Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: cik@l.cc.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Compiling the Bible Message-ID: Date: 29 Aug 89 06:33:52 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Purdue University Statistics Department Lines: 24 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , victor@concour.CS.Concordia.CA (Victor Krawczuk) writes: > Greetings. > > Recently I have had an interest in learning how the Bible, as we > know it today, was compiled. In otherwords, how did the books > get chosen, why, and by who. According to Jewish tradition, the first five books are the literal word of God. The remaining ones were considered works of man, with various degrees of divine inspiration, historical fact, etc. It is unlikely that any of the books was originally produced as a single work. During the days of the Second Temple, there was an organization of religious scholars known as the Great Assembly. This body, over quite a long time (about two centuries), discussed the various manuscripts, legends, editions, etd., and selected those which they felt should be included in the Jewish Bible. There were definitely discussions, differences of opinion, arguments, and votes. Only a small amount of the precise nature of their debates is known. -- Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907 Phone: (317)494-6054 hrubin@l.cc.purdue.edu (Internet, bitnet, UUCP)