Torah and Old Testament: who - and why...?

Question

Full questions:
+Could somebody please help me find historical information about the authorship of the Torah and the Old Testament?

It is easy to find religious information, but historical information is not so easy to find.

*Like, who decided to transcribe the oral Jewish Torah into its written form?

*Was it really a Jewish decision, done before Christ, or was it a Roman Christian decision, done after Christ?

*Why did the Jews willingly hand over their entire (give or take some edits) canon to a new religion called Christianity?

+...And why do Christians talk about the Old Testament like it was always a Christian book? If it is their Christian book right from the start, then it would mean the Romans wrote it - isn't that so?

Answer 1

I don't know exactly all the answers, but can give my input and a link that might help...

>>"*Why did the Jews willingly hand over their entire (give or take some edits) canon to a new religion called Christianity?"<<

it didn't, basically Christianity started out as a fringe group of Judaism, which changed and grew further and further from Judaism over time, eventually to such a degree as to be ENTIRELY different.

>>"And why do Christians talk about the Old Testament like it was always a Christian book? If it is their Christian book right from the start, then it would mean the Romans wrote it - isn't that so?"<<

many christians really have no clue on the history and origin of christianity. a HUGE amount of christians think that Judaism is and was basically christianity, which for some inconceivable reason rejected the messiah that was sent... (but that more or less most of the views are the same)

which is of course untrue. if you look at the old testament and understand jewish belief as to the nature of God and the universe, and then assert the christian stuff, its obviously contradictory.

where if you take the christian stuff as an accepted state of things, the older stuff can be misintepereted and warped to match the preconceptions.

christianity introduced a huge amount of pagan things and is almost entirely contrary to Judaism now. but it started out as just a fringe group.

edit: this also reminded me of the other day on I think it was the soup (a show that takes funny or otherwise notable clips from various shows for the week and comments on them) a clip from "The View" where they were discussing some stuff and one of them seemed to think that christianity and the bible had been around forever... or something. it was depressing in a "how can anyone be that ignorant and function as an adult" sorta way.

Answer 2

We didn't 'hand over' anything, but after Emperor Constantine decided to make Christianity the official religion, it spread very rapidly, primarily through women, interestingly.

Just to correct an earlier answer:

The Torah is part of the 'old' testament, or Tanakh to give the correct name.

And Judaism and Christianity are NOT in the least similar. Christianity contradicts most of what Judaism stands for and teaches. The NT and Jesus do not feature at all in Judaism, they simply are not relevant.

Allow me to correct a later answer someone has posted: JESUS IS NOT PREDICTED OR MENTIONED IN THE TANAKH. YOU ARE RELYING ON WRONGLY TRANSLATED HEBREW.

To the asker:

I think the following websites may help answer your questions :)

http://www.whatjewsbelieve.org/

http://www.askmoses.com

http://www.jewfaq.org

Answer 3

I shall just deal with the Old Testament and your comment about Christians talking of it as a Christian book.

The Old Testament it a Jewish book which told the history of God with His people, the Jews.

Jesus was a Jew, he was born of Mary, he was foretold in the Old Testament as the coming Messiah.

In the New Testament you find that people who knew their scriptures (probably the Septuagint) were expecting Jesus to come and perhaps save them from the oppressive rule of the Romans.

Jesus himself expressed his belief in the Old Testament writings and later told those with him that if they had believed Moses, David and the prophets they would have believed him.

You may remember that in the synagogue Jesus was given a scroll to read, and he read so far then stopped and sat down saying "Today are these things fulfilled.."

On another point, you have the scroll of Isaiah that was found in by the shepherd boy when he threw a stone into a cave and heard the scroll jar break. This is exhibited in Jerusalem.

Answer 4

in response to your last two, Christians once were jews, it broke off from Judaism by adding the new testament to the Torah (soon to be the bible). Since the old testament and Torah are very similar, and Christianity and Judaism are similar, Christians consider the Torah to be their book also (with a different name), at least until Jesus was crucified.

Answer 5

the 1st 5 books of the bible are actually not the Torah. they are talked approximately as the Pentateuch. The Torah is what Christians call the previous testomony. Jews and Christians have self assurance contained in the previous testomony as being the be responsive to God. the place Jews and Christians variety is of their perception in Christ. Jews have self assurance the messiah is yet to come again. the 1st Christians have been, for this reason Jews who believed Jesus became the Christ.

Answer 6

A roman did write it, from Tarsus no less

this same guy said he was a Jew and a rabbinical scholar

who also was a traveling tent maker, married yet advocating not to marry

this guy also landed himself in jail and the book of Acts leaves him behind bars, just like modern day prisoners who find Jesus and God in prison then tell you how to live

he was caught in Acts 15, then 21-22 in a lie and when both christian and jew confronted him, he went "roman" for protection

Answer 7

Start with paperback_writer's suggestions. Then if you're really interested, this is THE single best study Bible I've found:

http://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Study-Bible-Publication-Translation/dp/0195297512

The study notes, articles and essays will give you more information than you could possibly want.

Peace to you.

Answer 8

Your questions show a complete lack of understanding of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. You need to do a litlle research of your own.

Answer 9

I suggest the following two sites for good historical and scholarly work on both the OT and the NT.

Below:

Answer 10

I do not know about the Torah, but I can tell you without a shadow of doubt who wrote the OLD TESTAMENT.

God wrote it. He gave certain men of God the letters that made up the words that made up the sentences that made up the phrases that became the written WORD OF GOD.

GOD WROTE IT GOD WROTE IT GOD WROTE IT