The Old Testament and the Bible itself has been studied extensively for centuries. Archeologists and Scholars have labored and pondered over texts trying to decipher its clues. It does not matter how many times the Old Testament has been studied there will always be something new to learn about it or the history surrounding it. In the book Reading the Old Testament: an Introduction, the author Lawrence Boadt presents us with a few different authors of the Old Testament that used different names for God and had a unique insight into the texts. These four sources are titled P for priests, E for Elohim, J for Jehovah, and Y for Yahweh (95). These four unique sources help us realize that there is more than one author of the Pentateuch. These authors took the text and adapted for their culture. This independent source is used by scholars to help gain insight into what was behind the texts of the bible so we are not left with an incomplete picture of what went into the creation of the bible. Julius Wellhausen used these four sources to publish a book to able us to better understand the sources and to give it credibility with the Protestant scholars at the time (Boadt 94). These sources that is independent of the bible as in the DVD Who Wrote the Bible? and the Nova website aide in shedding light on the history that surrounded the writers who wrote the text and what inspired them to write it in the first place. The DVD shows the discovery of The Dead Sea Scrolls and the extensive history of the texts and all its sources in an effort to try to find exactly who wrote the bible (Who Wrote). These scrolls have aided scholars immensely by giving us some of the oldest known manuscripts of the bible in the world today. It shows that the bible w...
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...e to the study of the bible instead of all the doubts that was created by the other criticism. To them all the odd parts and repeated phrases or parts all add to a strikingly beautiful tale. They see the bible as a literary masterpiece in which the authors used gorgeous imagery to strike at the heart of the reader to show them God’s greatness. In essence rhetorical critics want you to see the big picture instead of all the little side pictures. The J story of Genesis as well at times the P story is filled with imagery that is meant to show God’s power.
Works Cited
Boadt, Lawrence. Reading the Old Testament: an Introduction. New York, NY: Paulist, 1984. Print.
Who Wrote the Bible? Volume 1 and 2. Multimedia Entertainment and A&E Television Networks, 1995. DVD.
"NOVA | The Bible's Buried Secrets | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 27 Sept. 2011.
Carson, D. A. New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition. 4th ed. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994.
...yne A. The HarperCollins Study Bible New Revised Standard Edition . New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. 1645-1722. Print.
The book, Interpreting the New Testament, written by Daniel Harrington, is an introduction to the various types of literary and textual criticism that form the basis of good hermeneutics. Harrington begins with introducing the New Testament materials and some examples of how literary criticism might be used in figuring out what the New Testament authors meant. He moves on to a discussion on textual criticism. To provide examples of how confusing textual criticism can be, Harrington discusses Matthew 6:33 and 1 John 5:8. Both passages, Harrington explains, have variant manuscripts which might give a different theological meaning or emphasis depending on which one you used and proceeds to show which one, by the method of textual criticism, that
Modern scholars believe that the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, was composed by four or five writers between 1000 to 400 BCE based on much older traditions. The New Testament was composed by a variety of writers between 60 to 110 CE. The contents of the New Testament were formalized by Athanasius of Alexandria in 367 CE, and finally canonized in 382 CE (Geisler and
Fox, Robin Lane. The Unauthorized Version: Truth and Fiction in the Bible. New York: Vintage, 1991.
The Documentary Theory holds that the Pentateuch was composed or compiled from several different documents or traditions written by several different authors. These original documents were argued to favor different styles and names for God, and thus were written by different authors. One document might favor “Elohim,” while another might favor “YHWH.” These sources are generally argued to be source J, E, P, and D. Genesis, however, only shows traces of J, E, and P. Some have even further subdivided the four primary sources. However, this theory fails to adequately explain the origin of the Pentateuch. Religious documents of the ancient Near East were not complied in this way, nor are variations in style and word choice conclusive. Dating the different documents is extremely difficult and far too subjective to prove the Documentary Theory.1
Fox, Robin Lane. The Unauthorized Version: Truth and Fiction in the Bible. New York: Vintage, 1991.
The authors acknowledge that many books have been written on this topic. Their goal is to be unique by focusing on different types of literature (genres) so their readers will understand how to properly interpret them in the context they were written. This review will examine the principles the authors use to interpret the Bible. The review will summarize the book, followed by a critique, and a conclusion.
Sheler, Jeffrey L. "Mysteries of the Bible." U.S. News & World Report 17 Apr. 1995: 8. SIRS Researcher (2001).
In the days of Christ’s life on this earth, believers did not have access to the Bible in its entirety as we know and are familiar with today. Believers in this ancient time period only had access to the Old Testament. However, through their access to the Old Testament, believers were provided a foundation for New Testament times. This foundation provided New Testament believers with the Lord’s established principles of right and wrong they were expected to follow. In addition, the Old Testament is overflowing with accounts of people whose lives exemplified the future life of Christ on this earth. These pictures allowed the Israelite nation to begin to have an understanding of why Christ needed to come as their Messiah and the work He needed to do on earth. Finally, there are common themes that are interwoven throughout the entire Old Testament. Three of these themes: transgression, redemption, and consummation point to the purpose of Christ’s atoning death on the cross. These themes portray God’s work both in the lives of Old Testament believers, but they also foreshadow God’s desire and plan for believers in New Testament times and beyond.
The Holy Bible is the most read, studied, refuted, and revered book on earth. There are those who blindly believe, like the Author, the Bible is the word of God. No amount of shared information or contrived evidence the Bible is anything more than a collection of stories passed from generation to generation and finally centuries later written by a collection of unknown scholars will change this opinion. There are also scholars who attempt to interpret the words of the Bible so those who read the words can understand their meanings two thousand years after they were first written. Textual and source criticism are examples of the positive use of criticism
Mears, Henrietta C.. What the Bible Is All About. Rev. and updated. ed. Ventura, Calif., U.S.A.: Regal Books, 1983. Print.
Carson, D, & Moo, D. (2005) An introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Thiselton, A.C. (2005). Can the Bible mean whatever we want it to mean? Chester, U.K.: Chester Acadamic Press, 10-11.
The King James Bible is known as the Bible and in the Bible there is more than 1,200 years of books and different stories in 2 main parts. The Old Testament was written by the Hebrews and New Testament was written by the Greeks. It was completed in 1611 and was a main corner stone to European culture. Back in the day it was in Egyptian which meant that the priests had to learn how to read the Egyptian language. The parable called “The Prodigal Son” is in the King James Bible and when you read this there are some good lessons that you can get out of it and some bad things that you can get out of it.