Who Wrote the Bible? - Softcover

Friedman, Richard Elliott

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060972149 ISBN 13: 9780060972141

Publisher: Harper & Row, 1989

Synopsis

A provocative and stimulating look at the writing of the Bible and the lives of those who wrote it. A fascinating history for scholars and lovers of the Bible alike.

About this title

Review:

"J," "P," "E," and "D" are the names scholars have given to some authors of the Bible, and, as such, they are very important letters to a lot of people. Churches have died and been born, and millions of people have lost faith or found it, because of the last two centuries of debate about who, exactly, wrote the canonical texts of Christianity and Judaism. Richard Elliott Friedman's survey of this debate, in Who Wrote the Bible?, may be the best written popular book about this question. Without condescension or high-flown academic language, Friedman carefully describes the history of textual criticism of the Bible--a subject on which his authority is unparalleled (Friedman has contributed voluminously to the authoritative Anchor Bible Dictionary). But this book is not just smart. Perhaps even more impressive than Friedman's erudition is his sensitivity to the power of textual criticism to influence faith. --Michael Joseph Gross

From the Back Cover:

"It is a strange fact that we have never known with certainty who produced the book that has played such a central role in our civilization," writes Friedman, a foremost Bible scholar. From this point he begins an investigation and analysis that reads as compellingly as a good detective story. Focusing on the central books of the Old Testament--Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy--he draws upon biblical and archaeological evidence to make a convincing argument for the identities of their authors. In the process he paints a vivid picture of the world of the Bible--its politics, history, and personalities. The result is a marvel of scholarship that sheds a new and enriching light on our understanding of the Bible as literature, history, and sacred text.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper & Row
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0060972149
• ISBN 13: 9780060972141
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304