Old Testament (priest, Moses, Torah, Pentateuch, genesis)

[skills101]

My reasearch of when the Old Testament was written has gotten no where. Does anyone have an estimate of when it was written, specifically focussing on Genesis - Noah's Ark. Thanks!

[meogi]

I don't know about when it was written... a quick search brought up around 600B.C. that they have evidence of some of the scriptures found in a tomb (kinda like the dead sea scrolls). But I'd assume they were written by Moses (supposed writer of the Pentateuch) sometime. So whenever he lived. (Not gonna find any date though, since there is no evidence he ever existed. At least yet.)

[linwood]

I don`t believe there is really any way to tell because we have never seen the originals.

I`ve read scholars quote the 600 BC date as a general time period due to the style of writing in that geographical area....but who really knows?

[anders]

Yes, it is difficult. The only thing we can be reasonably certain about is that the oldest fragments found are dated to about 125 BCE. A probable time period for the writing down of circulating oral material may be 900-160 BCE.

The oldest writing of any kind found in the area covered by the Bible is dated to about 3000 BCE (Egyptian hieroglyphs, Sumerian cuneiform script).

It would be interesting to search for the earliest credible mentioning of writing in the Bible.

[Bright-ness' Shadow]

Karen Armstrong, in A History of God, mentions an origin just before or in the 8th century BCE (is that 700 BCE?). She says that this is the opinion of un-named scholars. The Pentateuch was consolidated (from four authors) about the 5th century BCE.

-pah-

[Faust]

My reasearch of when the Old Testament was written has gotten no where. Does anyone have an estimate of when it was written, specifically focussing on Genesis - Noah's Ark. Thanks Skills101!

Dear Skills101
The best information I have ever found (25 years serious research) on the authors of the Old Testament is a book called "Who Wrote The Bible" by Richard E. Friedman.
The only place I know to get it is at alibris.com.
I just ordered a personal copy for myself and my total cost with shipping will be $9.44.
Price will vary depending on condition and availability.
I have read this book a couple of times and to the best of my knoledge it gives a very complete history of the composition of the old testament. However be forwarned that this history is complicated by the split of the Jewish nation, reunification and split again. Also the conquest by the Babalonians and the Assirians. Mr. Friedman asserts that finnished product of the old testament is the work of "the Redactor" who is probably the biblical Elijah (if memory serves me).
Happy reading,
Faust

[Jayhawker Soule]

Originally Posted by meogi

But I'd assume they were written by Moses (supposed writer of the Pentateuch) sometime.

Few scholars today (other than Orthodox Jews and Fundamentalist Christians) would claim that Moses wrote the Pentateuch. A good discussion can be found here.

I suspect that much of the Torah is late 8th or early 7th century BCE, with some of it reflecting late Bronze Age oral folklore.

Originally Posted by anders

The only thing we can be reasonably certain about is that the oldest fragments found are dated to about 125 BCE.

If the claims hold up, the oldest evidence of a piece of Biblical text are probably the 6th century BCE silver amulets containing the 'Priestly Benediction' - much to the dismay of those 'minimalists' who see the Torah as a literary product of the Persian period.

Originally Posted by Faust

The best information I have ever found (25 years serious research) on the authors of the Old Testament is a book called "Who Wrote The Bible" by Richard E. Friedman.

Friedman's work is an engaging popularization of the Documentary Hypothesis offered by a sincere and thoughtful theist who, to the best of my recollection, never questions the historicity of Moses or the Patriarchs. IMO, more recent, and far more nuanced, works would include:

• The Pentateuch by Blenkinsopp, and
• How the Bible Became a Book : The Textualization of Ancient Israel by Schniedewind.

Some of the latter can be found here.