Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George F Somsel <gfsomsel AT juno.com>]

On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 00:01:12 -0700 Dave Washburn <dwashbur AT nyx.net>
writes:
> On Thursday 23 December 2004 13:53, Jim West wrote:
> > At 11:36 AM 12/23/2004, you wrote:
> > >All of this is simply evidence that Genesis has undergone some 
> kind of
> > >redaction or editing since Moses' time. None of it is evidence 
> against the
> > >hypothesis that the text as we have it is substantially as 
> written by
> > >Moses, with some updating of the language and of place names.
> >
> > Am I correct in assuming that you think Moses wrote Genesis and 
> that it has
> > since been redacted?  Moses wrote Genesis?  Really?  One question. 
>  Where
> > in the text of Genesis does it say anywhere who wrote it?
> 
> Is this the only possible criterion for determining who wrote a 
> book?  All of 
> the Pauline epistles say right in the header that they were written 
> by Paul, 
> yet you deny Pauline authorship of several of them, so apparently 
> this 
> criterion isn't exact either.  ISTM that requiring Moses' signature 
> (so to 
> speak) before accepting the possibility is a bit anachronistic in 
> itself, 
> requiring a fairly modern concept in an ancient document.
> 
> -- 
> Dave Washburn
> http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
> "No good.  Hit on head."   -Gronk
> _______________________________________________

Of course that isn't exact.  I could write a book claiming that Henry
Kissinger wrote it, but that wouldn't make it so.  In the same way there
are apocalypses written in the name of Adam, Enoch and others; but I
hardly think you would grant that any credence.  When a claim to
authorship is challenged, the challenger is obliged to submit evidence
which falsifies that claim.  Anyone wishing to deny the challenge is
obliged to submit evidence falsifying the falsification.

george
gfsomsel
___________