View the 15-minute film “Act III: Holy Words.” The link is found under Unit III in the course room. In the film, the scholars make the case for there being more than one author of the Pentateuch. In a paragraph of 150-250 words, name and explain at least three arguments that they employ and give examples when possible, using citations when needed. Post your paragraph below, by clicking the link that says Post your response here.
In the video “Who Wrote the Bible? Act III: Holy Words”, arguments are made about the authorship of the Pentateuch. It was believed in the beginning that the five books of Moses were authored by Moses himself. As years past, scholars began to doubt the truthfulness of this ideal. One of the first arguments was how
Throughout many of Paul’s letters there are many debates pertaining to the authorship, destination, date, and the purpose. In the book of Ephesians many scholars debate on the authorship and if Paul actually wrote the letter, or if it was a scribe. Although there are some debates on whether Paul actually wrote it or not, he does refer to himself twice in the letter. In 1:1 and in 3:1 Paul states himself, 1:3 states, “For this reason, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles” (NIV) In verse 1:3 Paul states that he is a prisoner, therefore it is debated that he did not specifically write this because he was imprisoned in Rome at this time. According to Wallace “This, of course, is not to say that the letter must be by Paul, but it is to argue that without such internal testimony, no such claim could be made” (Wallace). Many scholars also debate on the vocabulary usage and the structure of the letter. Some believe that the structure is similar, but the vocabulary seems to be different than his New Testament epistles. Hoehner claims that,” Though the book has a close affinity with Colossians, critics claim that Ephesians is uncharacteristic of Paul” (Hoehner 613). The destination of Ephesians is somewhat debated, but many do believe that the letter was sent to the church of Ephesus. “Some to claim that Ephesus is a better starting point, others suggest Caesarea.” (Wallace) Although this is an argument that has many valid points, it is obvious that Paul was imprisoned in Rome while he wrote Ephesians. It is said by Hoehner that “Ephesians was probably delivered by Tychicus (Eph. 6:21-22), who also took Paul’s letter to Colossians (Col. 4:7-9)” (Hoehner 613). As for the date goes m...
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
The early book of Acts delivers a message that blessings from the Lord are exceedingly abundant. We are shown that prosperity and blessings were bestowed upon believers that were eager to give unselfish sacrifice to God, but only when done so with an honest heart. When the offerings were tainted with deceit, the blessings turn to curses and the prosperity was vanquished by famine and death. An example of such a case is represented in the story of Ananias and Sapphira.
It arose as scholars began to notice the inconsistencies of the initial belief that the Pentateuch was written by Moses. Documentary hypothesis describes the Pentateuch as having a series of editors. These editors have distinctive literature traditions which underpins one editor from another. The 4 significant strands of literary traditions are known as The Yahwist (J), the Elohist (E), the Deuteronomist (D) and the Priestly (P). Each of these authors have different perspectives and are seen to be from different periods of time (J – 900BCE, E – 800BCE, D – 600BCE and P – 500BCE), reflecting different literary styles such as literature around law or narratives and written in a way that was socially, culturally relevant to them. Having this knowledge gives you a better understanding of the context, era, and social situations within that particular author’s text. It provides more insight as to why an author has written what they have and depicts their various perspectives in more
Following the creation story of the book of Genesis is the book of Exodus. In Genesis, God promised Abraham a “great nation from which all nations of the earth will be blessed (Gen 12:1-3)” and in Exodus God completes this promise through the creation of the holy nation, Israel. Exodus tells the story of the God who rescued his people out of Egypt because of the promise he had made to Abraham. God calls to Moses to complete his promise. God’s call to Moses is not only important because he liberates the Israelites but also because God reveals His name(s) along with His true Nature. God calls upon Moses and tells him that He’s back to help the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and that Moses is to lead them. God then gives him full instructions on what to tell the Pharaoh and, more importantly, the Israelites, who are promised, land “flowing with milk and honey”.
In this work he makes mention of the fact that during his lifetime, James, Jude, 2 and 3 John, as well as 2 Peter were among the disputed writings. However, while there was some degree of confusion over the authorship, he is quick to mention that they were nevertheless recognized by many within the church. While some detractors might wish to discredit the canon over this issue of confusion, Köstenberger is quick to point out that what is more telling in this letter is that there was a discussion about which books were to be considered canonical in the first place. Athanasius, in his AD 367 Easter letter to the churches in Egypt, for the first time declared that the books of the Old and New Testament, as we have them today, were to be considered canonical. As he wrote, they are to be considered fountains of salvation. Notably, he also wrote that the apocryphal books, such as The Wisdom of Solomon and Tobit, serve as mere reading material, as they are only the inventions of heretics. His recommendations were then accepted at the Council of Hippo Regius in AD 393 when 27 books of the New Testament were affirmed. Of note is the fact that these lists were in no sense the result of debate. The church simply "recognized as scripture...those writings that had guided its
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...
Noah then recorded the events of Gen 6-9 and passed the tablets to his descendant Shem, and so one until Joseph. Joseph then recorded the final chapters of Genesis and placed all of the tablets in the library of the pharaohs. Moses then, while in pharaoh’s court, would have had access to these tablets. He then translated them into his native Hebrew.
The Torah also known as The Book of Moses or the Pentateuch, refers to the first five books of the Tanakh or Hebrew bible. The religious texts found in the Tanakh come from The Torah, Neviim and Kituvim. The book of Moses is comprised of Bereshit (Genesis), Shemot (Exodus), Vayikra (Leviticus), Bedimar(Numbers) and Devarim (Deuteronomy). The Torah holds traditions, religious laws and teachings that are followed within the religion of Judaism.
When studying biblical texts from the bible it is important to analyze and break down the passage to fully understand what is being said and the lesson it is trying to convey. When analyzing a passage, it is important to locate the persons involved in the passage, any time indications within the passage, as well as where it takes place and the main problem and message the passage intends to transmit. The passage 1 Kings 3:1-15 is a historical account describing how King Solomon came to be so wise. This passage takes place in the city of David, where he first brings his new wife, daughter of Pharaoh, and later in Gibeon where Solomon goes to offer sacrifice at the high place. It is on this altar that Solomon sacrifices a thousand burnt offerings
For centuries now Christians have claimed to possess the special revelation of an omnipotent, loving Deity who is sovereign over all of His creation. This special revelation is in written form and is what has come to be known as The Bible which consists of two books. The first book is the Hebrew Scriptures, written by prophets in a time that was before Christ, and the second book is the New Testament, which was written by Apostles and disciples of the risen Lord after His ascension. It is well documented that Christians in the context of the early first century were used to viewing a set of writings as being not only authoritative, but divinely inspired. The fact that there were certain books out in the public that were written by followers of Jesus and recognized as being just as authoritative as the Hebrew Scriptures was never under debate. The disagreement between some groups of Christians and Gnostics centered on which exact group of books were divinely inspired and which were not. The debate also took place over the way we can know for sure what God would have us include in a book of divinely inspired writings. This ultimately led to the formation of the Biblical canon in the next centuries. Some may ask, “Isn’t Jesus really the only thing that we can and should call God’s Word?” and “Isn’t the Bible just a man made collection of writings all centered on the same thing, Jesus Christ?” This paper summarizes some of the evidences for the Old and New Testament canon’s accuracy in choosing God breathed, authoritative writings and then reflects on the wide ranging
The Book of Acts was written to provide a history of the early church. Acts emphasis the importance of the day of Pentecost and being empowered to be effective witnesses for Jesus Christ. Acts sheds light on the ministry gift of the Holy Spirit, which empowers, guides, teaches, and serves as our Counselor. When reading the Book of Acts many of the readers will be enlightened and encouraged by the many miracles that were being performed during this time by the disciples Peter, John, and Paul. The Book of Acts emphasizes the importance of obedience to God’s Word and the transformation that occurs as a result of knowing Christ. There are also many references to those that rejected the truth that the disciples preached about in Jesus Christ. Power, greed, and many other vices of the devil or evidenced in the book of Acts. Acts 1:8 serves as a good summary of the Book of Acts. Acts records the apostles being Christ's witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the rest of the surrounding world.
d. Who else is called a prophet or prophetess in the Pentateuch (use concordance or biblegateway.org)?
One more thing that proves that Moses is not the author of first five books of the Bible is that in Num.12:3 it is said that Moses is a very humble man. So, if he is humble, he could not write these words about himself, it has sense if it is written by E author.
First I will give you a background of exegesis. Webster's New World Dictionary(1990), defines exegesis as, the interpretation of a word, passage, etc., esp. in the Bible. This definition is a worldly. To understand the true meaning and background I looked in John H. Hays book called, Biblical Exegesis, for the answer. He says that the term "exegesis" itself comes from the Greek word exegeomai which basically meant " to lead out of." When applied to texts, it denoted the " reading out" of the meaning. The noun, therefore, could refer to "interpretation" or " explanation." Thus whenever we read a text or hear a statement which we seek to understand and interpret, we are involved in exegesis.