

Most Comprehensive Critical Ed. of the Hebrew Bible takes shape... slowly - danvideo
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44117239/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/t/scholars-seek-correct-mistakes-bible/

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jackpirate
This article leaves much to be desired.

There are already very good compilations of how all the ancient Hebrew texts
vary from one another. The standard one (which the linked article doesnt't
even mention) is the _Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia_.
([http://www.amazon.com/Biblia-Hebraica-Stuttgartensia-Karl-
El...](http://www.amazon.com/Biblia-Hebraica-Stuttgartensia-Karl-
Elliger/dp/3438052199/ref=pd_sim_b_45)) The Jewish sect of Masoretes began the
process in the 1300s, but obviously many new sources have been discovered in
just the last century. To my amateur knowledge, no significant sources have
been discovered since the BHS.

The article also talks about theories about multiple authorship of the Bible,
but no new sources would be able to tell us anything about that. That would
require significant documents from 100s of years before the Dead Sea Scrolls
were written, which simply isn't going to happen. The way scholars actually do
it is by comparing the sentence structure and word choice of different verses.
I think the modern view stretches things a little too far, but there can
really be no doubt that, for example, Moses is not the sole author of the
Torah.

That said, any mainstream article educating Christians about the fallibility
of the Bible is a godsend. I am a Christian, but inerrantists are the most
frustrating people -- and often the worst behaved people -- in the world.

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rhizome
Fascinating hacker information! Flagged.

