2. Interpreting the Bible as a historical document
Liberal Christians who use this approach to biblical interpretation view the Bible as having been written by very human, fallible authors. The writers were motivated by a desire to promote their own religious, spiritual, and political beliefs and/or those of their faith group. Thus, the Bible reflects the evolution of religious and cultural thought over about a ten century time span. Some beliefs which are common to those using this interpretive technique include:
The authors of the Bible were very human and often made mistakes in their writing.
Biblical writers attempted to explain their beliefs about God and his will for humanity. Being fallible, they sometimes wrote material that was contrary to the will of God.
Some parts of the Bible should be ignored and are not suitable as a guide to modern living. Typical examples are: laws regulating slavery, restricting the roles of women, ordering genocide, torturing prisoners, allowing the rape of female prisoners of war, requiring the murder of religious and sexual minorities, requiring the burning of some prostitutes alive, and many other activities considered profoundly immoral by today's ethical standards.
The authors were limited by the tribal nature of their culture, their theocratic or dictatorial political structure, their lack of scientific knowledge, etc.
Some forged passages have been added by unknown authors since the original texts were written.
Accidental and intentional errors have occurred in copying.
Entire books in the Bible have been written many decades or even centuries after the apparent author died. Four of the Epistles - 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus - all state that they were written by Paul. However, they were actually composed 35 to 85 years after Paul's death.
Other books were attributed to mythical characters. The hero Daniel, who was supposed to have been born circa 620 BC, is probably a mythical character. The book of Daniel was actually written circa 164 BC, almost half a millennium later.
The Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible were not written by Moses circa 1450 BC. It was written by four anonymous authors or groups of authors generally referred to as J, E, P and D, and later redacted by "R."
The Bible contains much material copied from neighboring Pagan cultures and pre-Abrahamic beliefs. Three examples are the pair of creation stories, the flood of Noah, and the tower of Babel.
Some biblical passages are religious propaganda, and not historically reliable. The gospels' text which blamed "the Jews" for the execution of Jesus is one example. Those passages in the Bible are much more closely linked to conflicts between Jews and Christians some 40 to 70 years after Jesus' death, than to real historical events at the time of Jesus' ministry.
Jesus actually said only a very few of the words attributed to him in the Gospels. Jesus spoke in Aramaic. The Christian Scriptures (New Testament) were written in Greek, thus containing translations from Greek into English of words which were earlier translated from Aramaic into Greek.
Very few of the words or acts by Jesus in the Gospel of John refer to real events.
The early Christian church was divided into many differing traditions: (e.g. Jewish, Pauline, and Gnostic Christianity). The books of the Bible were chosen in the fourth century AD from among about 50 gospels, hundreds of epistles, many infancy stories, many books of revelation etc. They were mainly chosen on the basis of their conformity with orthodox Christian beliefs as they existed at the time. Non-conforming books were suppressed, and sometimes lost forever. Yet they contained much valuable material about the primitive Christian movement.
It is helpful to study the books of the Christian Scriptures in chronological order. One can detect how particular beliefs -- e.g. the virgin birth -- apparently developed through time.
Modern versions of the Bible are reasonably accurate translations of the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, but still reflect the prejudices of the translators, and the belief systems of the religious institutions which sponsored them. Older translations, like the KJV, are less reliable because their translators had less complete knowledge of Hebrew, and had access to fewer ancient manuscripts.
Recent findings of the physical, social and medical sciences have shown that some parts of the Bible cannot be considered accurate. (e.g. the creation stories, mental illness caused by demon infestation, concepts of the structure of the universe, creation of rainbows, origin of various languages, etc).
to be continued...
Topic: Descendents of A & E