Is the bible true:
how modern debates and discoveries affirm the essence of the Scriptures
Jeffery L. Sheler  04/22/03
None of the references have been crossed by myself.

DOCUMENTARY HYPOTHESIS THEORY by German scholar Julius Wellhausen in 1877 states:
The 5 books of 'Moses' are composed of
J dating to the 9th or 10th century BCE.
E composed in the 8th century BCE
D is dated to 7th century BCE  written during the time of King Josiah.
P dates between the 6th and 4th century BCE.  Before, during or after the Babylonian exile.

Richard Elliott Friedman  "Who Wrote The Bible" makes a plausible argument from literary and archaeological evidence suggesting that
J was written in the royal court of Judah (mayhap by a woman) as early as the reign of David or Solomon.
E was the work of a Levitical priest in the kingdom of Israel between 922 and 722 BCE
P was penned in the court of King Hezekiah between 727 and 698 BCE
D may have been the scribe Baruch a close associate and sometime ghostwriter for the prophet Jeremiah and the final redactor of the 5 books of Moses.
 
It appears to me a lot of information concerning the ‘text’ of the bible is hypothesis (working theory)



It’s agreed that Moses did not pen the books attributed to him.  Some think the books were made from text he did write. Editing of those and information from the writers became the Tanach, Hebrew Bible.  

Pg 31 Tho generally agreed all books were composed from a variety of oral and written sources collected over a period of years following the crucifixion.  Some experts believe they were edited as they were copied and circulated among church elders during the late 1st early 2nd centuries.  At worst the names of the disciples were attached to the text latter to enhance their authority.  It is not known who wrote the gospels.

Pg 33 No original gospel manuscripts are known to exist.  (R there any original writings?)
Scholars say who ever wrote the gospels drew from the same source.
Pg 34 The accepted thought: Mark was written 1st about 50-70 C.E. in Rome.  Drawn largely from oral tradition and maybe written compilations of Jesus miracles.  Sometime latter the writers of Matthew and Luke used copies of Mark as they each set out to write their own versions that would/ could address specific needs/ questions in there communities.

The gospel of Thomas is different then the above and older.  This may have been the common ‘source’ drawn upon for Jesus’ miracles.  


                                                            C.E    +   B. C.E.
(2003)   21st-------8th-------1st----97--65--0---65----97---1st---5th --------23rd (the year 2303)
                       at what point does it become 1.4 millions years ago instead of 1.4 million B.C.E?


Paul/Shaul: converted ~ 34 C.E.
                    died ~ 67 C.E.
The oldest Pauline collection dates to ~ 200 C.E.


7 letters / books are undisputed as written by Paul.  
1st Thessalonians ~ 50 C.E.
Galatians
1 & 2 Corinthians
Romans
Philippians
Philemon
 
Due to the organization and structure that was / may not, have existed in Paul’s day it is argued Timothy and Titus are not written by Paul.  
It’s theorized that due to contradictions to 1st Thessalonians, he did not write 2nd Thessalonians.  Ephesians and Colossians are broad treaties from writer’s drawing upon his teachings and applying them to new situations.

James:
Tradition leans toward Jesus’ brother.  No proof either way who the writer was.

1st Peter:
Some state evidence suggestion the cultivated language and references to persecutions that occurred under the reign of Domitian (81-96 C.E. ) they were written by his disciples latter on.  Tho the letters mention “with the help of Silas” 5:12 which could account for the polished Greek.  Persecutions mentioned may have been during the time of Nero (54-68 C.E.)  Text doesn’t state clearly.

2nd Peter:
Written as late as 125 C.E.  Tho it says it’s written by Peter authorship is in question.  

1st & 2nd John:
Most scholars think the same author as John wrote them.

Jude:
Unsure

Hebrews:
Was found in 2nd century Pauline collection but doubt he was the author.

Revelation:
Most scholars believe written toward the end of the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian 90 or 95 C.E.
Patmos = Roman penal colony in Ageun Sea of Miletus. Most scholars think the same author as John

Each book was written for people of antiquity in a language and culture and with literary convention that they understood to them.

Theistic evolution = the view that evolutionary theory is basically correct and that life on earth, including humanity evolved over millions of years.  But unlike traditional Darwinist, those physical processes know to science, too be divinely designed and governed.  In this view, the Genesis account is understood as speaking allegorically of the relationship between God and creation, rather than presenting a scientific or historical account of how and when creation occurred.

Pg 55 The Genesis flood is “the clearest example of direct dependence on other ancient myths” Pro Michael D. Coogan Harvard Semitic Museum.  Others say the Saumerian & Babylonian writing are independent and indicate a shared memory of an actual event that came to be recounted in somewhat different terms as it passed thru the divergent civilization.

Pg 59 The 1993 inscription found in Dan written by an enemy of Israel more than 100 years after David’s presumptive lifetime seems to be a clear corroboration of the existence of King David’s dynasty.

Pg 67 So far traces of the 40-year nomadic sojourn in the Sinai desert have not been found.

Pg 69 Biblical archeology was expected to prove the bible.  It has not.  Secular archaeology is succeeding in way that biblical archaeology did not.

Author did use the name Yahweh when referring to the monotheistic religion of the bible.

Pg 79 No archeological evidence from Middle bronze age (2000-1500 B.C.E.), roughly the period many scholars believe to be the patriarchal era, have been found to corroborate the biblical account.  No inscriptions or artifacts relating to Israel’s 1st biblical ancestors have been recovered nor are there references in other ancient records outside the bible to early battles and conflicts that are reported in detail in Genesis as Abraham and his descendents claim their inheritance.

Pg 72 Quotes:
Robert Coote, San Francisco Theological Seminary “the period of the patriarchs . . . as devised by the writers of scripture . . . never existed.”
Niels Peter Lemche,  Professor @ University of Copenhagen and leading voice among biblical minimalists.  Flatly categories the stories of the patriarchs as “fiction written around the middle of the 1st millennium B.C.E” to help establish a historical pedigree for Israel after Babylonian exile.  Archeological data from the 2nd and 3rd millennium do not contain a single direct reference to any of the features mentioned in the Old Testament narrative.
Christianity Today 1998 cover story “not one shred of direct archaeological evidence has been found for Abraham, Isaac or Jacob or the 400 plus years the children of Israel sojourned in Egypt”

Some contend the patriarch stories contain glaring anachronisms that suggest they were written many centuries after the event they purport to portray.  i.e. Genesis 11-12 Abraham came out of Ur of the Chaldeans.  The Chaldeans settled in Southern Mesopotamia not earlier then the 9th or 8th century B.C.E more then 1000 years after Abraham’s time and at least 400 years after the time of Moses.
Others say why would you expect to find the name of an obscure nomad and his descendents in official archives.

Pg 75 because the Joseph story contains some apparent anachronisms, names and titles, for example, that is more at home in the 13th century B.C.E. or latter many believe the narratives mainly fiction and probably not composed prior to 1000 B.C.E.   P.Kyle McCarter “the biblical description of Joseph’s career is historically plausible, in its general outline”.

Pg 77 Inscriptions from ancient Egypt contain no mention of Hebrew slaves, of the devastation plagues, of the destruction of pharaoh’s army.  
Physical traces have not been found of the Israelite’s 40-year nomadic sojourn in the Sinai.  
There is not even any indication outside the bible that Moses existed.

There is a inscription at the tomb of Rekhmire, vizier of the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose II in the mid filth century B.C.E.  depicting prisoners from Canaan and Syria making mud bricks, which sticks-wielding taskmasters overseeing their forced labor, during the construction o  the temple at Karnak.

The practice of using forced labor for building projects is only documented for the period 1450 – 1200 B.C.E., the time most biblical historians place the Israelites in Egypt.

Absence of evidence, is not, evidence of absence.

Pg 78 Author sited book / verses of chronological error and inconsistency. There is no specific reference in non biblical writings to Israelites living in Egypt, there are plenty of inscriptions that support a strong Syro-Palestinian presence during the 14th & 15 centuries B.E.C.  After the Hyksos dynasty was overthrown in the bid 16th century B.C.E. Egypt was teeming with Semitic speaking peoples.  Many of whom were treated as POW.  The presence of Israelites in this mix is very plausible.

Pg 80 Military Conquests: There are gaping holes in the archaeological record currently that make it impossible to sustain a case for a purely military conquest.  Yet the evidence that some military component to Israel’s emergence in Canaan exists.  Yet too there are those that hold Joshua to be fiction.  


The Scriptures portrayal of ancient Israel’s kingdom era is well attested to by the weight of modern archeological evidence.

Pg 111In 1968 skeletal remains of a crucified man in a burial cave at Givant ha-Mitvae, near the Nablus road outside of Jerusalem were found.  The condition of the remains corroborated the bibles description of Romans method of execution.  Does the bible describe the method?  The bones were preserved in a stone burial box called an ossuary that was etched with the name Yhohnn Yyehohana.  Contents appear to be a male ~ 5’’ between 24-28 years of age (describes position of body on cross based on the remains).

Describes the 1990 finding of the remains of “Joseph, son of Caiaphas” in a burial chanber.

Pg 112 Describes 1961 discovery of the “Pilate Stone”.  “Pontius Pilate the Prefect of Judea, has dedicated to the people of Caesarea a temple in honor of Tiberius”.  

Describes the finding of the healing pool of John 5:2, (not mentioned by any other source).  The pool was found with shrines dedicated to the Greek God of healing.  It was a pool just as the gospel of John describes.

Tourist spots in Jerusalem are “TRADITIONLY” sited as, this or this happened here.  There have been so many rebuilding over the same spot it is not know what happened where.  Author uses traditionally a lot so far concerning the New Testament.  I have found tradition looses site of the facts often.

Pg 121 Few today doubt the bible was compiled and edited over time.  Many scholars have argued that at least portions of the first books of the bible would have been written, in the form we know them, no earlier than the days of David and Solomon.  That, after all is when the divided and disorganized tribes of Israel each with it’s own oral and perhaps written traditions first became a united people.   Good point.

Author talks ~ the birth of Christianity a lot

Pg 123 Roughly ¼th of the DSS documents are biblical text.  
DSS writings and how they were used and covered up.  Quick scan of this material.

Pg 151 Variations of books were found between Masoretic and Qumran scrolls

Pg 161 No Christian writings were found among the DSS.  What are Christian writings?
How directly the Christian scriptures may have been influenced by the thinking represented in the Qumran scrolls is a matter of on going conjecture and debate.
Even tho Qumranites and early Christians represented separate distinct movement’s scholars say they were remarkably close in their theological vocabulary and shared important doctrinal tenets and practices.  Author sites examples.
Oh really

Pg 167 “John now widely and wisely judged to be the most Jewish of the gospels. Says Homes H. Charlesworth, Scroll Scholar @ Princeton Theological Seminary.

Pg 170 After 50 years of study the DSS have shown more dramatically than anyone could have anticipated how deeply Christianity was rooted in the Judaism of it’s time.  The Jesus movement was not mearly a religious mutation spun out of the fusion of Judaism and Hellinism.  It grew out of the soil of ancient Palestine.

Pg 176 Chapter 18. The Quest and Its origins. Quick skim, talks about proof / disproof’s of Jesus from 16th century to 1950.  

Pg 183 Chapter 19 Jesus and His Seekers, Scholars of the Quest.
Robert Funk:  Jesus is more akin to a Jewish Socrates than the divine son of God.  Christianity as we know it is anemic and wasting away.  It is time to reinvent Christianity with new symbols, new stories, new understanding of Jesus.  Emphasis Jesus as a teacher not a divine being. Replace the Eucharist with a common meal.  Stress forgiveness and freedom over punishment and piety and endorse protected recreational sex among consenting adults.

Marcus J Borg: Jesus the Spirit Person.  
Jesus was a Spirit person, subversive sage, social profit and movement founder.

John Dominic Crossan: Jesus the Revolutionary Peasant.
Jesus was a revolutionary peasant who resisted economic and social tyranny in Roman occupied Palestine.  He was a Jewish Cynic (in the original sense of that word: an adherent of the philosophy that virtue and self-control were the only good) who wondered from town to town, teaching unconventional wisdom and subverting oppressive social customs.  He was a preacher who proclaimed “God’s radical justice” and lived the idea so powerfully that it inspired a movement that changed the course of history.  And if the clarity of his life and message, now long obscure, could be fully grasped today, the same could happen again.  Rejects most of the Gospel record as inaccurate.  Uses modern sociological and anthropological studies of ancient Palestine as a backdrop.

John Meier: Jesus The Marginal Jew
New Testament gospels have limited value as historical records.  Still they are the best information source available on Jesus.   The best historians can hope for is sufficient data to draw a rough sketch of the life of Jesus.  “historical scholars make theological claims ~ Jesus that go beyond the realm of historical research.  You can’t mix theology and historical research with out causing tremendous confusion”

N.T. Wright: Jesus and the victory of God
He is very much the Jesus of the gospels.  

These name a few of the views of those Questing.

Pg 194 Mark, widely considered to be the 1st gospel, nor John provide and account of Jesus’ birth.
      Leading scholars conclude:
A   The story was no part of the Jesus movement earliest oral traditions.
B   Somewhat latter the development of the nativity tradition happened when early Christians sought to understand His origins.
C  The gospel writers filled the information void by inventing their tale of angles, wise men, shepherds and a miraculous virgin birth.
D  The Matthew versions based on recollections of Joseph.
E   The Luke versions based on recollections of Mary.
 No way to substantiate any of the claims.

The nativity accounts differ.  Did not note these differences per this book.

Pg 197 Outside the bible there is no historical record of a universal census ordered by Caesar Augustus or of a census requirement that people be registered in their ancestral cities.  Records do exist of censuses ordered by Augustus in 28 B.C.E and 14 C.E.  They all apparently involved only Roman citizens.  There are records of many smaller counts of non Romans in the provinces.  Mainly for taxing purposes.  The only known census involving Quirinius as governor of Syria was in 6-7 C.E. nearly a decade after the death of Herod the Great.

Pg 200 The death of male children up to 2 years of age:
Tradition estimated 64,000 male children.   Donald H. Hagner (World Biblical Commentary) estimates the population of Bethlehem was no more than 1000 people with as few as 20 children under the age of 2 roughly ½ of them would be male.  10-12 male children were killed.

Other deeds committed by Herod that were known to historians:
1. Had a number of Torah scholars burned alive for removing Rome’s golden eagle from the Temple Gate in Jerusalem.
2. Had his wife and sons murdered because he considered them a threat to his throne.
3. To assure there would be a universal mourning associated with his death, he ordered thousands of men locked inside the Hippodrome in Jericho to be massacred when he died – it was never carried out.

Pg 205 Some scholars assert what ever dependable historical concerning Jesus may have existed initially underwent so much revision during the century following his death no one can be absolutely certain of the accuracy or authenticity of the gospels, especially of the words of the authors attributed to Jesus himself.

Without the ease of pen, paper, audio, video use memorization must have been a common tool.

Pg 222 Textual research show 2 manuscripts found among the DSS – The Temple Scroll and the so called Pesher of Nahum that suggest the Mosaic law may have been understood in Jesus’ time to prescribe crucifixion in certain cases.
Crucifixion had been used in Palestine since the 2nd century B.C.E. – even by Jewish courts.  It was used especially in political cases.

Some scholars speculate a spring Sirocco – a high altitude dust – laden wind common to that part of the Middle East could easily have darkened the mid day sky.

Pg 225 The resurrection is largely a deduction drawn from 2 pieces of data.  The discovery of the empty tomb and the testimonies of Jesus’ disciples that he appeared to them in Jerusalem and Galilee.

It was customary in Judaism at the time for relatives of the deceased to return to the grave a year afterwards to gather up skeletal remains and place them in a box called and ossuary that in the next/after life the body would be whole.

Bypassed the bible code section and authors beliefs.

Finished 04/28/03   Well documented, easy read.


Pg # gave me ref when copying my notes (can’t read my own writing)