Textuality and the Bible represents a concerted effort to clarify the object of study in biblical scholarship and in the church by bringing together the disciplines of hermeneutics, compositional analysis, canon studies, and textual criticism. It ultimately seeks to issue a call for study of the Bible for its own sake. ""Textuality and the Bible represents a serious engagement with the text of the Bible in its various textual witnesses. Within its pages a reader will find reflections at various levels: from grammatical analysis to the nature of the Bible as canon. Shepherd's close attention to the text itself, at various levels, is to be commended."" --Joshua E. Williams, Associate Professor of Old Testament, School of Theology, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Michael B. Shepherd is Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at Cedarville University.

He is the author of multiple scholarly journal articles and monographs, most recently The Text in the Middle (2014).