I think another great read is "The Bible Unearthed" by Finkelstein and Silberman.
Shows much of the politics involved in compiling and editing the bible books. I found this an easier read than "Who wrote the bible".
'Who Wrote the Bible' - terrific book!
by GetBusyLiving 16 Replies latest jw friends
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GetBusyLiving
The reason I said that Friedman is a respected scholar is because I've read a lot of reviews of his book and that seems to be far and away the general consensus. I don't really know how else you would go about proving someone is a 'respected scholar'.. he's a Harvard grad.. been in the field for a long time..
I never quoted anything about a 'human aspect' or whatever, one, you have me mixed up with another poster.
As far as giving a synopsis goes I wouldnt want to do that since I haven't finished the book. Maybe someone else would like to do that though, that would be cool.
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AlanF
That's an interesting and enlightening book, alright.
Another good read is The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts by Neil Asher Silberman and Israel Finkelstein (Free Press, 2002).
.However, I think that people should consider various viewpoints and come to their own conclusions based on weighing solid evidence. The book On the Reliability of the Old Testament by Egyptologist and scholar of ancient history Kenneth A. Kitchen (Eerdmans, 2003) is an excellent resource that takes a view somewhat opposite of Finkelstein's. Kitchen roundly criticizes the above books for going way too far in their claims about the unreliability of the Old Testament. I'm enjoying reading the several viewpoints.
AlanF
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LittleToe
Thanks for the recommendation, Alan. I have "The Bible Unearthed" but not "On the Reliability of the Old Testament".
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stillajwexelder
I bought the book 'Who Wrote the Bible' by Richard Friedman.. wow! This guy is a really respected scholar, not some crackpot-prediction-making jackass. As a typical JW, I didn't know much about how absurd the idea of Moses writing the first five books of the Bible really is. This is such an entertaining read! I totally recommend it. Who's all read it, and what did you think? I posted a thread on this book over a year ago -I recommended it then - and I still do
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GetBusyLiving
hehe cool.. Im still devouring it.