Reading

One of my Facebook friends has a widget on her blog from GoodReads. I love the feature, and someday soon I will - I really will - figure out how to import that widget onto my blog. Meantime, what I'm reading, or have just read. . .

(really, I should ask Vanessa or Jasper how to do this. Grandkids, 13 and 11 years old, respectively. They could probably enlighten me. When I was 13 LBJ was in the White House, our deployed troops were in the 'Nam, and if you'd told me that every house had a computer in it, I'd have thought you crazy.)

ANYWHOOO. . .what I've just read: A book by Richard Elliott Friedman, entitled Who Wrote the Bible? At first glance the title seems a bit ambitious. The Bible is a collection of books, spanning about 2000 years. Asking "Who wrote the Bible?" is like asking "Who wrote the public library?" The question doesn't, on its surface, make any sense.

Friedman addresses a narrower topic. He starts by describing the four-source theory. It's not an hypothesis; it has found general acceptance among biblical scholars. In accepting that as his starting point, Friedman does nothing original. The theory states that the Torah - the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy - were not, in fact, composed by Moses. Those who would insist that they were written by Moses are left to explain how Moses wrote the passage describing his own death, or why there would be two different accounts of the creation, two different accounts of Noah's flood, or other seeming anomalies. The answer, supported by the internal patterns of the writing, is that at least two different writers were involved.

As it turns out, there were four identifiable patterns - four different writing styles, four different theological approaches: the Yahwist, the Elohist, the Priestly, and the Deuteronomist. Friedman presents compelling evidence of this theory. But, then he takes it a step further. He tries to identify the exact writer, or at least the time and place when  this writer lived, and which group he would have been associated with. Here, while I found his evidence and arguments persuasive, I did not find them conclusive. Still and all, a good read, and I'd recommend it to anyone who is serious about study of the Hebrew scriptures.

WHAT I'M READING NOW: At most times I have my bookmark in three or four books. Right now, one of them is Newman 101, by Roderick Strange. Those who would gain an acquaintance of 19th-century British civilization would do well to make Newman's acquaintance. So would anyone who would understand modern Catholicism. He is one of the heavyweights in both arenas. Like many philosophers or theologians, he is, at times, not particularly accessible; one would do well to read something about him before trying to read him. I'm looking forward to the read.

A second book is by Peter Gay: My German Question. Gay was born in Germany in 1923 to a Jewish family. In 1933 Hitler ascended to power. Mr. Gay emigrated from Germany in 1939. He describes aspects of being a Jewish youth in Germany during the first six years of the Third Reich. I have always found studies of Hitler's Germany and Stalin's USSR fascinating. I'm constantly amazed at the willingness of the human animal, when it has unfettered control over any other group or individual, to exercise that control in the most cruel manner possible. See SLAVERY, AMERICAN. Or, NATIVE AMERICAN RESERVATION SYSTEM.

Love your thoughts. Love to know what you're reading. Thanks for hanging out for a few!