cpiolo
Yes, paul was a jew, probably a pharisee.-phil3:5
'much of the OT is borrowed and/or influenced by surrounding older and contemporaneous myth/legend/religion and cultures' True, although faithful fundamentalist types will not accept this. Their claim is that the bible is god inspired. The jews incorporated selected strains of the above in their own writings. By making it part of their sacred scriptues/culture/belief system, it bacame part of the jewish sacred writings. Since they incorporated it, i am considering it jewish. Rom3:2 claims the sacred writings were entrusted to the jews.
Was mohammed inspired to write the koran, or did he base it on the bible? He may have been spiritual, i don't know, but comparing the stories in the two books, i would say he borrowed from the bible.
Call it what you want, according to the above analysis, the koran indirectly and the bible directly originated w the jews.
SS