A groundbreaking new account of the writing of the Hebrew Bible Who wrote the Bible? Its books have no bylines. Tradition long identified Moses as the author of the Pentateuch, with Ezra as editor. Ancient readers also suggested that David wrote the psalms and Solomon wrote Proverbs and Qohelet. Although the Hebrew Bible rarely speaks of its authors, people have been fascinated by the question of its authorship since ancient times. In Who Really Wrote the Bible, William Schniedewind offers a bold new answer: the Bible was not written by a single author, or by a series of single authors, but by communities of scribes. The Bible does not name its authors because authorship itself was an idea enshrined in a later era by the ancient Greeks. In the pre-Hellenistic world of ancient Near Eastern literature, books were produced, preserved, and passed on by scribal communities. Schniedewind draws on ancient inscriptions, archaeology, and anthropology, as well as a close reading of the biblical text itself, to trace the communal origin of biblical literature. Scribes were educated through apprenticeship rather than in schools. The prophet Isaiah, for example, has his “disciples”; Elisha has his “apprentice.” This mode of learning emphasized the need to pass along the traditions of a community of practice rather than to individuate and invent. Schniedewind shows that it is anachronistic to impose our ideas about individual authorship and authors on the writing of the Bible. Ancient Israelites didn’t live in books, he writes, but along dusty highways and byways. Who Really Wrote the Bible describes how scribes and their apprentices actually worked in ancient Jerusalem and Judah.

For many years now, a debate has raged among literary scholars as to who wrote the Pentateuch, The first five books of the Bible. Within that debate, two sides with irreconcilably different viewpoints have battled For The truth. The result of this discourse will be far-reaching, threatening the foundations of the world's three greatest religions. For Christianity, if Moses did not write the Pentateuch, then Jesus was misled, And The faith of many are in jeopardy. If several editors wrote and put together those books at different times as Dr. Richard Elliott Friedman argues in his book, Who Wrote the Bible (1987), then it is possible that Abraham was a fictional character And The faiths of Judaism and Islam have a fictional origin. In Who Really Wrote the Bible, author Clayton Ford sifts through the logical and literary fallacies put forth as evidence by those who would condemn the Pentateuch's authenticity. By following through the dissenters' reasoning, with copious references to their own material, he brings light to how these scholars have tied themselves up in the knots of their own criticism. Where Moses's detractors see inconsistency and evidence for multiple authors, Ford finds examples of elaborate harmony, consistency, and intricate storytelling. Where they find dramatically different styles, Ford shows an educated, single author with an ability to alter formats, As evidenced in other examples from antiquity.

Who wrote the first five books of the Bible? Was it Moses or was it others centuries later? If Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, then how was his own death and burial written in Deuteronomy Chapter 34? Many mainstream Bible scholars argue that Moses could not have written the Pentateuch since he likely existed many centuries earlier than the development of the Hebrew language. When was the origin of the Hebrew language? Popular scholarship says that if Moses had written the Pentateuch, he would have written in the Egyptian language, not the Hebrew. Moreover, most of the Israelites and other people of the sixteenth century B.C.E. were illiterate, so who could have written the Torah, and for whom would it be written because the people of that period did not read? Finally, analysis of the first five books demonstrates multiple authors, not just one, which explains the many discrepancies. Multiple authors also explain the many cases of telling of the same story twice, making the same events appear to happen more than once. The modern mainstream scholarship would argue that within the Pentateuch we see such things as preferences for certain words, differences in vocabulary, reoccurring expressions in Deuteronomy that are not found in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, all evidence for their case for multiple authors. What does the evidence say? What does archaeology, linguistic analysis, historical studies, textual analysis, and insights from Egyptologists tell us? Again, who wrote the first five books of the Bible? Was it Moses or was it others centuries later? Andrews offers his readers an objective view of the evidence.

David, King of the Jews, possessed every flaw and failing a mortal is capable of, yet men and women adored him and God showered him with many more blessings than he did Abraham or Moses. His sexual appetite and prowess were matched only by his violence, both on the battlefield and in the bedroom. A charismatic leader, exalted as "a man after God's own heart," he was also capable of deep cunning, deceit, and betrayal. Now, in King David: The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel, bestselling author Jonathan Kirsch reveals this commanding individual in all his glory and fallibility. In a taut, dramatic narrative, Kirsch brings new depth and psychological complexity to the familiar events of David's life--his slaying of the giant Goliath and his swift challenge to the weak rule of Saul, the first Jewish king; his tragic relationship with Saul's son Jonathan, David's cherished friend (and possibly lover); his celebrated reign in Jerusalem, where his dynasty would hold sway for generations. Yet for all his greatness, David was also a man in thrall to his passions--a voracious lover who secured the favors of his beautiful mistress Bathsheba by secretly arranging the death of her innocent husband; a merciless warrior who triumphed through cruelty; a troubled father who failed to protect his daughter from rape and whose beloved son Absalom rose against him in armed insurrection. Weaving together biblical texts with centuries of interpretation and commentary, Jonathan Kirsch brings King David to life in these pages with extraordinary freshness, intimacy, and vividness of detail. At the center of this inspiring narrative stands a hero of flesh and blood--not the cartoon giant-slayer of sermons and Sunday school stories or the immaculate ruler of legend and art but a magnetic, disturbingly familiar man--a man as vibrant and compelling today as he has been for millennia.

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Sex. Violence. Scandal. These are words we rarely associate with the sacred text of the Bible. Yet in this brilliant new book, Jonathan Kirsch shows that the Old Testament is filled with some of the most startling and explicit stories in all of Western literature. These tales of seduction and rape, voyeurism and exhibitionism, intermarriage and illegitimacy, assassination and murder have been suppressed by religious authorities throughout history precisely because they are so shocking. "You mean that's in the Bible?" is the common reaction of the contemporary reader to the stories that Kirsch retells and explores. In The Harlot by the Side of the Road, Kirsch recounts these suppressed and mistranslated tales in the grand storytelling tradition. Here is the tale of Dinah, the young Israelite daughter raped by a princely suitor. The price for her hand in marriage? The circumcision of every man in his kingdom. Here, too, is the story of Lot's daughters, who, when faced with the possibility that they are the last survivors on earth, must copulate with their drunken father to continue their race. And the story of Tamar, the harlot by the side of the road, who must disguise herself as a prostitute and seduce her father-in-law in order to bear the child who has been promised her. Kirsch places each story within the political and social context of its time, and delves into the latest biblical scholarship to explain why each story was originally censored. He also brings to light when and where each story was first written down, and how it found its way into the Bible. And he shows how these stories have something important to say to contemporary readers who might never pick up a Bible. Kirsch reveals that the Bible's real power lies in its unflinching lessons in human nature. And he illuminates the surprising modernity of the Bible's characters: these were, like us, people delicately balanced between their destructive and generous natures. Certain to excite controversy and ignite intellectual debate, The Harlot by the Side of the Road will undoubtedly be one of the year's most talked-about books.

Given the extremely high cost of overseas military operations today, the author offers readers scholarly insights as to what motivates kingdoms, countries, and groups to engage in religious conflict, beginning with those found in the Hebrew Bible. To do this, he analyzes three related religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, to determine their similarities and differences regarding the killing of people. The areas of conflict analysis include Fundamentalism, Proselytization, Sacrifice (to include martyrdom), and Revenge (to include genocide). The insights of preeminent religious and political scholars are integrated into this comprehensive analysis of conflict involving religion, leading to an answer to the ultimate question: Is the killing worth it?

Why are we here? Who really wrote the Bible? Was Jesus actually a messenger of God? Can science and religion be reconciled? Do we have free will? Divine Wisdom and Warning: Decoded Messages from God introduces a new way of using the ancient system of Gematria to solve these and other timeless questions. Nicholas Gura has developed an original technique, easily reproducible without the use of computers, that uncovers hidden, encoded messages in the Bible. These mathematically generated messages are both profound and metaphoric and will contribute to the meaning, quality, and purpose of our lives. Divine Wisdom and Warning reveals new insights on the parting of the Red Sea, suffering, quantum physics, the environment, treatment of women, and answers the eternal question: What is God’s true religion?

The Collegeville Bible Commentary is available in an affordable two-volume paperback edition. Special "ease" binding allows the volumes to lie open without assistance. Perfect for classroom use or personal study.

The large majority of the theological studies in the world today are dominated by the atheistic and rationalistic Higher Criticism which is heavily tainted by the satanic influences. Through the higher criticism devil entered into the Bible colleges and churches and destroyed them.