How does (did) one know who has (had) authored a book?

[Shad]

The internal evidence in the Bible, including the accuracy of it's prophecies, it's historical accuracy, scientific accuracy, and more convinces me the Bible was authored by the true God. Add to that it's universal appeal to people in all nations, it's tremendous distribution into more languages than any other book in history, and it's internal harmony though penned by over forty men during a 1600 year timespan; All this and more marks the Bible's divine Authorship, IMO.

Said accuracy does not exist, go look up some work in archaeology in the last few decades. Regardless of this accuracy, if granted, does not mean the author is as claimed.

 

[The Ardent Atheist]

Your thoughts please.
Everybody is welcome to post whether pertaining to a religion or not.
Regards

I just glance at the byline.

 

[The Ardent Atheist]

The internal evidence in the Bible, including the accuracy of it's prophecies, it's historical accuracy, scientific accuracy, and more convinces me the Bible was authored by the true God. Add to that it's universal appeal to people in all nations, it's tremendous distribution into more languages than any other book in history, and it's internal harmony though penned by over forty men during a 1600 year timespan; All this and more marks the Bible's divine Authorship, IMO.

What internal evidence?

What accurate prophecies? And what about the inaccurate prophecies?

Scientific accuracy? Like when the sun was created after the earth? Six thousand years ago? Talking snakes?

Historical accuracy? There was no exodus, nor was there a King David or even a first temple.

Universal appeal? By this, do you mean forced conversion?

What does translation of a book into many languages have to do with anything? By your logic, an obscure scientific paper only translated into two languages is wrong?

What internal harmony? Genesis 1 and 2 are riddled with contradictions, and that's just for starters.

 

[paarsurrey]

Your best bet is to try to get a hold of the publisher. Unless the author is taking really strong steps to hide himself, you can probably get the name from them if its not written in the book itself or if its a pen name.

In ancient times there were no publishers.
Regards

 

[rusra02]

What internal evidence?

What accurate prophecies? And what about the inaccurate prophecies?

Scientific accuracy? Like when the sun was created after the earth? Six thousand years ago? Talking snakes?

Historical accuracy? There was no exodus, nor was there a King David or even a first temple.

Universal appeal? By this, do you mean forced conversion?

What does translation of a book into many languages have to do with anything? By your logic, an obscure scientific paper only translated into two languages is wrong?

What internal harmony? Genesis 1 and 2 are riddled with contradictions, and that's just for starters.

Based on your comments, I think you have been seriously misinformed. Just one example: Until 1993, no source other than the Bible proved David is an historical figure. That year, however, archaeologists uncovered in northern Israel a basalt stone, dated to the ninth century B.C.E., that experts say bears the words “House of David” and “king of Israel.”
I would expect a book inspired by the true God would be available to all mankind in their native tongue. The Bible meets that criteria more than any other book ever written.

 

[paarsurrey]

My prediction: people will say that the book itself will mention or list the author and that is how we know who wrote it. Paarsurrey will then respond that the Quran mentions that its author is God and that we should therefore accept that it was written by God since we use that same measure of investigation to identify the author of other books.

Perfectly true.
That is one way of knowing the author of a book.
Do you think it is a valid way to know who authored Matthew (NT of the Christians)?
Regards

 

[Parsimony]

Perfectly true.
That is one way of knowing the author of a book.
Do you think it is a valid way to know who authored Matthew (NT of the Christians)?
Regards

Possibly, but I've heard that it was common during that era for people to write things and then put down other, more famous people as the authors. So it isn't something to be taken at face value.

 

[Tumah]

In ancient times there were no publishers.
Regards

I don't see anywhere in the title or OP that you were specifically asking about ancient times.
Right?
Regards.

 

[paarsurrey]

I though they believed Muhammad dictated it to people in a cave.

Please quote from Quran.
Regards

 

[Tumah]

Please quote from Quran.
Regards

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith - 9.111

 

[paarsurrey]

In ancient times it was common to write books using more authoritative names, well because people often take things on authority. In modern times often we can contact the authors or they are public. Sometimes authors use ghostwriters and it may be hard to find out who the real author is.

I think it is not correct, it is just a Christian propaganda as "Mathews, Marks, John" were not written by those persons with the names they depict, these were authored by anonymous writers, and given these names just to confuse the Christians by Paul and the Church people.
Regards

 

[Jumi]

I think it is not correct, it is just a Christian propaganda as "Mathews, Marks, John" were not written by those persons with the names they depict, these were authored by anonymous writers, and given these names just to confuse the Christians by Paul and the Church people.

People used to say this book is written by someone with authority even though it's not. It was common until relatively late.

 

[paarsurrey]

Given that there's disagreement about Shakespeare, it's not easy when one goes back into the past. Even today, there's ghostwriters around so knowing who really wrote a book is not always obvious.

Would you kindly inform us as to what disagreement is about Shakespeare? Please
Regards

 

[paarsurrey]

Would you kindly inform us as to what disagreement is about Shakespeare? Please
Regards

I Googled and find the following, meantime:
The Shakespeare authorship question is the argument that someone other than William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the works attributed to him. Anti-Stratfordians—a collective term for adherents of the various alternative-authorship theories—believe that Shakespeare of Stratford was a front to shield the identity of the real author or authors, who for some reason did not want or could not accept public credit.[1] Although the idea has attracted much public interest,[2][a] all but a few Shakespeare scholars and literary historians consider it a fringe belief and for the most part acknowledge it only to rebut or disparage the claims.[3]

Shakespeare's authorship was first questioned in the middle of the 19th century,[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare_authorship_question
Regards

 

[sun rise]

I Googled and find the following, meantime:
The Shakespeare authorship question is the argument that someone other than William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the works attributed to him. Anti-Stratfordians—a collective term for adherents of the various alternative-authorship theories—believe that Shakespeare of Stratford was a front to shield the identity of the real author or authors, who for some reason did not want or could not accept public credit.[1] Although the idea has attracted much public interest,[2][a] all but a few Shakespeare scholars and literary historians consider it a fringe belief and for the most part acknowledge it only to rebut or disparage the claims.[3]

Shakespeare's authorship was first questioned in the middle of the 19th century,[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare_authorship_question
Regards

I personally believe that Shakespeare wrote those works. But I cited the controversy to respond to your OP question. It's one thing to say that you believe someone wrote something and even to have some evidence for it. It's much harder to prove such an assertion.

 

[paarsurrey]

"Ijaza",

"Ijaza" is a different phenomenon as explained by Wikipedia in the next part under the heading:
Description
In a paper titled Traditionalism in Islam: An Essay in Interpretation,[2] Harvard professor William A. Graham explains the ijazah system as follows:
The basic system of "the journey in search of knowledge" that developed early inHadith scholarship, involved travelling to specific authorities (shaykhs), especially the oldest and most renowned of the day, to hear from their own mouths their hadiths and to obtain their authorization or "permission" (ijazah) to transmit those in their names. This ijazah system of personal rather than institutional certification has served not only for Hadith, but also for transmission of texts of any kind, from history, law, or philology to literature, mysticism, or theology. Theisnad of a long manuscript as well as that of a short hadith ideally should reflect the oral, face-to-face, teacher-to-student transmission of the text by the teacher's ijazah, which validates the written text. In a formal, written ijazah, the teacher granting the certificate typically includes an isnad containing his or her scholarly lineage of teachers back to the Prophet through Companions, a later venerable shaykh, or the author of a specific book.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijazah
Regards

 

[Mackerni]

I'm attempting to write a religious text with my friend, who I'm planning on paying for his service as my ghostwriter. We are in a very rough draft phase right now, with a contract between us becoming notarized soon.

 

[paarsurrey]

Does that tell you who wrote the book (the question in the OP) or whether the person who wrote the book had permission to distribute what he wrote (not the question of the OP)?

A valid question.
Regards

 

[paarsurrey]

The internal evidence in the Bible, including the accuracy of it's prophecies, it's historical accuracy, scientific accuracy, and more convinces me the Bible was authored by the true God. Add to that it's universal appeal to people in all nations, it's tremendous distribution into more languages than any other book in history, and it's internal harmony though penned by over forty men during a 1600 year timespan; All this and more marks the Bible's divine Authorship, IMO.

Do you mean Christian-god Jesus authored NT Bible?
Regards

 

[paarsurrey]

Your could, but that's not why I mentioned the TV show. That TV show is based on a book, just like Harry Potter movies were made from the Harry Potter books. But that's not the point I was making. It was just an example used to support the actual point.

Thanks for your support.
Regards