overnight. By the time of Luther’s death in 1546, it is estimated that half a million copies of his Bible were in circulation. The other development was the product of the “new learning” brought about by the recovery of classical languages and the critical study of ancient sources. This made possible a new approach to biblical scholarship and exegesis. In the following pages we touch on three recurring tensions that came to the fore in the Reformation understanding of the Bible. First, there is the