Debates have long raged over the Bible's authorship. (Biblical Mysteries EP24) "The Bible is a library, and libraries only get built over long, long years, centuries," notes one biblical scholar in the two-part Who Wrote the Bible?. Yet many disagree, believing that the Bible is the literal word of God, handed down to mortals who acted merely as transcribers. This fascinating video explores questions such as "How much of the Bible is the word of God, and how much is the work of mortals?" "Are all the original books still in the Bible?" and "Where do legend and history intersect in the Bible?" Delving into the theory that four authors took part, examining historical evidence such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, and looking at ancient customs, we are given a new perspective on the most well-known and well-read text of all time. The first 75-minute tape looks at the five books of Moses--the Old Testament--while the second 75-minute tape examines the New Testament. This is a truly interesting investigation of the origins of the Bible, engaging for those with a background in religion and educational for the layperson. It is the world's most widely read and revered book, regarded as the Word of God by the faithful and a fascinating historical document by scholars. But what are the facts behind the creation of this immortal text?This two-volume set chronicles new scientific research and theological insight into the origin of the Holy Scriptures. Leading Biblical experts journey back to the land and the times of the Bible's very creation to probe its most profound mysteries: Did Moses really write the Torah? What secrets does the oldest existing piece of the Bible reveal? And what hints of its genesis can the Dead Sea scrolls tell us? From ancient Qumran to Jerusalem and from Galilee to Egypt, the clues this unique inquiry uncovers will intrigue and inspire the faithful and scholarly alike! The Bible (from Koine Greek τὰ βιβλία, tà biblía, "the books") is a canonical collection of texts considered sacred in Judaism or Christianity. Different religious groups include different books within their canons, in different orders, and sometimes divide or combine books, or incorporate additional material into canonical books. Christian Bibles range from the sixty-six books of the Protestant canon to the eighty-one books of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church canon. The Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, contains twenty-four books divided into three parts: the five books of the Torah ("teaching" or "law"), the Nevi'im ("prophets"), and the Ketuvim ("writings"). The first part of Christian Bibles is the Old Testament, which contains, at minimum, the twenty-four books of the Hebrew Bible divided into thirty-nine books and ordered differently than the Hebrew Bible. The Catholic Church and Eastern Christian churches also hold certain deuterocanonical books and passages to be part of the Old Testament canon. The second part is the New Testament, containing twenty-seven books: the four Canonical gospels, Acts of the Apostles, twenty-one Epistles or letters, and the Book of Revelation. By the 2nd century BCE Jewish groups had called the Bible books "holy," and Christians now commonly call the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible "The Holy Bible" (τὰ βιβλία τὰ ἅγια, tà biblía tà ágia) or "the Holy Scriptures" (η Αγία Γραφή, e Agía Graphḗ). Many Christians consider the whole canonical text of the Bible to be divinely inspired. The oldest surviving complete Christian Bibles are Greek manuscripts from the 4th century. The oldest Tanakh manuscript in Hebrew and Aramaic dates to the 10th century CE, but an early 4th-century Septuagint translation is found in the Codex Vaticanus. The Bible was divided into chapters in the 13th century by Stephen Langton and into verses in the 16th century by French printer Robert Estienne and is now usually cited by book, chapter, and verse. The Bible has estimated annual sales of 25 million copies, and has been a major influence on literature and history, especially in the West where it was the first mass printed book.

• published: 12 Dec 2013
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