The Narrow Path Ministries

I've posted here and there about how I approach the New Testament and am periodically asked what I think about the Old Testament. My answer has always been that I haven't really studied it historically. I read the psalms daily. That's about it (not to minimize that.)

I've been poking around on how the Jews collected the Old Testament. My personal library doesnt contain any books on the subject. So I haven't gotten past these two references. This...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developme ... ible_canon

... which points to this.

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/artic ... ible-canon

A good summary of the basics seems to be this quote from the jewishencyclopedia site:

The narrative of Neh. viii.-x., which describes an actual canonization, is of prime importance for the history of the collection of the Holy Writings. It is thus generally agreed that in the middle of the fifth century B.C. the first part of the canon was extant.

Both wiki and jewish encyclopedia include the sources for the hebrew canon.

How do we extrapolate back behind that date? How did/do Jewish scholars (since it is their's?)

Hello morbo,

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. Are you asking about things like: Did Moses write the Pentateuch? If he did, at least part of the Hebrew Bible was written long before 500BC. Of course, if we're talking about the compilation of the Hebrew canon, that would be another, but related, question.

Some time ago I found an excellent course from Yale (free, online). At one time someone put video to the course (maps, etc.), but the U2B playlist no longer exists.

However, Introduction to Hebrew Bible by Professor Christine Hayes is still available. (You can watch her lectures or download as mp3s). The sum total of all of the sessions is pretty long (something like about 22 hrs, if I'm not mistaken). Her approach is academic, emphasizing the Historical-Critical Method (i.e., the liberal approach).

Of particular interest (for me) was the differences between pagan and Hebrew views of God and/or the gods. I can't recall which lectures covered this, but this section was based on the ideas of Yehezkel Kaufmann.

I haven't watched some playlists I made for a while, but they might be related to what you're looking for @ The Bible's Buried Secrets (from a "Nova" special on PBS) and The Bible Unearthed (also from PBS . . . and they might have been posted illegally, but I didn't upload them)!

Session 4 of "Unearthed" is "The Book" and talks about scribes and the writing and of the OT. (I can't recall, offhand, if it deals with canonization).

Hayes' course is well worth a listen (or watch) -- even if one doesn't accept the more liberal approaches to the Old Testament!

Thank you so much Rick. Awesome resources.

I'd love to compare and contrast conservative stuff as well if anyone has it. I lean on the liberal side of scholarship, but it's not the only valid opinion.

Jeff.

Have you checked the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia? Look under 'Canon of the Old Testament'. I'd suggest the new edition if you can lay hands on a copy; if not, the old edition is on most all the Bible sites.