Comments on: Time to Study the Old Testament……..Again – Part 3 – Transmission and Translation http://mormonmatters.org/2009/12/24/time-to-study-the-old-testament%e2%80%a6%e2%80%a6-again-part-3-transmission-and-translation/ A weekly podcast exploring Mormon culture and current events. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:06:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Mormon Heretic http://mormonmatters.org/2009/12/24/time-to-study-the-old-testament%e2%80%a6%e2%80%a6-again-part-3-transmission-and-translation/#comment-125256 Mormon Heretic Fri, 25 Dec 2009 23:36:09 +0000 http://mormonmatters.org/?p=8769#comment-125256 neal, there are scholars who believe that josiah was part of a conspiracy to drum up the book of deuteronomy. the documentary hypothesis says that deuteronomy was written by a different author than the other 4 books of moses, and they have called this author D, short for deuteronomist. according to this theory, josiah and baruch may have drummed up the lost book found in the temple. of course, the bible indicates it was legitimately found, so you can believe what you want here. joseph smith was familiar with josiah's discovery and thought there were parallels to the book of mormon, which are easy to see. if we believe the bible story, he lived prior to lehi. this book would support the idea that scriptures existed prior to lehi and supports existence of scriptures at least as early as the 8 or 9th century bc. neal, there are scholars who believe that josiah was part of a conspiracy to drum up the book of deuteronomy. the documentary hypothesis says that deuteronomy was written by a different author than the other 4 books of moses, and they have called this author D, short for deuteronomist. according to this theory, josiah and baruch may have drummed up the lost book found in the temple.

of course, the bible indicates it was legitimately found, so you can believe what you want here. joseph smith was familiar with josiah’s discovery and thought there were parallels to the book of mormon, which are easy to see. if we believe the bible story, he lived prior to lehi. this book would support the idea that scriptures existed prior to lehi and supports existence of scriptures at least as early as the 8 or 9th century bc.

]]> By: Jeff Spector http://mormonmatters.org/2009/12/24/time-to-study-the-old-testament%e2%80%a6%e2%80%a6-again-part-3-transmission-and-translation/#comment-125251 Jeff Spector Fri, 25 Dec 2009 18:33:34 +0000 http://mormonmatters.org/?p=8769#comment-125251 MH, Thanks for the back up material. I wasn't planning on going into much more detail on that stuff, but rather just focus now on how to study the Old Testament. I was thinking of a Deuteronomy Revision post when we got to that section of the lessons. But I'm actually glad the BoM issue was brought up because I wasn't thinking about that when I was writing these posts. Merely, just considering the history of the Old Testament. MH,

Thanks for the back up material. I wasn’t planning on going into much more detail on that stuff, but rather just focus now on how to study the Old Testament. I was thinking of a Deuteronomy Revision post when we got to that section of the lessons.

But I’m actually glad the BoM issue was brought up because I wasn’t thinking about that when I was writing these posts. Merely, just considering the history of the Old Testament.

]]> By: Neal Davis http://mormonmatters.org/2009/12/24/time-to-study-the-old-testament%e2%80%a6%e2%80%a6-again-part-3-transmission-and-translation/#comment-125245 Neal Davis Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:48:58 +0000 http://mormonmatters.org/?p=8769#comment-125245 With CowardlyLiar, how do scholars explain how Josiah and the temple priests in his day utilized a copy of the book of the law found in the ruins of the temple, 2 Kings 23? That meshes better with some variant of the documentary hypothesis than with a late oral tradition. (Of course, it's difficult to say exactly what was in said book of the law; I'm curious how late-oral scholars explain that passage.) With CowardlyLiar, how do scholars explain how Josiah and the temple priests in his day utilized a copy of the book of the law found in the ruins of the temple, 2 Kings 23? That meshes better with some variant of the documentary hypothesis than with a late oral tradition. (Of course, it’s difficult to say exactly what was in said book of the law; I’m curious how late-oral scholars explain that passage.)

]]> By: Mormon Heretic http://mormonmatters.org/2009/12/24/time-to-study-the-old-testament%e2%80%a6%e2%80%a6-again-part-3-transmission-and-translation/#comment-125230 Mormon Heretic Fri, 25 Dec 2009 05:06:26 +0000 http://mormonmatters.org/?p=8769#comment-125230 As Jeff says, there is not consensus on when the Bible was written down. All it takes is one discovery to move Biblical dating back to the time of David (say 1000 BC) for the scholars to be proved wrong, which may or may not happen. For those who believe the Bible was first written down in 450 BC, obviously this would be a problem. The Documentary Hypothesis seems to indicate that the King Solomon first commissioned scribes to start compiling the Torah (first 5 books of Moses.) After the kingdoms split into northern and southern kingdoms, the hypothesis states that scribes from both the north and south came up with sort of parallel versions of the Bible, and have referred to these sources as J, E, D, and P. Obviously, these scribes predate many Old Testament prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Malachi (to name a few.) The Bible was really evolving prior to this, and obviously Solomon's Bible was drastically different than what we view as the Old Testament today, or the Brass Plates of Lehi, or even the Dead Sea Scrolls. As Jeff says, there is not consensus on when the Bible was written down. All it takes is one discovery to move Biblical dating back to the time of David (say 1000 BC) for the scholars to be proved wrong, which may or may not happen. For those who believe the Bible was first written down in 450 BC, obviously this would be a problem.

The Documentary Hypothesis seems to indicate that the King Solomon first commissioned scribes to start compiling the Torah (first 5 books of Moses.) After the kingdoms split into northern and southern kingdoms, the hypothesis states that scribes from both the north and south came up with sort of parallel versions of the Bible, and have referred to these sources as J, E, D, and P. Obviously, these scribes predate many Old Testament prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Malachi (to name a few.) The Bible was really evolving prior to this, and obviously Solomon’s Bible was drastically different than what we view as the Old Testament today, or the Brass Plates of Lehi, or even the Dead Sea Scrolls.

]]> By: Cowardly Liar http://mormonmatters.org/2009/12/24/time-to-study-the-old-testament%e2%80%a6%e2%80%a6-again-part-3-transmission-and-translation/#comment-125227 Cowardly Liar Fri, 25 Dec 2009 04:14:17 +0000 http://mormonmatters.org/?p=8769#comment-125227 "Depending on the scholar, the written text of the Torah begins to appear around 600BC at the earliest. But, the most commonly held belief is the around 450BC. Before that, it was transmitted orally. " OK, so how did Lehi take a written copy of it to the New World on brass plates in 600 BC? “Depending on the scholar, the written text of the Torah begins to appear around 600BC at the earliest. But, the most commonly held belief is the around 450BC. Before that, it was transmitted orally. ”

OK, so how did Lehi take a written copy of it to the New World on brass plates in 600 BC?

]]> By: Mormon Heretic http://mormonmatters.org/2009/12/24/time-to-study-the-old-testament%e2%80%a6%e2%80%a6-again-part-3-transmission-and-translation/#comment-125216 Mormon Heretic Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:47:55 +0000 http://mormonmatters.org/?p=8769#comment-125216 Jeff, I did post on the <a href="http://www.mormonheretic.org/2009/07/19/the-documentary-hypothesis/" rel="nofollow"> Documentary Hypothesis</a>, which goes into even older versions of the Torah. were you planning on posting something like that? Jeff, I did post on the Documentary Hypothesis, which goes into even older versions of the Torah. were you planning on posting something like that?

]]> By: AdamF http://mormonmatters.org/2009/12/24/time-to-study-the-old-testament%e2%80%a6%e2%80%a6-again-part-3-transmission-and-translation/#comment-125207 AdamF Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:20:54 +0000 http://mormonmatters.org/?p=8769#comment-125207 I appreciate these posts. There is SO MUCH written about the Bible that it's often too overwhelming to consider really studying it. Do you have any recommendations for books, a la slightly more thorough than Bible History for Dummies? I appreciate these posts. There is SO MUCH written about the Bible that it’s often too overwhelming to consider really studying it. Do you have any recommendations for books, a la slightly more thorough than Bible History for Dummies?

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