Who Wrote the Bible?

Dec 21, 2012 Colby Qualls rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: uca-honors-related

This book was enlightening. Certainly different from my conservative, fundamentalist, evangelical background.

Dec 30, 2012 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: religious

First, a little title clarification: the title should be "Who wrote the Old Testament, but we're mostly going to talk about the Pentateuch."

That being said, it was an interesting take from a foremost bible scholar into the latest academic research into the authorship of the Bible. Intuitively, I've wondered about the question. We find it essential to learn about the founding fathers in order to understand the Constitution. Ditto for the works of Tolstoy and Dickens. But, not a lot of time in Sun...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Alison rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-school

It’s been widely accepted that Moses was the author of the first five books of the Old Testament, known as the Pentateuch or the Torah. Friedman questioned this, and built on the work of several researchers, most notably Julius Wellhausen, who suggested that the Pentateuch was written by four different sources (which he nicknamed “E,” “J,” “D,” and “P”) and possibly a fifth source who did compiling and editing. Delving further into textual analysis and historical data, Friedman sets out to ident...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Daniel rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is based off of the JEDP theory. He goes into the book assuming that the documentary hypothesis is true and has basically been agreed upon by the majority of scholars for a hundred years. This might have been true at the time he originally wrote the book, but it is no longer true today. Unfortunately, that makes this books pretty irrelevant for a current understanding of the Torah. All of his assumptions are based on the documentary hypothesis.

I did however, learn quite a bit about th...more This book is based off of the JEDP theory. He goes into the book assuming that the documentary hypothesis is true and has basically been agreed upon by the majority of scholars for a hundred years. This might have been true at the time he originally wrote the book, but it is no longer true today. Unfortunately, that makes this books pretty irrelevant for a current understanding of the Torah. All of his assumptions are based on the documentary hypothesis.

I did however, learn quite a bit about the makeup of certain books and the themes present in certain parts of the Torah. He does break down and analyze the Torah and shows how Deuteronomy has specific themes such as what to do during times of war and conquest as well as a lot of guidance for kings and emphasizes centralization of worship. It's interesting to note that Deuteronomy has a very different focus than the laws in Leviticus. He also points out how centralization of worship was not important in Saul and Samuel's time period and the bible said nothing of it, but then later in Kings, it all of a sudden became the entire evaluation point for every king. Why was it important later but Samuel never obeyed it?

So there are a lot of interesting facts that Friedman points out throughout his book that made it a very interesting and entertaining read. He's definitely a good writer. I learned a lot about Josiah, but I just don't agree with a lot of his conclusions.

He's not logically consistent with his conclusions. He states that because there were laws in Deuteronomy that refer to war and what to do during war, Deuteronomy was during a time of universal draft where everyone would have gone to war. Yet during the time of the monarchy there was a professional army and not a universal draft. Therefore he concludes that the author of Deuteronomy must not have supported the professional armies but must have preferred the tribal armies and the author must not have been a part of the royal court. He later concludes that Deuteronomy was written by a priest located in Shiloh.

To make this conclusion he has to assume that 1) there was a huge rift between the professional armies and tribal armies and 2) that there was a large priest family in Shiloh during the time of Josiah. While I can grant him both of these assumptions, they have not been proven within the pages of this book. He extrapolates the rift between the professional and tribal armies from the time of David and the description of the rebellion of Absolom where the tribal armies sided to Absolom and the professional army sided with David. Yet he thinks that Deuteronomy was written in the time of Josiah. So he has to assume that this conflict lasted from the time of David all the way until the time of Josiah which is around 400 years. A lot could have changed during that time and Friedman doesn't provide any evidence that this conflict continued in the meantime.

The same is true of the priests of Shiloh. He mentions that when Solomon became king, the Shiloh priests were cut off because Abiathar was from Shiloh and Abiathar supported Adonijah for the throne. Therefore Abiathar was exiled. There probably was a group of priests during the time of Solomon who lived at Shiloh, but how do we know that they were necessarily offended by Abiathar's exile? How do we know that they sided with Adonijah also? Maybe they supported Solomon? Also, how do we know that this group continued to exist all the way until the time of Josiah? Maybe they disbanded. Maybe they still existed, but their values changed. Perhaps there is more evidence of this group of priests at Shiloh elsewhere, but Friedman did not point it out in this book. He makes a lot of assumptions about the character of this group of priests at Shiloh based on pure conjecture.

Later Friedman concludes that because the priests at Shiloh supported tribal armies and disliked professional armies (how do we know this?) it makes sense that they would write about tribal armies in Deuteronomy. How is it that it would make sense for Shiloh priests to write about tribal armies, yet it doesn't make sense for someone in Joshua's time or the time of Judges to have written Deuteronomy since that was the premonarchy time. That was the time where they would actually be able to apply most of the war laws in Deuteronomy. It seems much more simple to conclude that Deuteronomy was written during the time of the Judges or Joshua when Israel was actively capturing cities and taking people captive because many of the laws were describing regulations for those specific activities. Instead, Friedman needs to create a group of people called the Shiloh priests and then give them a set of beliefs, just to place Deuteronomy in the time of Josiah.

That is just one example of the huge assumptions, conjecture, and logical inconsistencies of this book. Yet at the same time it was written well and was very informative in certain places. I would read this book to understand how people used to think about the Torah, to learn some facts about the content of the actual bible, but take his conclusions with a grain of salt.

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Feb 08, 2011 Tyson rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was a pleasure to read and I had a hard time putting it down. Friedman, a Harvard trained Biblical scholar, concisely walks us through the history of Old Testament scholarship while arguing for his own theories on who wrote specific portions, when, what their motivations were, and how and by whom the book was compiled. His purpose is not to debunk or criticize the Bible, but simply to solve the puzzle; and the book reads this way, like you are in on the quest to solve it. All along Fri...more This book was a pleasure to read and I had a hard time putting it down. Friedman, a Harvard trained Biblical scholar, concisely walks us through the history of Old Testament scholarship while arguing for his own theories on who wrote specific portions, when, what their motivations were, and how and by whom the book was compiled. His purpose is not to debunk or criticize the Bible, but simply to solve the puzzle; and the book reads this way, like you are in on the quest to solve it. All along Friedman provides insightful and essential historical, political, and religious context of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, pivotal to solving the mystery of authorship.

For over two thousand years it was assumed that Moses was the author of the Torah - the first five books of the Old Testament. Over past centuries a few individuals were bold enough to question this assumption, based on contradictions in the narrative - such as the problem of Moses narrating his own funeral, observations on his personal character describing him as the "humblest man that ever walked the earth," and many other issues. Because of dogmatic opposition these issues could not be fully explored until the 19th century, when scholars began to discover that there are actually several different writing styles, and even several different versions of Old Testament stories throughout the text. For example, there were originally two creation stories written by two separate authors. The person/s who compiled the bible took each version and compiled them into one, in the form that we have now. There are also two versions of the flood, of Abraham and Moses stories, and many others. In some cases these stories tell very different things depending on the motivations of each author. Friedman attempts to sort all of this out for the reader and includes his own theories on authorship. He even gets specific enough to name individuals he thinks wrote specific portions and why they did it.

Friedman does not suggest these facts should lead people to dismiss the bible. He believes scholarship can enhance appreciation for these writings, whether or not that appreciation is in the form of faith or belief. I think the book helped me gain an appreciation for the Old Testament as far as understanding why and by whom it was likely written. The historical context of ancient Israel/Judah is ultra fascinating to me. However, it is clearer to me than ever that the stories of the bible are mostly myth. Many of the individuals in the stories may actually have existed, and some of the events may have happened. To be sure, the bible was shaped and molded in the real historical context of ancient Israel and Judah. But the stories about creation, Abraham, Moses - the bedrock of Judaism and Christianity - were written by individuals with specific political and religious motivations. The different versions of these stories are sometimes contradictory. The compiler of the bible mashed these separate versions into one narrative, and for two thousand years Christians and Jews have read them as one story when they were not intended to be read as one. But above all, these stories represent the cultural and religious heritage of a people that lived almost three thousand years ago, on a tiny little slice of land in the Middle East.

It blows my mind that the stories of this tiny, ancient population, have profoundly influenced the history of the world. It is almost comical that we attempt to apply and interpret these stories as the narrative for all of humanity and to try to interpret and incorporate them into our daily lives. Sure, there is always something valuable to be learned from the human experience - even if those experiences are of ancient peoples. But I think it is nonsense that western civilization takes these stories literally as an explanation for who we are and where we came from. And especially for modern Americans to want to enshrine the Ten Commandments on the walls of public institutions.

I'll stop preaching and get back to the book. You should read it. You'll find it hard to put down.(less)

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Jul 18, 2009 Brent rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Armchair biblical scholars, like myself.

Shelves: history, religion, non-fiction

I "borrowed" this book from my folks, without a clue as to its position on who authored the Bible. You know, the whole avoiding judgment on the cover thing. Would this be an attack on the Judeo-Christian tradition, along the lines of atheist manifestos recently en vogue, or would it be a feel-good, warm-fuzzy kind of treatment, leaving unanswered questions about the Bible's authenticity?

Richard Elliott Friedman, I was happy to discover, uses rigorous and, at times, ingenious methods of scholarsh...more

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Apr 24, 2009 Angie rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a re-read, from college. I truly think everyone should read this book. I was lucky enough to earn a degree in religious studies from a small and very enlightened group of professors. One of the first things I was told is that biblical scholarship is generally at least 20 years ahead of popular knowledge. For instance, the basic hypothesis of The DaVinci Code is based on theories that were shot down in the lat 1970s/early 1980s, yet the public was swept away by the ideas therein.

Friedman...more This is a re-read, from college. I truly think everyone should read this book. I was lucky enough to earn a degree in religious studies from a small and very enlightened group of professors. One of the first things I was told is that biblical scholarship is generally at least 20 years ahead of popular knowledge. For instance, the basic hypothesis of The DaVinci Code is based on theories that were shot down in the lat 1970s/early 1980s, yet the public was swept away by the ideas therein.

Friedman does a very good job of bringing biblical research to the public- but not in a fictionalized and very skewed way, as Dan Brown did, but with meticulous scholarship. He is very easy to understand; his arguments are very logical; and one finishes this book feeling good that there is this sort of critical research going on- and most people won't realize that there's many more books like this out there (it's a tad frustrating).

The basic premise goes through the central books of the Old Testament (Gen, Ex, Lev, Num, Deut) and identifies the different threads in each. He then assigns each thread to a different author and pinpoints the time period and area where the author most likely came from. This is done through a variety of research methods. He also gives a brief introduction to the study of authorship; the accepted tradition was that Moses had written all 5 books- yet they refer to things that happen after Moses died, and as Friedman points out, there is a reference to Moses being the most humble man on earth. The most humble man on earth would not be able to point that fact out. Past research into this topic was met with a lot of resistance- no authority likes its traditions and heritage challenged. But a line of scholars has slowly teased out the premise that Friedman lays down and expands upon.

For example, many people wonder why there are often 2 different versions of biblical stories, such as the Garden of Eden or that of Noah. Friedman pulls out the language and philosophical differences between the two, that have been mashed together by a later editor, and describes how and why this occurred. While he does not go into the subject himself, he is accurately describing a social phenomenon that happens when two populations are forced together (to wit, the obviously and acknowledged pagan traditions that are used to celebrate Christian holidays). Compromises are always made; stories are written for various reasons; and the book explains this clearly. I love this book and really do hope that more laypeople read it.(less)

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Jul 06, 2012 Dave rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, literature, non-fiction, religion

For those who are interested in a scholarly discussion of a question which most people (at least most have wondered at some point or another) “Who Wrote The Bible?” by Richard Elliott Friedman is a book you should read. Friedman uses history as well as uses the contact to first build the case for multiple authors of the Books of Moses, and then put forward a plausible hypothesis for the authorship for the different sections. Of course, he is not attempting to name specific authors, but rather fo...more For those who are interested in a scholarly discussion of a question which most people (at least most have wondered at some point or another) “Who Wrote The Bible?” by Richard Elliott Friedman is a book you should read. Friedman uses history as well as uses the contact to first build the case for multiple authors of the Books of Moses, and then put forward a plausible hypothesis for the authorship for the different sections. Of course, he is not attempting to name specific authors, but rather focused on where the authors were from, and what their position was in the society.

The core of the book is less than 250 pages, but the appendices, bibliography and notes bring it closer to 300 pages. That being said, while Friedman does an excellent job of presenting his subject in a concise matter, it is his references that make “Who Wrote The Bible?” such a great work by itself, as well as be a tremendous reference to do further reading on the subject.

Friedman opens with a discussion of the traditional authors of the Bible and why those were clearly not accurate, and then moves into an overview of the world which produced the first books of the Bible. He then goes into the two different authors of the events and how their accounts are different, and how they are the same. The authors are given the names J and E based on the words they use to refer to God. Friedman then goes into more detail on who these writers were, i.e. where they were from, when did they live, and what were their roles in society. Note that Friedman doesn’t rule out the possibility that J and E each have multiple writers, but rather than whether they do or not doesn’t have an impact on the overall viewpoint of the texts.

Of course, the authorship doesn’t end with J and E. Next up is D, the author of Deuteronomy and the next 6 books, and this is followed by a discussion of the author referred to as P. Friedman also discusses the importance of the redactor or editor who put all these works together and the obvious control this person had over the current work. While controversial in some respects, this book is certainly not a case of science and religion in conflict. The difficulties were not a scientific discovery, but rather this has been an area of religious debate and discussion. Certainly some of the evidence that Friedman presents is scientific, but this is not a book discussing the validity of the work, but rather the authorship, so unless one’s faith is dependent on the specific author of these works, it should not be one which fans the flames between religion and reason.
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Jul 27, 2011 Michael Johnston rated it 3 of 5 stars

Interesting literary assessment of who wrote the five books of Moses (or the Old Testament). In the end, Friedman builds on the work done by previous scholars that suggests that the book has four key authors and that a great deal of the writing was completed by an editor that put together the work of several authors. Friedman takes pains to indicate that the identification of human authors does not reduce the holiness or power of the words, but for those who are orthodox or evangelical, the whol...more

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Mar 29, 2012 Isai rated it 5 of 5 stars

Coming from a conservative evangelical background, the Documentary Hypothesis (DH) had been the boogie man that should be avoided and not looked upon. This book changed all this. I am intrigued and want to read more about the subject matter.

To start out, Dr. Friedman (Ph.D, Harvard) studied with some excellent teachers; G. Ernest Wright and Frank Moore Cross. Therefore, his knowledge of the subject matter is uncanny. Additionally, he is an excellent writer.

The investigation begins with an over...more Coming from a conservative evangelical background, the Documentary Hypothesis (DH) had been the boogie man that should be avoided and not looked upon. This book changed all this. I am intrigued and want to read more about the subject matter.

To start out, Dr. Friedman (Ph.D, Harvard) studied with some excellent teachers; G. Ernest Wright and Frank Moore Cross. Therefore, his knowledge of the subject matter is uncanny. Additionally, he is an excellent writer.

The investigation begins with an overview of how Pentateuchal Historical-Critical methodology came about. After this short introduction, he takes the reader through a great detective story (as another reviewer on Goodreads describe it). He starts out the journey in the first chapter by describing the biblical world, 1200-722 B. C. The chapter content may be organized as follows: The pre-Monarchic Israelite world, the rise of the Monarchy, the Davidic kingdom, the Solomonic kingdom, Israel and Judah, Jeroboam's priests, and the fall of Israel. The next two chapters (2 & 3) outline the evidence for the "J" source having come from the kingdom of Judah and the "E" source having come the kingdom of Israel. He also explores the theology and aims of each source.

The next critical time period is 722-587 B. C. A quick gaze at the title gives one an indication of the two events that cast a shadow throughout the chapter. The content may be organized as follows: the ramifications of the fall of Israel, King Hezekiah's reformation, the end of reformation, the rebirth of reformation under King Josiah, and the Babylonian exile. The following three chapters (5, 6, and 7) one reads the reasons for positing a "D" source, its different versions, how it relates to its surrounding history and environment, and the identity of the person(s) Dr. Friedman believes authored the Deuteronomistic source.

The next time period spans from 587 to 400 B. C. This age is very hard to describe because of lack of sources. Both the Bible and archeology say very little regarding this time. Nevertheless, Dr. Friedman gives the reader a great feel for the sense of loss experience by the Israelites, and how the empires in the area fought each other for control of Palestine. He ends the chapter by highlighting the role of Ezra in the formation of the Torah. Chapters 9, 10, 11 and 12 are used to explicate the steps necessary to identify the "P" source; a mistake in critical scholarship, the role of the Tabernacle, the author of "P," and the polemic behind "P."

The book ends with a description of the method the priest, lawgiver, and scribe Ezra might have used in his compilation of the J, E, D, and P sources. The result of all this is "The First Bible" containing the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, the books of Samuel, and the books of Kings.

After the investigation is completed, Dr. Friedman returns to viewing the Bible as a unity. This move toward application made me appreciate the journey much more. I'll quote him at length to give an idea of why he moves in this direction:

"And so we have, in a sense, come a full cycle back to dealing with the Bible as a whole. That is perhaps what has been lacking in much of the research on the authors of the Bible thus far. It has often been a tearing-down without a putting-back-together. And that may be, in part, why this sort of analysis so offended the faithful of Christianity and Judaism. For a long time it appeared that the aim of the enterprise was to take the Bible apart and arrive at numerous pieces, none of which was the Bible any longer. Perhaps that was as far as the enterprise could go in its early stages. However, we are now at a point at which our discoveries concerning the Bible's origins can mean an enhanced understanding and appreciation of the Bible in its final, developed form...The question, after all, is not only who wrote the Bible, but who reads it."(less)

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Nov 04, 2010 Matt Raum rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was turned on to this book by Christine Hayes who mentioned it in her excellent lectures on the Old Testament. This book discusses the Old Testament as a historical document and attempts to understand the world and people that produced it.

Friedman shows how certain stories in the bible are often repeated by different authors writing at different times who have differing views and motivations. He deconstructs passages where differing accounts have literally been shuffled together and produce,...more

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Jan 11, 2011 A.J. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion-philosophy

When you look at the bedrock texts of civilization, there is one we continually come back to. It is the bible. No one can have a serious discussion about ancient history without it making an appearance. The same goes for Monotheism or the Western world. Some people believe it was given by God, others by men who thought they spoke for God. It contains discussions and themes on almost every topic: origins, history, divinity, philosophy, eternity, and the meaning of life. For a book so read and ana...more When you look at the bedrock texts of civilization, there is one we continually come back to. It is the bible. No one can have a serious discussion about ancient history without it making an appearance. The same goes for Monotheism or the Western world. Some people believe it was given by God, others by men who thought they spoke for God. It contains discussions and themes on almost every topic: origins, history, divinity, philosophy, eternity, and the meaning of life. For a book so read and analyzed, what continues to puzzle us even at this very hour is a staggering question: Who the hell wrote it?

Richard Friedman's popular treatment of biblical scholarship cracks open the lid on this mystery. Tradition tells us many things about the authorship of the bible, but few facts. They say Moses wrote the five books of the Torah. Joshua wrote Joshua. The list goes on. What we began to notice some three hundred years ago is that there was massive problems with these theories. Moses wrote the Torah, yet it includes his funeral. He calls himself "the humblest man on earth" and references places that did not exist in his day. Many books contain uses of speech like "to this day" which connote a large gap of time between the writing and the events it describes.

The years wore on. We began to wonder about other things. Why is it that the same stories appear twice, three, or even four times, sometimes back to back (Gen 1), and usually the stories aren't a perfect match? Occasionally it appears as if there are two stories being crammed together in the same narrative (ie: the flood). As our questions grew and fermented, so did our abilities in linguistics and archaeology. As the 1700s bled away into a new century, and another that followed, a theory grew that began answering many of these questions. The theory is the Documentary Hypothesis, reigning champion of historical-critical biblical scholarship.

This book is a beginner's guide to this area of research. I have had a passing acquaintance with it for awhile, but this book was very helpful in narrowing down they whys and wherefores behind the hypothesis. Essentially it has been determined through exhaustive research that there are at least four sources and one redactor that have produced the Torah and histories of the old testament. As for who they were, and why they wrote, you might find yourself surprised by where the evidence points. You'll find the stories of dueling kingdoms, rival priesthoods, and religious reforms that spurred the formation of the bible. Friedman opens up the world of ancient Israel, and provides the much needed context in order to extract the authors from the source.

Biblical literalists will no doubt get a nosebleed contending something like this, but for those of you who are interested in the history behind the world's unrivaled bestseller, take a look at the core modern theory of where it came from.(less)

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Sep 07, 2012 Ann Coulis added it

I thought this would be about the entire Bible, but it concerns just the Old Testament. I found it very interesting, as I knew absolutely nothing about the writings of J, E, P, and D. The book also includes a section that identifies the authorship of passages in the first five books. Now I'm motivated to re-read the Old Testament, which I haven't read for quite some time. And now that I know what I'm looking for, it will be interesting to identify the passages written by the different authors, p...more

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Jul 23, 2009 Danns rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone interested in religion and current events

The first few pages of the introduction had me skeptical I would not get into this book, but man was I wrong. I find myself looking forward to getting home and cracking it open. Really cool stuff!

Wow! This book was fantastic. The history of J, E, D and P and the author's hypothesis on who wrote the books and why th redactor put them together in such a way is well derived and adequately supported. Even more, the material is not dry at all. Not once was the material dry and in fact the end of each...more

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Nov 30, 2008 Robert rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: judaica

This is one of my favorite books, which I re-read periodically. It's an excellent introduction to the history of the Torah. It explains the "documentary hypothesis", which states that the Torah consists of four originally separate texts, edited into one some time after they were composed, and then goes on to discuss what happened to those texts and how they were eventually compiled into the form we know today. There is a good deal of guesswork, but that is identified as such, and we enjoy follow...more

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Nov 06, 2009 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a readable, fascinating book that helped me in many ways. First it explains why I have such difficulty reading and understanding the Bible. It also helps explain the original sources coordinated with the interesting history and social conditions of the times during which the Old Testament was written. And finally it produces a better depth of understanding of the questions all men have had about how they relate to their God and Creator, how they relate to themselves and others and indeed...more

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Apr 15, 2008 Christian rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: world

I come back to this book and re-read it from time to time for several reasons: first, the writing is clear and uncluttered; second, the detective work in it is quite honestly thrilling; and third, this book pays the greatest honor to the Bible.

Attributing a work like the Bible to a single magical force totally diminishes the power, meaning and intent of the stories held within.

The author makes the case that this book is even more valuable as a work of man - reinterpreted through the ages - since...more

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Feb 07, 2011 Andy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion, nonfiction, philosophy

Like much of this book's target audience, I am only familiar with the Bible to the extent that it was taught as a religious text in church. (I went to church when younger but am not religious at all now.) Therefore it's hard for me to judge whether this book is necessarily a good introduction into biblical scholarship, as I am not familiar with the field in general, any opposing schools of thought, or any debate regarding the merits of the evidence used in the writing.

That having been said, Who ...more Like much of this book's target audience, I am only familiar with the Bible to the extent that it was taught as a religious text in church. (I went to church when younger but am not religious at all now.) Therefore it's hard for me to judge whether this book is necessarily a good introduction into biblical scholarship, as I am not familiar with the field in general, any opposing schools of thought, or any debate regarding the merits of the evidence used in the writing.

That having been said, Who Wrote the Bible is informative and engaging. "The Bible" here refers specifically to the books of the Torah, Genesis through Deuteronomy, with shorter mentions to a few others, all in the Old Testament. The author, Richard Friedman, depicts the Torah as the stitched and edited product of several other works written many years apart, each of which was influenced by its author's time and place in the history of ancient Israel and Judah.

Sometimes the evidence feels a bit stretched and speculative, particularly when offering up potential authorial motives; Friedman sometimes obviates the problems associated with this tack by offering many of them that perhaps don't mean as much individually but are harder to ignore when combined. This sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. For example, I think this is effective in the section discussing the person who he thinks combined the Torah into its final form, but not as much when discussing the "D" source. Even when not entirely convincing, the book is thought-provoking, which I appreciate, and it certainly wasn't shy about presenting theories.

Although this may be less appealing to a purely popular audience, I wish he had gone over some of the more objective analyses and evidence in greater depth. For example, I would like to know more about lexical studies of ancient languages and how different grammatical forms have been used to pick out different authors, and also more about archaeological finds. (I thought the scroll seal was really neat but unfortunately it's discussed for all of two pages.) Being unfamiliar with the details of the evidence, I sort of have to take whatever Friedman says at face value; having him step through those details, particularly the less interpretive and more scientific pieces, would have really helped.

Still, the book taught me a lot about what modern scholars know about the Bible (but not really modern scholars; this book is over 20 years old now) and was fun to read. And it did a nice job weaving the reader between the printed word and the context of history. (less)

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Jun 20, 2011 bkwurm rated it 3 of 5 stars

An excellent layperson introduction into the world of Biblical Scholarship. The author deftly takes you through the evidence and the reasoning that led scholars to the conclusion that there were at least 5 different authors of the first few books of the Old Testament.

He also argues for his own personal viewpoint that 2 of those authors were Jeremiah and Ezra or at least persons very closely connected to them. In this regard, while I understand that he was trying to make his case, perhaps he ough...more

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Nov 15, 2008 B. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion-spirituality, own-the-book, 2008-reads

BEFORE READING THE BOOK:
I am using this book for a class at my church. It has made me want to continue on my quest of learning about my religion and so forth.

AFTER READING THE BOOK:
This is the best book on how the Old Testament came to be. The facts were presented to me clearly and straight to the point. The author tells you how J, E, D, P, and R were discovered. If you approach it with an open mind, I think the reward would be great! I loved how he explained the politics behind why the J and E...more

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May 13, 2010 Zachary rated it 4 of 5 stars

As someone who studied the Bible quite a bit growing up, I was always told that there were 40-some authors involved. However, I had always imagined they each contributed a sequential portion, and was intrigued by the literary analysis this book presents.

Whether you're religious or not, the Bible represents one of the more complete accounts of history we have, and it's imperative that we understand the circumstances under which it came about.

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Dec 04, 2008 Brian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Pretty good summary of the multiple-authors theory of the origin of the Old Testament. This books is nice because it is accessible and pretty easy to read, which is nice since it is a very deep and academic topic. The basic idea is that 4 authors left their mark in the language of the book -- scholars call them J, E, P and D for the Yahweh, Elohim, Priestly and Deuteronomy versions respectively. The book has some good history in it too.

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Sep 06, 2011 David Wells rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion, bible-study

This is one of the best introductory books on the Documentary Hypothesis of the Books of Moses. According to Friedman modern biblical scholarship has deemed the first 5 books of the "Old Testament" to not be written by Moses (as tradition holds) but by several schools of thought labeled: "P" for the priestly source, "E" for the Elohimist source, "J" for the Yahwehist source, "D" for the Deuteronomy source, and "R" for the redactor source.

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May 11, 2010 Sue rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion-old-testament

For my purposes, this book has the best explanation of the various compilers of the Old Testament. If there is a bias (and when do we recognize a bias when we already have an opinion of our own), the bias is one that is believable to me and enhances, rather than tears down, my own reverence and respect for the Old Testament writers. It's a book that I will refer to again and again as I study Old Testament history.

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Mar 05, 2013 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: religious-studies

One of my favorite books for the last twenty years. I've read and re-read this one and always enjoyed it. It reads like a mystery, piecing clue by clue together with regard to history and the text of the Torah. The most readable, enjoyable Biblical scholarship without too much obvious scholarship or belief systems getting in the way. Can be read by atheists, agnostics, and theists without offense.

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Feb 13, 2012 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-worldview, philosophy, the-other-side

A MUST READ for anyone who has read the Bible! This book explains the stories of the old testament through the lens of the cultural context of the time, the author's Tribe, tensions between Judah and Isreal, nation relationships, the influence of Egypt, and so much more.

This is the foremost academic work on Critical Textual Analysis of the Bible.

READ IT! You will not regret it!

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Feb 26, 2010 Lisa Campbell rated it 3 of 5 stars

My husband clued me into this one and I am glad. So as part of a Lenten commitment, I read this in 2007. What I found fascinating is the parallel between the Old Testament teachings and its influence on the writers of the New Testament.
Friedman does a fantastic job of making this easy for the lay person. Personally I think there is much Christianity can learn from our Jewish brethren.

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Oct 20, 2008 Noah Dropkin rated it 5 of 5 stars

An incredible book of Old Testament "sleuthdom." The author is one of the foremost authorities on the Old Testament (Five Books of Moses).

Freidman summarizes what is known as the Documentary Hypothesis and updates/expands it based on his more recent research.

The DH hypothesizes that the Old Testamant was written by four people based on a combination of older source texts and their own writings each in part attempting to present an account of the history of the Israelites.

These authors, J, E, P a...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Brian rated it 5 of 5 stars

Coming from a scripturally literal faith tradition, this book was pure revelation to me. I found the book very fun to read (REF utilized writing techniques that draw you into the book, no easy feat when you are discussing the Old Testament.). The discovery of the four faith traditions (J,E, P and D) behind the Torah quite simply changed the way I look at Scripture.

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Mar 29, 2009 Jacob J rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biblical-studies

Anyone interested in the Old Testament should read this book. It is an excellent introduction to the Documentary Hypothesis and is written so that the reader feels like they are along for the ride in making discoveries about the Bible which have actually taken hundreds of years to piece together. It is the kind of book that is hard to put down once you start.

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102104.Who_Wrote_the_Bible_?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347325474l/102104.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102104.Who_Wrote_the_Bible_?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Who Wrote the Bible? by Richard Elliott Friedman[/url]

Who Wrote the Bible?

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