Time magazine Dec. 18, 1995

1
The Bible Faith History
1) Who wrote the bible?
2) Is it historical or mythical?
3) Is it a primary source?
4) Consider the following statements The Bible
does not have to be literally true in every
detail to be true in other senses. Ancient
texts are very hard to read unless we know
something about the world they were written in
and for. The Bible is a synthesis of history
and literature, sometimes in harmony and
sometimes in tension, but utterly inseparable.
Time magazine (Dec. 18, 1995)
2
Who wrote the Torah (Pentateuch)?
1) Why do most biblical scholars think that Moses
is NOT the author of the Torah?
Third-person accounts
Unlikely statements by Moses
Report of Moses death
Geographical references later than Moses lifetime
Other information from after Moses lifetime
There never arose another prophet in Israel like
Moses Deut 34
2) What alternative explanation has been offered
to answer the question? Explain 1 page, due
Friday
Moses (1515)
3
Why do we need to know how why the Bible came
about to interpret it?
No original manuscripts
Copied by handwriting over centuries
Translation re-translation
Incorporation of marginal comments
Folklore legends of ancient civilizations
Transmitted by oral tradition before written
Not intended as modern history or science
Wide range of authors, forms, periods
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Complex product of evolution change
4
If Moses didnt write the Five Books of Moses,
then who did?
Types of evidence supporting the documentary
hypothesis 1) Variations in the divine names in
Genesis 2) Secondary variations in diction and in
style 3) Parallel or duplicate accounts
(doublets) 4) Continuity of the various
sources 5) Political assumptions implicit in the
text 6) Interests of the author(s)

• In the 18th century, three investigators (Witter,
  Astruc Eichhorn) concluded that doublets in the
  Torah were written by two different authors. A
  doublet is a story that is described twice, as
  in
• the two creation stories in Genesis
• two descriptions of the covenant between God
  Abraham
• two stories about Noah the Flood
• two versions of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20
  Deuteronomy 5)

5
The Bible Interpretation
Mainstream Christianity
Conservative Liberal ? literalist/history mor
al/religious ? inerrant symbolic/mythical
Academic biblical scholars

• Maximalists Minimalists
• ? NOT inerrant/literalist imaginative fiction
• core stories about actual events all stories
  mythic
• later books have more history no early stories
  factual

6
Moses The Exodus Hollywood History
Hebrew scribes writing stories about their
ancestors while living in exile in Babylon
(Babylonian Captivity)
Key questions What had the Hebrews done to lose
Gods favor? How could they make things right
with God?
MOSES Burning Bush Contest with
Pharaoh Exodus The Covenant
How does the movie, The Ten Commandments (1956)
interpret these stories? How does it reflect
the times in which it was made?
7
Myth History
What are the main differences between myth
history?
QUESTIONS Is the Bible/Trojan War mythical? Is
the Bible/Trojan War historical?
Are the stories of the Bible/Trojan War fact or
fiction?
Who wrote these stories? For what purposes?
What do these stories tell us about the
societies/civilizations that told them?
8
Hebrew Bible The Iliad

• Torah (Pentateuch) The Iliad
• oral tradition before written same
• reflect multiple periods/contexts same
• mixture of myth history same
• important cultural/literary source same
• Gods relations with humans same
• What are the significant differences between the
  Bible the Iliad?
• Why have these works been so enormously
  influential in Western civilization?
• Why is it important to know something about the
  Bible, even if you are NOT Jewish or Christian?