Contemporary Authors

PERSONAL

Male.

City University of New York, M.Phil., Institute of Religious Studies, M.A., post-master’s certificate in scripture.

ADDRESS

• Home - New York, NY.

CAREER

Reader’s Digest General Books Division editor; Institute of Religious Studies, graduate school teacher.

WRITINGS

• The Bible through the Ages: Examination of the Land, Laws, Traditions, and Customs of the Ancient Near East, Reader's Digest (New York, NY), 1996
• (With Stephen M. Miller) The Bible: A History: The Making and Impact of the Bible, Lion Hudson (Oxford, England), 2014
• (With Stephen M. Miller) The One-Stop History of the Bible, Lion Hudson (Oxford, England), 2016

SIDELIGHTS

Award-winning, best-selling Christian author Stephen M. Miller and Reader’s Digest editor Robert V. Huber have collaborated on books about the Bible. Born August 3, 1952 in Oakland, Maryland, Miller was a newspaper reporter and in 1994 became a full-time freelance writer and editor of many Bible-related books. He was an editor of Christian books, magazines, and Bible curriculum for Christian denominations in the Wesleyan theological tradition. He holds a journalism degree from Kent State University and a master’s degree in religious education from Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri.

Huber is a long-time editor in the Reader’s Digest General Books Division and worked with Encyclopedia Americana. He also taught graduate courses in scripture at the Institute of Religious Studies, from which he earned a master’s degree in religious studies. He also holds a Master of Philosophy in American and English Literature from the City University of New York.

Miller’s award-winning 2004 Who’s Who and Where’s Where in the Bible provides an A to Z dictionary explaining more than 500 important people and places in scripture. Written in magazine style, the book describes fascinating people, healers, warriors, lovers, liars, and prophets. It also includes color maps, photos, and paintings. Commenting on the 2017 expanded and updated edition, Who’s Who and Where’s Where in the Bible: An Illustrated A-to-Z Dictionary of the People and Places in Scripture, Nadine Cohen-Baker wrote in Library Journal that the  “dictionary [is] written in a chatty style that tries hard—perhaps too hard—to make the Bible sound fun to read and contemporary.”

In 1996 Huber published The Bible through the Ages: Examination of the Land, Laws, Traditions, and Customs of the Ancient Near East. The book offers fresh insights into popular stories of Abraham, David, and the Gospels; a look into the development of writing and biblical tradition; the spread of the Gospel in the first century; and modern interpretations of the Bible. Huber also draws on the latest research and archaeological discoveries to enhance biblical stories, including a discussion of the historical significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He also explores literary translation techniques used in translating early Hebrew into Greek, then Latin, then English.

Together, Miller and Huber partnered to publish other Bible-related books. The 2014 The Bible: A History: The Making and Impact of the Bible examines one of the world’s most influential books. The authors delve into the past to trace how the Bible came to be written, its development, its role in the rapidly growing Christian church, its reformation, and its impact over the millennia in regions around the world. On the Web site Good Bookstall, Mary Bartholomew said the book was “packed with information, beautifully illustrated; … it is a monumental work.” Library Journal reviewer Charlie Murray commented that the authors “fill a gap left by the more academic … histories of Israel and New Testament times.”

Next, Miller and Huber published The One-Stop History of the Bible in 2016. With full-color illustrations and color-coded notes, the book provides a guide to the history of the Bible from its origins in oral history, to how it was written down, to the many ways it has influenced history and nations. The authors explain how the books of the Bible were selected, how and when the first translations occurred, and key moments in church history that affected the Bible. A contributor to Publishers Weekly noted that the book covers a lot of material that is accessible to readers. However, the contributor added that while the information is simple and accurate, when Miller and Huber “depend on a combination of biblical narrative blurred with historical fact, the text runs into problems.”

BIOCRIT

PERIODICALS

• Library Journal, March 1, 2004, Charlie Murray, review of The Bible: A History: The Making and Impact of the Bible, p. 84.

• Publishers Weekly, June 13, 2016, review of The One-Stop History of the Bible, p. 92.

ONLINE

• Good Bookstall, http://www.goodbookreviews.org.uk/ (April 7, 2003), Mary Bartholomew, review of The Bible: A History.

• Kregel Publications Web site, http://www.kregel.com/ (March 29, 2017), author profile.