heschel, Abraham, J.,The Prophets, 2 vols., (New York, 1962). A classic: essential and inspiring reading.

Hooke, S. H.,Middle Eastern Mythology, From the Assyrians to the Hebrews (London, 1963). A very useful, popular summary.

Josipovici, Gabriel,The Book of God, A Response to the Bible (New Haven and London, 1988). A sensitive and original look at the Bible from the point of view of a literary specialist.

Kaufmann, Yehezkel,The Religion of Israel, From its Beginnings to the Babylonian Exile (trans. and abridged by Moshe Greenberg, Chicago and London, 1961). An accessible version of a classic work of scholarship.

Nicholson, E. W.,God and His People (London, 1986). Excellent.

Pederson, J.,Israel: its Life and Culture (trans. H. Milford, Copenhagen and London, 1926). Another seminal work.

Smith, Mark S.,The Early History of God; Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel (San Francisco, 1990). A scholarly, detailed study.

Bornkamm, Gunther. Two major and influential works:

Jesus of Nazareth (London, 1960).

Paul (London, 1971).

Bowker, John, Jesus and the Pharisees (Cambridge, 1983). Excellent study by an inspiring scholar.

Bultmann, Rudolf,Jesus Christ and Mythology (London, 1960).

Davies, W. D.,Paul and Rabbinic Judaism (London, 1948).

Hick, John (ed.),The Myth of God Incarnate (London, 1977).

A controversial but stimulating series of essays by major British scholars.

Kasemann, Ernst,Perspectives on Paul (London, 1971).

Moule, C. F. D.,The Origin of Christology (Cambridge, 1977).

Sanders, E. P. Two scholarly and important books: