The Origin of the Bible

Friedman’s discussion of the origin of the bible is a fascinating thought. Growing up as a Jew, but not extremely religious, I always viewed the Old Testament as a place to get moral guidelines and learn about stories that hold important lessons. But it is strange to think that I haven’t thought much about whom or what wrote the bible. I believe the book has had more influence on modern human history than any other book. The spread of Christianity throughout the world has been profound, in addition to the influence that European imperialists (who carried Christianity with them) had on almost every major area in the world. America is one of those societies that is very much influenced by this single book, through the governmental influences to the impact is has on everyday decisions and actions.

Not everyone who is influenced by the bible is a fundamentalist (those who take every word of it to be literal and historical), yet not all of us have given too much thought as to the bible’s origin. Friedman points out that when a student reads a book in school, they usually learn about the author’s background. I remember learning about Mark Twain’s time period and life before reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and researching Bob Woodward’s history before reading his book, Maestro. Knowing about the author and the time period in which a book was written has always helped me understand the context of the literature. With the bible, however, this is nearly impossible as the knowledge is not yet available. My opinion is, that with a book like the bible, it is not as important as it is with books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The reason for this is that the bible is not a book that people read to learn about a past culture or some type of topic. Spirituality is different than regular study, and inspiration from the bible (not in a fundamentalist perspective) does not have to involve the context of its origins. The idea of where the bible originated is still a fascinating and important topic to study, but knowing these answers isn’t absolutely necessary for everyone who has some kind of connection to the book.