Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Ron Snider <sarasotapt AT comcast.net>]

George,

I meant to add, but forgot to, that the acronmym KISS (keep is simple 
stupid) is a good one, and Occam's razor "when you have two competing 
theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is the 
better" is the way I generally try to approach things.

Occam's further thought that "plurality should not be posited without 
necessity" is germane to these authorship issues . 

When competing hypotheses are equal in other respects, the principle 
recommends selection of the hypothesis that introduces the fewest 
assumptions and postulates the fewest entities while still sufficiently 
answering the question.  I think Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch and 
the other authors of their respective books  fulfills these general 
principles.  Even if I am incorrect, does adding unknown authors, with 
whatever motivation, bring us any closer to understanding what the text 
says.  Much of this is largely due to the advent of Higher Criticism, 
which I believe to be largely rationalistic in nature, and which I fear 
has muddied the scholarly and theological waters.

Regards,

Ron Snider <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor#cite_note-2>