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Thebooks of the Bible represent the culmination of intricate literary processes spanning multiple generations, with numerous unnamed scribes, compilers, and revisers contributing layers of material over extended periods, contrasting sharply with traditional attributions to singular prophetic or apostolic figures.[1]
Contemporary biblical studies reveals how these texts evolved fromcommunal oral performance through sophisticatedscribal workshops of theSecond Temple era, subsequently transmitted via manuscript copying networks, transformed byprint technology, and refined through modernscholarly editions.
Archaeological discoveries including theDead Sea Scrolls alongside extensive documentation of textual variation, encompassing hundreds of thousands of divergent readings preserved in manuscript collections worldwide, illuminate a dynamic, fluid compositional landscape where discrete literary fragments coalesced into comprehensive biblical books.
Therabbis of theBabylonian Talmud held that God wrote theTorah in heaven in letters of black fire on parchment of white fire before the world was created, and that Moses received it by divine dictation.[2] The earlyChurch Fathers agreed that the scriptures were inspired or dictated by God, but not on which writings were scriptural: as a result, theEastern Orthodox andRoman Catholic churches treat some books (theApocrypha) as inspired, but theProtestant tradition does not.[3]
In the 20th century, the vast majority of Catholic and Protestant theologians moved away from the divine dictation model and emphasized the role of the human authors.[4] Many conservative scholars now accept, for example, that theBook of Isaiah has multiple authors and that2 Corinthians is two letters joined.[5] Nevertheless, bothDei Filius, theFirst Vatican Council'sDogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith, andDei verbum, theSecond Vatican Council'sDogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, retain the form of wording which states that the scriptures "have God as their author",[6][7] with the latter text adding that
In composing the sacred books, God chose men and while employed by Him they made use of their powers and abilities, so that with Him acting in them and through them, they, as true authors, consigned to writing everything and only those things which He wanted.[7]
Modern scholarship recognizes that biblical texts typically emerged through complex processes involving multiple unknown authors, editors, and redactors working across centuries, rather than single-author composition. These anonymous scribes and compilers, distinct from the traditionally attributed prophets and figures likeMoses,Isaiah, orDavid, worked to combine earlier sources, add editorial layers, and facilitatecommunal transmission, with most books showing evidence of this collaborative process rather than composition by the famous biblical personalities to whom they are traditionally ascribed.[8]
Historical authorship and textual transmission progressed fromoral tradition andscribal copying to print standardization and moderncritical editions that underwrite contemporary American English Bibles such as theNew International Version andEnglish Standard Version.Textual critics document hundreds of thousands of non-spellingvariant readings (500k+ in 2020) across roughly six thousandGreek New Testament manuscripts and thousands ofHebrew Bible witnesses.[9][10][11][12][13][14]
Many differences are orthographic or word order, yet a substantial set comprises added, omitted, or relocated lines, verses, and longer passages. Notable examples include thelonger ending of Mark 16:9–20, thepericope adulterae inJohn 7:53–8:11, theComma Johanneum in1 John 5:7–8, and shorter or longer readings such asLuke 22:43–44 and 23:34a.[15] TheHebrew Bible shows comparable phenomena, including the shorter Greek form ofJeremiah relative to theMasoretic Text, divergences in1 Samuel 17–18, and readings such asDeuteronomy 32:8 supported by theDead Sea Scrolls.[16][17][18]
Biblical writings moved from oral performance to written artifacts produced by professionalscribes during the Second Temple period (c. 6th century BCE–1st century CE), using ruled columns onpapyrus or animal skinparchment andvellum.The Judean Desert corpus (c. 3rd century BCE–2nd century CE) shows standardized technical routines, including pricking and ruling, column width conventions, orthographic choices, and correction practices such as erasure, interlinear insertion, and marginal annotation.[19][20] Hebrew biblical scrolls from the Judean Desert (c. 3rd century BCE–2nd century CE) were written overwhelmingly on parchment, with only a small minority on papyrus, and they display paratext features such asketiv qere and proto-Masoretic diacritic guidance that later culminated in full Tiberian systems (c. 7th–10th centuries CE).[21] Early Greek Christian manuscripts (c. 2nd–4th centuries CE) exhibitnomina sacra and rapid transition to the codex format, which functioned as material signals of scriptural status and reading use.[22][23]
Copying followed exemplars with local error control. Scribes counted lines or checked column totals, compared exemplar and copy visually, and annotated corrections inline or in margins. Colophons in some traditions recorded scribe, place, and date, and the Masorah later recorded variant readings and accents as a meta-textual quality system.[24] Redaction and compilation produced larger literary units. Tradents combined sources, inserted headings and transitional sentences, harmonized parallels, and excerpted anthologies such as psalm and prophetic collections. The resulting textual families are described in the standard typology used by Hebrew Bible textual critics, with proto-Masoretic, pre-Samaritan, texts close to the Hebrew hyparchetype behind theSeptuagint, and non-aligned forms all attested at Qumran.[25][26]
Transmission proceeded through distinct textual traditions across multiple centuries. The Hebrew stream crystallized as theMasoretic Text withTiberian vocalization, accents, and masoretic notes (c. 7th–10th centuries CE). Ancient versions attest earlier textual states and exegetical translation strategies, including the GreekSeptuagint (c. 3rd century BCE–2nd century CE), the AramaicTargums (c. 1st–8th centuries CE), thePeshitta (c. 2nd–5th centuries CE), the LatinVulgate (c. 382–405 CE), and theCoptic translations (c. 3rd–7th centuries CE). Surveys of early Christian translation activity appear atEarly translations of the New Testament. For the later history of vernaculars seeBible translations andModern English Bible translations.
The shift from scroll tocodex altered production and use during the first through fourth centuries CE. Literary rolls remained common in the wider Greco-Roman world into the fourth century, yet the surviving Christian evidence shows a strong preference for codices by the second and third centuries, especially for writings treated as scripture.[27][28] This format enabled binding of multiple works, durable reuse, and dense cross-referencing. Majorparchment codices from the fourth and fifth centuries CE preserve extensive biblical corpora, includingCodex Sinaiticus (c. 330–360 CE),Codex Vaticanus (c. 300–325 CE), andCodex Alexandrinus (c. 400–440 CE).Eusebian canon tables (c. 320s CE) and later chapter systems simplified navigation, and the modern reference system withChapters and verses of the Bible.
Theprinting press moved transmission from manuscript to mass production and then to critical standardization. TheComplutensian Polyglot Bible contains theeditio princeps of theSeptuagint and the first printedGreek New Testament, with the New Testament colophon dated 10 January 1514, although publication lagged until papal approval and market conditions allowed broader release.[29]Erasmus issued the first published Greek New Testament in 1516, which quickly shaped scholarly and vernacular work.[30]Robert Estienne introduced verse numbers for the New Testament in his 1551 Greek-Latin edition, a reference technology adopted across languages and later extended to full Bibles.[31]
Modern critical baselines areBiblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia andBiblia Hebraica Quinta on the Hebrew side andNovum Testamentum Graece (NA28) with theUBS Greek New Testament (UBS5) on the Greek side, each with a selectivecritical apparatus that documents major variants and witnesses.[32][33] The mainstream scholarly consensus onNew Testament textual criticism methodology has been established with the comprehensive handbooks byKurt andBarbara Aland'sThe Text of the New Testament, along withBruce M. Metzger andBart D. Ehrman'sThe Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration.[34][35]
Qumran yielded twenty-oneIsaiah manuscripts. Two came fromCave 1, eighteen fromCave 4, and one fromCave 5. A further copy of Isaiah was discovered south of Qumran atWadi Murabba'at, bringing theJudean Desert total to twenty-two.[36][37] TheGreat Isaiah Scroll 1QIsaa preserves all sixty-six chapters across fifty-four columns and is physically bisected at roughly chapters 33–34, a feature sometimes used to discuss internal book divisions, yet the fragmentary Cave 4 witnesses span passages from both early and late chapters, so a simple first-half versus second-half count is not meaningful.[38][39] The number and distribution of Isaiah witnesses at Qumran, together withpesher commentaries, indicate intensive community use and an open textual environment consistent with broader Judean Desert pluriformity described by Tov and Ulrich.[40][41]
Evidence for combining previously separate prophetic writings into larger scrolls is direct. Multiple Qumran copies of theBook of the Twelve are transmitted as single scrolls that already combine the twelveMinor Prophets. Outside Qumran, the GreekMinor Prophets Scroll 8HevXIIgr fromNahal Hever transmits the Twelve in one Greek scroll and preserves book order data used in composition research.[42][43] The existence of single-scroll Twelve manuscripts, alongside multiple Isaiah copies with overlapping coverage across early and late chapters, documents a scribal practice in which smaller units could be copied and later combined into larger literary wholes.
TheComplutensian andErasmus editions initiated a print era in which multicolumn comparison and editorial notes became normal. Verse numbering byEstienne created a fixed reference grid for quick reference. Moderncritical projects continue that workflow by documenting variants across witnesses in a controlled apparatus.
Today's biblical scholars and translators rely on carefully maintained reference editions that serve as the foundation for academic study and modern Bible translations. TheDeutsche Bibelgesellschaft (German Bible Society) publishes two of the most important critical editions: theBHQ for the Hebrew Bible (with completion expected by 2032) and theNA28 for the Greek New Testament, which forms the basis for theUBS6 text (2025).[44][45] These represent centuries of scholarly work comparing thousands of ancient manuscripts, providing translators and researchers reliable reconstructions of the original biblical texts.
TheHebrew Bible, or Tanakh, is the collection of scriptures making up the Bible used byJudaism. The same books, in a slightly different order, also make up the Protestant version of theOld Testament. The order used here follows the divisions used in Jewish Bibles.
Most of the Hebrew Bible was written between the late 8th century BCE and early 6th century BCE. Biblical texts were written byscribes (Hebrew:sofer), the literate class of bureaucrats in a mostly non-literate, oral culture. The question of biblical authorship was not important untilHellenization in the 4th century BCE, long after most biblical books had been written.Ancient Greeks believed that a text's authority depended on its author, and Jewish tradition was pressured to identify authors for its writings.[8]
The first division of the Jewish Bible is theTorah, meaning'Instruction' or'Law'. In scholarly literature, it is frequently called by its Greek name, the Pentateuch ('five scrolls'). It is the group of five books made up ofGenesis,Exodus,Leviticus,Numbers, andDeuteronomy and stands first in all versions of the Christian Old Testament.
There is a tradition within Judaism and Christianity thatMoses wrote the Torah. The Torah itself attributes certain sections toMosaic authorship.[note 1] In later biblical texts, such asDaniel 9:11 andEzra 3:2, it is called the "Torah of Moses".[47] According toRabbinic tradition, the five books of the Torah were written by Moses, with the exception of the last eight verses of Deuteronomy which describe his death.[48]
Moses would have lived in the2nd millennium BCE, before the development ofHebrew writing. Scholars date the Torah to the1st millennium BCE. The Torah may, however, incorporate olderoral traditions, such as proverbs, stories, and songs.[47] Most Jews and Christians believed in Mosaic authorship until the 17th century. Today, the majority of scholars agree that the Pentateuch does not have a single author and that its composition took place over centuries.[49]
The rise ofhistorical criticism in the 19th century led scholars to conclude that multiple authors wrote the Pentateuch over a long period. By the mid-20th century, thedocumentary hypothesis had gained nearly universal consensus among scholars.[50] According to the documentary hypothesis, the Pentateuch was created by combining four originally independent documents. TheJahwist source (c. 10th – c. 9th century BCE) and theElohist source (c. 8th century BCE) were the first to be combined into one document. In the 7th century BCE, theDeuteronomist produced Deuteronomy, which was later added to the combined document. In thepost-exilic period, the Pentateuch reached its final form with the addition of thePriestly source (c. 5th century BCE).[51][52]
The consensus around the documentary hypothesis began to break down in the 1970s,[50] and this approach has since seen various revisions.[53] While the identification of distinctive Deuteronomistic and Priestly theologies and vocabularies remains widespread, they are used to form new approaches suggesting that the books were combined gradually over time by the slow accumulation of "fragments" of text, or that a basic text was "supplemented" by later authors/editors.[54] At the same time there has been a tendency to bring the origins of the Pentateuch further forward in time, and the most recent proposals place it in 5th century BCEJudah under the Persian empire.[55]
Deuteronomy is treated separately from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. Its place in the documentary hypothesis is anomalous, as it, unlike the other four, consists of a single "source". The process of its formation probably took several hundred years, from the 8th century to the 6th,[56] and its authors have been variously identified as prophetic circles (because the concerns of Deuteronomy mirror those of the prophets, especiallyHosea), Levitical priestly circles (because it stresses the role of theLevites), and wisdom and scribal circles (because it esteems wisdom, and because the treaty-form in which it is written would be best known toscribes).[57] Deuteronomy was later used as the introduction to the comprehensive history of Israel written in the early part of the 6th century, and later still it was detached from the history and used to round off the Pentateuch.[58]
The Former Prophets (נביאים ראשונים,Nevi'im Rishonim), make up the first part of the second division of the Hebrew Bible, theNevi'im, which translates as "Prophets". In Christian Bibles theBook of Ruth, which belongs in the final section of the Hebrew Bible, is inserted between Judges and Samuel.
According to Jewish tradition dating from at least the 2nd century CE, theBook of Joshua was byJoshua, theBook of Judges and theBooks of Samuel were by the prophetSamuel (with some passages by the prophetsGad andNathan), while the twoBooks of Kings were byJeremiah.[59] Since 1943 most scholars have acceptedMartin Noth's argument that Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings make up a single work, the so-called "Deuteronomistic history."[60] Noth believed that the history was the work of a single author writing in the time of theBabylonian exile (586–539 BCE). This author/editor took as his starting point an early version of the book of Deuteronomy, which had already been composed during the reign ofJosiah (last quarter of the 7th century), selecting, editing and composing it to produce a coherent work.[61]Frank Moore Cross later proposed that an earlier version of the history was composed in Jerusalem in Josiah's time; this first version, Dtr1, was then revised and expanded to create Noth's second edition, or Dtr2. Still later scholars have discovered further layers and further author-editors.[62] In the 1990s some scholars began to question the existence of a Deuteronomistic history[62] and the question of the origin of these books continues to be debated.[63]
Modern scholars divide theBook of Isaiah into three parts, each with a different origin:[64]"First Isaiah", chapters 1–39, containing the words of the historical 8th century BCE prophetIsaiah and later expansions by his disciples;[65] "Deutero-Isaiah" (chapters 40–55), by an anonymous Jewish author in Babylon near the end of theBabylonian captivity;[64]: 418 and"Trito-Isaiah" (chapters 56–66), by anonymous disciples of Deutero-Isaiah in Jerusalem immediately after the return from Babylon[64]: 444 (although some scholars suggest that chapters 55–66 were written by Deutero-Isaiah after the fall of Babylon).[66] This orderly sequence of pre-exilic, exilic and post-exilic material is somewhat misleading, as some scholars note that significant editing appears to have taken place in all three parts.[67]
Jeremiah lived in the late 7th and early 6th centuries BCE. TheBook of Jeremiah presentsBaruch ben Neriah as the prophet's companion who writes his words on several occasions, and there has accordingly been much speculation that Baruch could have composed an early edition of the book.[68] In the early 20th centurySigmund Mowinckel identified three types of material in the book, Jeremiah 1–25 (Type A) being the words of Jeremiah himself, the biographic prose material (Type B) by an admirer writing c. 580–480 BCE, and the remainder (Type C) from later periods.[69] There has been considerable debate over Mowinckel's ideas, notably the extent of the Jeremiah material and the role of Baruch, who may have been the author of the Type B material.[69] It is generally agreed that the book has strong connections with theDeuteronomistic layers from the Former Prophets, recapitulating in modern terms the traditional idea that Jeremiah wrote both his own book and the Books of Kings.[70]
TheBook of Ezekiel describes itself as the words ofEzekiel ben-Buzi, a priest living in exile in the city ofBabylon between 593 and 571 BCE.[71] The various manuscripts, however, differ markedly from each other, and it is clear that the book has been subjected to extensive editing.[71] While Ezekiel himself may have been responsible for some of this revision, there is general agreement that the book as we have it today is the product of a highly educatedpriestly circle that owed allegiance to the historical Ezekiel and was closely associated with the Temple.[71]
TheMinor Prophets are one book in the Hebrew Bible, and many (though not all) modern scholars agree that the Book of the Twelve underwent a process of editing which resulted in a coherent collection.[72] This process is believed to have reached its final form in thePersian period (538–332 BCE), although there is disagreement over whether this was early or late.[73] For the individual books, scholars usually assume that there exists an original core of prophetic tradition which can be attributed to the figure after whom the book is named.[74] The noteworthy exception is theBook of Jonah, an anonymous work containing no prophetic oracles, probably composed in theHellenistic period (332–167 BCE).[75]
While a number of thePsalms bear headings which seem to identify their authors, these are probably the result of the need to find a significant identification in tradition.[76] The individual psalms come from widely different periods: "some ... presuppose a reigning king and an established cult in the Temple; others clearly presuppose and mention the events of the Exile."[77]
The unknown author of theBook of Job is unlikely to have written earlier than the 6th century BCE, and the cumulative evidence suggests a post-Exilic date.[78] It contains some 1,000 lines, of which about 750 form the original core.[79]
TheBook of Proverbs consists of several collections taken from various sources.[80] Chapters 10:1–22:16 are probably the oldest section, with chapters 1–9 being composed as a prologue – there is some question whether this happened before or after the Exile (587 BCE). The remaining collections are probably later, with the book reaching its final form around the 3rd century BCE.[81]
TheTalmud refers toSamuel as the author ofRuth, but this conflicts with several details inside the book.[82] It has been proposed that the anonymous author was a woman, or if a man then one who took women's issues seriously.[83] The book is largely a unity, although the genealogy of David appears to be a later addition.[84]
TheSong of Songs was traditionally attributed toSolomon, but modern scholars date it around the 3rd century BCE.[85] Scholars still debate whether it is a single unified work (and therefore from a single author), or more in the nature of an anthology.[86]
TheBook of Ecclesiastes is usually dated to the mid-3rd century BCE. A provenance in Jerusalem is considered likely. The book's claim ofSolomon as author is a literary fiction; the author also identifies himself as "Qoheleth", a word of obscure meaning which critics have understood variously as a personal name, anom de plume, an acronym, and a function; a final self-identification is as "shepherd", a title usually implying royalty.[87]
Lamentations is assigned by tradition to theProphetJeremiah; linguistic and theological evidence point to its origin as a distinct book in the 3rd or 2nd century BCE, with the contents having their origin in special mourning observances in Exilic and post-Exilic Jewish communities.[88]
TheBook of Esther was composed in the late 4th or early 3rd century BCE among the Jews of the eastern diaspora. The genre of the book is the novella or short story, and it draws on the themes of wisdom literature; its sources are still unresolved.[89]
TheBook of Daniel presents itself as the work of a prophet namedDaniel who lived during the 6th century BCE; the overwhelming majority of modern scholars date it to the 2nd century BCE.[90] The author, writing in the time of the Maccabees to assure his fellow-Jews that their persecution by the Syrians would come to an end and see them victorious, seems to have constructed his book around the legendary Daniel mentioned in Ezekiel, a figure ranked with Noah and Job for his wisdom and righteousness.[91]
TheBook of Ezra and theBook of Nehemiah were originally one work,Ezra-Nehemiah. H.G.M Williamson (1987) proposed three basic stages leading to the final work: (1) composition of the various lists and Persian documents, which he accepts as authentic and therefore the earliest parts of the book; (2) composition of the "Ezra memoir" and "Nehemiah memoir", about 400 BCE; and (3) composition of Ezra 1–6 as the final editor's introduction to the combined earlier texts, about 300 BCE.[92] Lester Grabbe (2003) puts the combination of the two texts Ezra and Nehemiah, with some final editing, somewhat later, in the Ptolemaic period, c. 300–200 BCE.[93]
Chronicles is an anonymous work from Levitical circles in Jerusalem, probably composed in the late 4th century BCE.[94] Although the book is divided into two parts (1st and 2nd Chronicles), the majority of studies propose a single underlying text with lengthy later additions and amendments to underline certain interests such as the cult or the priesthood.[95]
The Catholic and Orthodox Christian churches include some or all of the following books in their Bibles.
The Greek text of the Book of Danielcontains additions not found in the Hebrew/Aramaic version. All are anonymous. ThePrayer of Azariah (one of Daniel's companions) was probably composed around 169/8–165/4, whenAntiochus IV was oppressing the Jews. TheSong of the Three Holy Children (i.e., the three thrown into the furnace) may have been composed by priestly circles in Jerusalem.Susanna may have been composed around 170–130 BCE in the context of the Hellenisation struggle.Bel and the Dragon is difficult to date, but the late 6th century is possible.[96]
Jerome's translation of the Bible into Latin (theVulgate) contained four books of Esdras (i.e.Ezra); Jerome's 1 and 2 Esdras were eventually renamedEzra andNehemiah; the remaining books each moved up two places in most versions, but the numbering system remains highly confused. The present1 Esdras takes material from theBook of Chronicles and theBook of Ezra, but ignoresNehemiah entirely; it was probably composed in the period 200–100 BCE.[97]2 Esdras has no connection with the other Esdras books beyond taking Ezra as its central character. It was probably written soon after the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE.
The author of theBook of Baruch is traditionally held to beBaruch the companion ofJeremiah, but this is considered unlikely. Some scholars propose that it was written during or shortly after the period of theMaccabees.[98]
The anonymous author of1 Maccabees was an educated Jew and a serious historian; a date around 100 BCE is most likely.[99]2 Maccabees is a revised and condensed version of a work by an otherwise unknown author called Jason of Cyrene, plus passages by the anonymous editor who made the condensation (called "the Epitomist"). Jason most probably wrote in the mid to late 2nd century BCE, and the Epitomist before 63 BCE.[100]3 Maccabees concerns itself with the Jewish community in Egypt a half-century before the revolt, suggesting that the author was an Egyptian Jew, and probably a native of Alexandria. A date of c. 100–75 BCE is "very probable".[101]4 Maccabees was probably composed in the middle half of the 1st century CE, by a Jew living in Syria or Asia Minor.[102]
TheLetter of Jeremiah is not by Jeremiah; the author apparently appropriated the name of the prophet to lend authority to his composition. Nor is it by Jeremiah's secretaryBaruch, although it appears as the last chapter of Baruch in the Catholic Bible and the KJV. Internal evidence points to a date around 317 BCE, with the author possibly a Jew in Palestine addressingJews of the diaspora.[103]
ThePrayer of Manasseh presents itself as a prayer from the wicked, but now penitent, kingManasseh (or Manassas) from his exile in Babylon. The actual author is unknown, and the date of composition is probably the 2nd or 1st centuries BCE.[104]
Sirach names its author asJesus ben Sirach. He was probably a scribe, offering instruction to the youth of Jerusalem. His grandson's preface to the Greek translation helps date the work to the first quarter of the 2nd century BCE, probably between 196 BCE and the beginning of the oppression of the Jews byAntiochus IV, who reigned 175–164 BCE.[105] TheWisdom of Solomon is unlikely to be earlier than the 2nd century BCE, and probably dates from 100 to 50 BCE. Its self-attribution toSolomon was questioned even in the medieval period, and it shows affinities with the Egyptian Jewish community and withPharisee teachings.[106]
TheBook of Esther itself was composed probably around 400 BCE by Jews living in the eastern provinces of the Persian empire and reached its final form by the 2nd century BCE; concerns over the legitimacy of certain passages in the Hebrew text led to the identification of theadditions to Esther in the Greek translation of Esther of the late 2nd or early 1st century BCE.[107]
Tobit is set in the 8th century BCE and is named after its central character, a pious Jew in exile. The generally recognised date of composition is the early 2nd century BCE.[108]
TheBook of Judith is set in Israel in the time of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Assyria. It has strong Persian elements, which suggests a 4th-century BCE date; it also has strong parallels with theHasmonean period, which suggests a 2nd-century date. It is typically labeledPharisaic, but an origin inSadducee circles has also been suggested.[109]
The canonicalPsalms contains 150 entries.Psalm 151 is found in most Greek translations, and the Hebrew version was found among theDead Sea Scrolls.[110]Psalms 152–155 are part of the SyriacPeshitta Bible, some of which were found atQumran.
The gospels (and Acts) are anonymous, in that none of them provide the name of the author within their text.[111] While the Gospel of John might be considered something of an exception, because the author refers to himself as "the disciple Jesus loved" and claims to be a member of Jesus' inner circle,[112] most scholars today consider this passage to be a later addition (see below).
Many scholars argue that the Gospels were written by anonymous figures rather than the disciples traditionally associated with them.Justin Martyr in hisFirst Apology explicitly refers to the apostles as "uneducated" or "illiterate" (Acts 4:13), which has led scholars to question their ability to write the sophisticated Greek texts of the New Testament.Bart Ehrman, a leading New Testament scholar, supports this view, explaining that the socio-economic background of Jesus' disciples—many of whom were fishermen or peasants—makes it unlikely that they could have authored these works.[113] Ehrman also notes that literacy rates in first-century Palestine were extremely low, particularly in rural areas like Galilee, where most of the disciples lived.[113] This is further supported by Catherine Hezser's research on Jewish literacy in Roman Palestine, which highlights the rarity of literacy among common people during this period.[114] Therefore, it is widely accepted among scholars that the Gospels were likely written by anonymous authors rather than the disciples themselves.
There is general agreement among scholars that theSynoptic Gospels (Matthew,Mark andLuke) show a high level of cross-reference. The usual explanation, thetwo-source hypothesis, is that Mark was written first and that the authors of Matthew and Luke relied on Mark and the hypotheticalQ document. Scholars agree that theGospel of John was written last, using a different tradition and body of testimony. In addition, most scholars agree that the author of Luke also wrote theActs of the Apostles, makingLuke–Acts two halves of a single work.[115][116][117][118][119]
According to tradition and early church fathers, first attested byPapias of Hierapolis, the author isMark the Evangelist, the companion of theapostle Peter.[120] Theissen writes that the gospel appears to rely on several underlying sources, varying in form and in theology, which tells against the tradition that the gospel was based on Peter's preaching, while Elder argues that Mark is an oral work involving both a speaker and a writer who composed the text, which coheres with the patristic testimony.[121][122] Various elements within the gospel, including the importance of the authority of Peter and the broadness of the basic theology, suggest that the author wrote in Syria or Palestine for a non-Jewish Christian community which had earlier absorbed the influence of pre-Pauline beliefs and then developed them further independent of Paul.[123]
Early Christian tradition, first attested byPapias of Hierapolis, held that theapostle Matthew, the tax-collector and disciple of Jesus, had written a Gospel in "Hebrew" (Aramaic, the language of Judea).[124] Modern scholars interpret the tradition to mean that Papias, writing about 125–150 CE, believed that Matthew had made a collection of the sayings of Jesus.[125] However, Papias's description does not correspond well with theGospel of Matthew: it was most probably written in Greek, not Aramaic or Hebrew; it depends on the Greek Gospel of Mark and on the hypotheticalQ document; it is not a collection of sayings;[126] and it is unlikely to have been written by an eyewitness.[127]
Although the identity of the author of our Gospel of Matthew is unknown, the internal evidence of the Gospel suggests that he was an ethnic Jewish male scribe from a Hellenised city, possiblyAntioch in Syria,[128] and that he wrote between 70 and 100 CE[129] using a variety of oral traditions and written sources about Jesus.[130]
There is general acceptance that theGospel of Luke and theActs of the Apostles originated as a two-volume work by a single author addressed to an otherwise unknown individual namedTheophilus.[131] This author was an "amateur Hellenistic historian" versed in Greek rhetoric, that being the standard training for historians in the ancient world.[132]
According to tradition, first attested byIrenaeus, the author wasLuke the Evangelist, the companion of theApostle Paul, but many modern scholars have expressed doubt and opinion on the subject is evenly divided.[133] Instead, they believe Luke–Acts was written by an anonymous Christian author who may not have been an eyewitness to any of the events recorded within the text. Some of the evidence cited comes from the text of Luke–Acts itself. In the preface to Luke, the author refers to having eyewitness testimony "handed down to us" and to having undertaken a "careful investigation", but the author does not mention his own name or explicitly claim to be an eyewitness to any of the events, except for thewe passages. And in thewe passages, the narrative is written in the first person plural—the author never refers to himself as "I" or "me". To those who are skeptical of an eyewitness author, thewe passages are usually regarded as fragments of a second document, part of some earlier account, which was later incorporated into Acts by the later author of Luke–Acts, or simply a Greek rhetorical device used for sea voyages.[134]
John 21:24 identifies the source of the Gospel of John as "the beloved disciple," and from the late 2nd century tradition, first attested byIrenaeus, this figure, unnamed in the Gospel itself, was identified withJohn the son of Zebedee.[135] Today, however, most scholars agree thatJohn 21 is an appendix to the Gospel, which originally ended at John 20:30–31, though a growing minority view the passage as part of the original text.[136][137] However, there is considerable debate about how and when the appendix was added, and by whom. For example, several scholars argue it was added after "the beloved disciple" had died.[138] The majority of scholars date the Gospel of John to c. 80–95,[111][139] and propose that the author made use of two major sources, a"Signs" source (a collection of seven miracle stories) and a "Discourse" source, though recent scholarship has tended to turn against positing hypothetical sources for John.[140][141]
TheEpistle to the Romans,First Corinthians andSecond Corinthians,Galatians,Philippians,1 Thessalonians and theEpistle to Philemon are almost universally accepted as the work of Paul – the superscripts to all except Romans and Galatians identify these as coming from Paul and at least one other person, a practice which was not usual in letters of the period, and it is not clear what role these other persons had in their composition.[142] There is some support for Paul's authorship of the three "Deutero-Pauline Epistles,"Ephesians,Colossians, and2 Thessalonians. The threePastoral epistles –First andSecond Timothy andTitus, are probably all from one author,[142] but mosthistorical-critical scholars regard them as the work of someone other than Paul.[143][144]
The Church included theLetter to the Hebrews as the fourteenth letter of Pauluntil the Reformation. Pauline authorship is now generally rejected, and the real author is unknown.[145]
The traditional authors are unknown and the names were attributed to them arbitrarily to make it seem more credible: Peter the apostle (First and Second Peter); the author of theGospel of John (First, Second and Third John), writing in advanced age; "Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James" (Epistle of Jude); andJames the Just, "a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" (James). In fact1 John is anonymous, and2 and3 John identify their author only as "the Elder." Though2 Peter states its author as "Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ", most scholars today regard this as pseudonymous, and many hold the same opinion ofJames,1 Peter andJude.[142]
The author of theBook of Revelation was traditionally believed to be the same person as bothJohn, the apostle of Jesus andJohn the Evangelist, the traditional author of the Fourth Gospel – the tradition can be traced toJustin Martyr, writing in the early 2nd century.[146] Most biblical scholars now believe that these were separate individuals.[147][148] The name "John" suggests that the author was a Christian of Jewish descent, and although he never explicitly identifies himself as a prophet it is likely that he belonged to a group of Christian prophets and was known as such to members of thechurches in Asia Minor. Since the 2nd century the author has been identified with one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. This is commonly linked with an assumption that the same author wrote the Gospel of John. Others, however, have argued that the author could have beenJohn the Elder ofEphesus, a view which depends on whether a tradition cited byEusebius was referring to someone other than the apostle. The precise identity of "John" therefore remains unknown.[149]
for linguistic and theological reasons, point to a time of origin for Lamentations as a distinct book only in the third or second century B.C.E.
Before showing why most scholars consider them to be written by someone other than Paul, I should give a brief summary of each letter.