The Bible??

Question

What are the implications (if any) of considering the biblical texts as composite texts (many authors, many sources) which have been edited together instead of texts with one author (like the Koran)? Is it significant that with the exception of Paul's letters, the biblical books never think authorship is important to mention?

Answer 1

I must say, I hope I understood the question. There were many writers to the Bible, but God is considered the author who used holy spirit to guide all the different people to write a unique book that, when read, really does flow and have a beginning, a plot and an end. The writer's of the books in the Bible are usually listed in the front or back of every bible. The only single book I can think of that consisted of many different authors is the book of Psalms - we know that king David wrote some, but it cannot be confirmed about the rest of it. Authorship or who wrote it, is of importance - the books of the bible do not appear in chronological order- the writers themselves were not always focused on writing an autobiography. It is significant in that the importance was focused on the word of God and not necessarily themselves.

Answer 2

(1) Nowhere in the Bible does it say that the Bible is the only source of God's Word.

(2) The first Christians "were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles" (Acts 2:42; 2 Tim 1:14) long before the New Testament was written — and centuries before we knew with certainty which books were part of the New Testament.

(3) The Bible affirms that Christian teaching is "preached" (1 Pet. 1:25), that the Apostles' successors were to teach what they have "heard" (2 Tim. 2:2), and that Christian teaching is passed on both "by word of mouth [and] by letter" (2 Thess. 2:15; 1 Cor. 11:2).

(4) Not everything Christ did and said is recorded in Scripture (Jn. 21:25).

(5) New Testament authors availed themselves of sacred Tradition. For example, Acts 20:35 quotes a saying of Jesus that is not recorded in the Gospels.

(6) Scripture needs an authoritative interpreter (Acts 8:30-31; 2 Pet. 1:20-21, 3:15-16).

(7) Christ left His Church with divine authority to teach in His name (Mt. 16:13-20, 18:18; Lk. 10:16).

(8) The Church will last until the end of time, and the Holy Spirit protects the Church's teaching from corruption (Mt. 16:18, 28:19-20; Jn. 14:16).

(9) The Church — and not the Bible alone — is the "pillar and bulwark of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15).

(10) The Bible refers to more sources of the Word of God than only Scripture. Jesus Himself is the Word (Jn. 1:1, 14), and in 1 Thess. 2:13, St. Paul's first epistle, he refers to "the Word of God which you heard from us." There St. Paul is clearly referring to oral apostolic teaching.

Source(s):

Catholic

Answer 3

It's actually very theologically important to me and to some of the ministers I know. One major principle of the Bible is that matters need to be established by more than one witness. Multiple authors, multiple cultures, over a large span of time helps a lot because you can read them and get the core concepts and principles; ie, the big picture. You can't get that from reading something from only one author.

I don't know with a certainty, but I'm pretty sure that the work of scribes is incredibly important in ancient Israel's culture. So there would be no need of an author, because it wasn't a private work, but a community record.

Answer 4

The Bible is a compilation.

The Authors of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John are mentioned.

The Authors of the Old Testiment are often known as well.
"Moses"

I think that when many authors agree on something it carries more weight than one man hiding in a cave and writing a book.

Answer 5

Actually, the Torah, and especially Exodus, have been accused of being pieced together. There was an interesting Naked Archaeologst episode, however, that demonstrated that it could not have been pieced together. But the implications would have been that Exodus was not written by God, but by men. As to the lack of a signature, perhaps mere humility would have prevented people from putting their names on these documents.

Answer 6

There is plenty of information available as to who wrote what books of the Bible... but not all of the accredations are locked in stone.

Answer 7

I think the significance is that no one wanted to claim ownership for making this stuff up.

Answer 8

uh, the truth gets blurred.