Question

For many religious people, the Old Testament continues to be identified as sacred scripture.  What are the theological or religious implications of the complicated processes by which the Bible was shaped? Does this complicated process discredit or call into question the Bible's status in religious communities? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) The Bible is divided into the Old and New Testament. The Old Testament is the era before the birth of Christ and this section is holy to both the Christians and the Jews. The book is further divided into three thematic sections. They are the Fertile Crescent, Israel and Egypt.

It is believed that the author of certain parts of the Bible is Moses. These books form the “Pentateuch.” These books include Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Although some scholars reckon that the vulgate consisted of extensions and revisions from the Yahwist, Eloist of Torah, Deutronomists and even Priestly sources.

Other books in the Old Testament include Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra and Nehemiah are the 15^th and 16^th books of the Old Testament. The come after the book of Chronicles 1 and 2. The nuance associated with the books of Ezra and Nehemiah is that they focus on “History” just like the Pentateuch focused on the “Law.”

These books focus on the events that took place between 539BC and the second half of the 5^th century. The events that this period entails are the return to Israel from the Babylonian exile. Ezra focuses on the rebuilding of the temple and the restoration of faith in God. On the other hand, Nehemiah focuses on the building of the city walls and the formation of a certain political climate.

These books are of great importance to the Jewish and Christian community simply because they offer proper historical counts of what actually happened at the time of building the city and the inculcation of the Jewish faith. Most other books of the historical section tend to have an inferential view about the origins of the Jewish faith. In fact, Ezra and Nehemiah could even be equated to modern-day historians because of how they recorded the information about that time period. It is particularly these two writers that handled their tasks like a modern day historian would. In other words, they recorded their findings in a thematic and systematic manner through which the life of that time period could be best described.

This is why it might be simpler to discredit other books, as they have been written in a philosophical and even in a metaphorical context. These contexts were applied to the known history of the regions in order to help the people understand the implications of God and the Holy Spirit in a better way. Some of these passages were not really written with a focus on accuracy but rather on providing a moral compass to the people of the time.