Soul Invictus

I was wondering if anyone cared to expound on the JEDP theory of multiple writing styles for the OT, as well as the thought of multiple authors of particular texts as well. I've familiar with the idea, however the only text on my person that I own is 101 Myths of the Bible: How Ancient Scribes Invented Biblical History -- by Gary Greenberg. I've found that information within this book corroborates popularly sentimented ideas (borrowing from Mesopotamian and Egyptian culture and mentioning the Epic of Gilgamesh and a lead from which the Noachian flood account stemmed from. Is anyone familiar with this book also, or anyone like it? I want to discuss the differences in writing styles, and the politics surrounding the OT, however I'm looking for a good starting point!


Invictus

Clara Listensprechen

Actually, a good place to start is at the website of those folks what brought to you the NIV of The Bible. I picked up one of their hardback copies and noted with interest that they list different versions of the OT from which they derived their finished translation. I've got that info scribbled on a notebook I had with me at the time, and it's not currently available just now. I'll have to dig it up to post the link to their site, but I expect that if you invoke a search engine on the topic, you'll be able to find it faster than I can find my notebook.

mark9950

Multiple writers of many different religions wrote the tablets or scripts that are what we call the bible.That is why many contradictions and anomolies exist.

Celsus

SI,

While I don't have any recommendations as yet, do a search for the Documentary Hypothesis on Google, and you'll find many interesting points on the JEPD authorship. Apparently a very good book is Friedman's Who Wrote the Bible? (though I have not read it myself, it apparently focuses solely on the Documentary Hypothesis). In brief, JEPD was first expounded by Wellhausen in the 19th century, as an attempt to make sense of differing styles, multiple stories/versions of the same event, different and somewhat contradictory theological messages and so forth. Theists have been telling me that JEPD has been thoroughly refuted, but I haven't found any really good arguments against it. Essentially, its methodology is studying the literary texts and trying to make sense of what was said and when, and there have been many variants to it (such as was P pre- or post-Exilic?).

Clara,

The differing texts of the Bible all refer to late (and complete) manuscripts that would unfortunately not be of any use in deciphering JEPD strands in the Pentateuch (except inasmuch as any Bible has JEPD strands).

Mark9950,

You wrote:
Nonsense. There was only one religion, Judaism. However, Judaism for the authors of the early books of the OT may have meant something quite different from Judaism after the coding of the Mishnah. If you have any evidence to show that there were authors of different religions, please show it.

Joel

RED DAVE

Try the following for a good introduction:

Old Testament

New Testament

RED DAVE

judge

here is a good article discussing JEPD
http://www.specialtyinterests.net/Toledoth.html#theory

Clara Listensprechen

Please have the courtesy to write out your acronyms in full. You might as well be writing in Sanskrit for all the information this conveys. Yes, I know it was part and parcel of the original initial posting, but it remains unexplained throughout. Since I'm at a loss here for any other response, it's imperative to point out that The NIV people explain their case well enough as is, and if you have a problem with how the NIV came to consolidate the differing texts they used, take it up with them and not me.

Judaism also wasn't the only religion addressed in the OT, so asserting otherwise is what's nonsense. Also to be factored in are the differing sects of Judaism at odds with each other. Adam wasn't a Jew, nor were any of his progeny until after Abraham, an Amorite pagan, so please get real.

Soul Invictus, the NIV resource directly addresses your point about scribes; what the NIV uses as resources are differing scribe origins and what it uses to "consult" are more affected by differing authors.

Celsus

The JEPD stands for:

J - the Yahwist (or Jahwist) source
E - the Elohist source
P - the Priestly source
D - the Deuteronomist source

All these were involved in the composition of the Pentateuch (Torah) according to the Documentary Hypothesis. You would be well advised to find out more about this yourself before trying to butt in with NIV sources. Those refer to complete or near-complete manuscripts of the Bible in its final form. For example, the Samaritan Bible, comprising of only the Pentateuch, nevertheless is a complete source, and does not (significantly) shed light on the differing strands theorised in the Documentary Hypothesis. Ditto for books like the various Codices, Origen's Hexapla, etc. which are all common era versions. The Documentary Hypothesis attempts to separate the different traditions found within the text that were supposedly merged with the writing/redaction/composition of the Pentateuch, not the entire Bible (though its method may shed light on the composition of the Deuteronomic History).

Joel

Clara Listensprechen

Edited to remove needlessly aggressive and insulting remarks unsuitable for this forum