On the test that we had recently in Jewish History, we were given five essay questions and told to pick two to write about. However, there was a third that caught my eye, and so I decided to save it for a blog post (if you're interested, I'd be happy to type up my other essays at some point and post them). The topic is the question stated in the title: Is the Tanakh of Divine Creation?
Here is my response.
In my opinion, the Tanakh is of human origin, not divine. Not only that, but I think that there were multiple writers. In class, we discussed four, but also the possibility of as man as hundreds more. This is evidenced by the many different voices found within its pages. As a writer, I'm very familiar with the idea of each person having their own unique style of writing, a different "voice" if you will, and the same can be said for the writers of the Tanakh. It's clear when the writing changes hands. Also, each writer focuses on different things, and uses different phrases/titles.
All together, that shows me that, unless God wove together an intricate plot to make us think that the Tanakh was written by humans in order to hide the fact that it was written by God (which is highly unlikely; why on earth would anyone go to such trouble for something so trivial?), the Tanakh was clearly written by humans.
What do you think?
First, I wonder if you actually read people's comments here. Second, whether I agree or disagree with who wrote the Tanakh, if I believe in a God of creation etc. as referred to in it, why would such a choice be "trivial?"
ReplyDeleteFirst, I read people's comments, I promise. But I read them from my email, and it took me a while to figure out how to reply to them, which I am doing now.
DeleteSecond, I use the word "trivial" because no matter who wrote the Tanakh, it's still the foundation of our religion, and people will likely continue to see it as holy either way. Perhaps trivial wasn't the best word choice, but it's a little late to change it now.
Sorry for the delay in replying!
The Tanakh is a very controversial topic. I believe that the teachings are God's but it was actually first written down by humans. It was never given to the people by God. The stories in the Tanakh seem really likely to have happened when you look at it from a historical perspective. The only story from the Tanakh that I have trouble believing is the Creation story.
ReplyDeleteI share a similar viewpoint to yours, Amit, although I do find a few other parts of the Tanakh a bit unbelievable as well.
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