The eternal book, or the Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments, was created over the centuries, and therefore it absorbed not only divine revelation, but also human wisdom. It is not for nothing that kings and presidents have sworn and swore on the Holy Word. Decade after decade, this work tops the list of the most read books in the world. But who is the author of this unfading bestseller?
As you know, the Bible consists of two parts: the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament is three times larger than the New Testament. It is known that it was written before Christ, more precisely, before the prophet Malachi, who lived in the 5th century BC. But the New Testament was created already during the time of the Apostles - in the 1st century AD.
If you look at the list of contents (each Testament has its own list), then you can easily see that both books are a collection of separate works.
Most of the sixty-six books bear the names of their compilers - thirty authors of various origins, different eras and different social statuses. In this regard, the books contain a variety of styles, manners, ways of presenting material.
Although, as theologians admit, even those parts whose authorship is known were by no means written by one person. And there were historical reasons for this.
A team of forty authors
Most scholars believe that more than forty authors contributed to the Bible, writing it over 1,600 years. From century to century, the Eternal Book was added particle by particle until it became a complete work.
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Since the authors of individual parts came from different cultures and strata of society, these parts certainly reflected the personality of its creator.
The author of the Torah is considered Moses - the same one who led the Jews in the desert for 40 years. But scientists question this statement. It is unlikely that the creator of the historical document could describe in detail his own death and the events that followed. The great Jewish philosopher Spinoza suggested that the Torah was written by the reformer of Judaism Ezra. For this he was excommunicated from the Synagogue, but the seed of doubt was sown.
It is likely that the Torah was written by four authors. Some differences in the text suggest this idea. In one version, the Lord is called Yahweh (Jehovah), in another - Elohim. The meaning in Hebrew is almost the same, but we can conclude that the Torah was written by at least two authors. They were designated respectively "I" and "E". Then it was discovered that in the text "E" there are, as it were, inserted fragments concerning the functions of priests. This presupposes the participation of an expert, a third author, designated "C". Finally, Deuteronomy differs so sharply in style from the first four books of the Torah that it is logical to attribute it to the pen of the fourth compiler - "B".
This collective work was completed four hundred years before the birth of Christ. And, according to the historian Josephus Flavius, the Old Testament was in those days so revered that for all the past two and a half thousand years no one dared to add anything to it or subtract it.
Jesus didn't write anything down
The story of the origin of the New Testament is even more amazing. Jesus did not leave a single line of divine revelation to posterity. And His disciples, who were true believing Jews, would never have dared to add even one word to the Old Testament! Even 50 years after the birth of Christ, as scientists are sure, not a single letter of the New Testament has been written yet. But then a miracle happened. The books of the New Testament came about without a plan.
The New Testament, or the Gospel, which tells about the birth, baptism, preaching, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. There are four of these books, they are devoted to the same events, but differ noticeably in details. Each is traditionally attributed to a specific evangelist: John and Matthew (the apostles), Luke and Mark. However, scholars doubt their authorship.
The Gospel of Matthew is known as the first. Modern researchers agree on one thing: it was not written by the apostle himself, but by the anonymous author of the 1st century. AD; which relied on the data collected by Matthew. In this Gospel, much space is allotted to the words of Christ. He makes frequent references to the Old Testament, uses the word "scribe" in a positive sense, attaches great importance to the community of believers, the Church, does not explain the meaning of Jewish customs and the meaning of a number of Aramaic words. Consequently, the author was associated with Judeo-Christianity by a certain tradition and rather was from the same place as Jesus.
The Gospel of Mark, most likely, appeared earlier than all others, although in the canonical code of the New Testament it stands second. It contains more biographical details of the life of Christ, and scholars believe that the book was really written by the companion of the Apostle Peter - Mark.
According to some reports, Mark belonged to a Christian family living in Jerusalem and close to the Apostle Peter. He was a relative of Joseph Barnabas, a friend of the Apostle Peter. But later they parted, and the young man became a companion of Peter, who called him "his son." True, other researchers consider Mark a purely legendary figure.
The Gospel of Luke appeared in the last third of the 1st century. A. D. Many data indicate that this book was written by Luke, the Greek doctor, companion of the Apostle Paul. One of the documents, which was written around 170, says the following about Luke: “Luke, a Syrian, originally from Antioch, a doctor, a disciple of the apostles; he later followed Paul until his martyrdom. Serving the Lord flawlessly, he had no wife or children. He died in Boeotia, filled with the Holy Spirit, at the age of eighty-four years ….
However, this assumption has many critics
The Gospel of John may have been written by one of his disciples. According to legend, it was none other than John, the son of Zebedee. Belonging to the disciples of the Baptist, he was one of the first to follow Christ along with his brother and mother. For his fervor, John received from the Teacher the nickname "Son of the Thunder", or "Son of Thunder". The Fourth Gospel calls John "the disciple whom Jesus loved." It also says that he was the only one of the twelve disciples at Calvary and after the death of the Lord took His Mother to him. At that time he was only eighteen or twenty years old.
Until recently, the fourth Gospel was dated to about 90 AD, but some now insist on an earlier period.
Unofficially, in Soviet times, among specialists in scientific atheism, it was believed that the Gospel of Luke was the most democratic, that of Mark was the most canonical, and that of John was the most mystical. It turns out that each of the apostles, without changing the essence of Christ's teaching, spoke about it from their own positions.
Figures and facts
The Bible contains 66 books, the Russian translation of the Eternal Book was made in the 19th century. For the first time, a complete translation of the Bible was published only in 1876.
The Bible has been translated into more than 2,100 languages.
• In III BC. The Old Testament was first translated from Hebrew into Greek.
• The Bible contains over 1000 promises of God, as well as more than 31000 authentic and reliable prophecies - predictions, about 800 of them - in the Old Testament and more than 200 - in the New Testament. Of these, about 300 point to Jesus Christ.
Bible Persecution
Despite great demand and veneration, the Bible is also the most persecuted in the world.
Trying to contain the spread of Christianity, the Roman emperor Diocletian in 303 AD ordered the death of everyone who read and kept the books of the Holy Scriptures. The leaders of the Great French Revolution were not much different from the pagan Caesar. The government of the French Republic declared war on "religious superstition" and in 1793 issued a decree on the burning of all Bibles that were found in the state, and on the expulsion and even execution of their owners who did not want to renounce their faith in God.
The decree was in effect for four years, but in 1797 the government canceled it due to the fact that the moral decline in society had reached incredible proportions. The Bible was forbidden not only by opponents of Christianity, but also by the church itself! For example, the Council of Toulouse in 1229 forbade secular people from reading the Bible on pain of death. And five years later, in 1244, the Terracon Cathedral forbade the reading of the Bible and the clergy! On the orders of one Catholic bishop, an entire edition of the Bible is destroyed in a fire for fear that if this book got to the common people, people would find that the official church is deviating from the Word of God.
Magazine: Mysteries of History No. 10, Sergey Gorchakov
