Expert: Dean Gade - 12/8/2005

Question
Hello. I'm not sure if you are familiar with what I am looking for but I figured I'd give it a shot anyway. Basically, I'm looking for a book that talks about the origins of the bible. Is there any proof of who wrote the bible? What do we know about them? What proof is there that Jesus did all the things they say in the bible and other questions similar to these.

Is it simply all on faith? Thank you for your time.

Take Care

James  

Answer
There have been many books which talk about the origins of the Bible.  Most of them are for theologians and are under the classification of Eisogogics or the critical commentaries of the Bible.

The most popular book for laypeople is "Halley's Bible Handbook" by Henry H. Halley, Zondervan Publishing House.  Almost all Bible bookstores would have it as well as some lirbraries.  It does come in softcover as well as hardcover.

The information about those who wrote the words is mostly internal. That is, the Bible itself names and tells who the writers are as well as telling much about their lives.

Externaly, research has been done by the Jews for well over two thousand years and then by the Christian scholars from the first century after the birth of Christ until now.

There is more "proof" (witnesses who wrote about it) that Jesus did the things the four gospels report than anyone in that time period or before.  More than Alexander the Great or King Cyrus, Ghengis Kahn, etc.  These men usually had one chronicler who wrote at the behest of these great men.  Whereas each of the four Gospels tell the accounts of Jesus from different perspectives, but still the same account.

These are followed by the Acts of the Apostles which tell us more of Jesus. And more in the writings of Paul, Peter, James, John and Jude.  These were all independent writings which were gathered together and made into the one book we call The Bible.

It takes less faith to believe these things than the biographies of the Greek philosophers, the Roman Caesers, the journeys of Marco Polo, etc.  There is much less written about them in their lifetiime and soon after their death than about Jesus, the Christ.

There are also more in depth studies of the Bible, it's contents and history in computer programs.  The most complete that I have seen is Biblesoft which can be ordered online  : Biblesoft.com   This is filled with commentaries, concordances, word studies, encyclopedias and dictiornariesm, maps and histories.