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The title of the book: The authority of the Old Testament.

The author: John Bright is Cyrus H. McCormick Professor of Hebrew and Interpretation of the Old Testament at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. Dr. Bright is widely known as the author of The Kingdom of God, published in 1953 as Abingdon-Cokesbury award winner. This book has become a classic in its field and is in as great demand now as when firsts published.      He also contributed to The Interpreter’s Bible and The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible and is the author of several other books in the Old Testament field, including the widely used A History of Israel. He is a graduate of Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina (B.A.), Union Theological Seminary in Virginia (B.D. and Th.M.), and Johns Hopkins University (Ph.D). He has taught at Union since 1942 except for three years on leave as a chaplain in the U. S: Army during World War II.

Contents:

Abbreviations………………………………………………………………………………………….13

I. The Authority of the Old Testament: The Nature of the Problem ………………………………15

II. The Problem of the Old Testament: The “Classical” Solutions ……………………………….58

III. Biblical Theology and the Authority of the Old Testament………………………………….110

IV. The Old Testament in the Christian Pulpit: General Hermeneutical Considerations…………161

V. Preaching from the Old Testament: The Principles Illustrated………………………………..213

Selected Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………253

Index to Bible References………………………………………………………………………..263

Index of Persons and Subjects……………………………………………………………………267

There are several questions with which this book will attempt to deal, with what success the reader must judge: What is the nature of the authority of Scripture? And in what sense does the Old Testament share that authority? What place does the Old Testament legitimately occupy in the Christian’s Bible and in the Church’s proclamation? What principles ought to guide one in interpreting it to the congregation? The book has a rather long history. The place of Old Testament studies in the theological curriculum was not something that could be taken for granted. These are questions that challenge every minister as he faces the question of how—and at times even whether or not—to preach from the Old Testament. He is concerned because often he is not on solid ground in dealing with the basic problem of its authority. Writing here with clarity and conviction, Dr. Bright develops hermeneutical principles he believes should guide the minister in his daily use of the Old Testament. He deals with the fundamental questions of biblical authority, reviews unsatisfactory solutions offered in the past, and then clearly points the way to new solutions. He explains how these principles can be implemented in preaching and, by the use of concrete illustrations, demonstrates how they can be put into everyday practices. The author’s overriding concern throughout is to place Testaments in their rightful place in the church as the norm for her preaching and as the supreme rule of faith and practice.

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These are the support for Moses as author
References in Torah to Moses as author (e.g., Deut. 31:9-11)
References in rest of Hebrew Bible to Moses as author (e.g., Mal. 4:4)
References in New Testament to Moses as author (e.g., Mark 12:19)
Jewish and Christian tradition support Moses as author (e.g., Josephus, Talmud)

These are the objections raised to Moses as author
Torah has no direct evidence of authorship – it is not “autographed”
Different styles of writing are present – repetitive style of Gen. 17 is much different from dynamic style of Gen. 15 (both passages concern the covenant God made with Abraham)
Use of names and facts from later times (e.g., “land of the Philistines” in Gen. 21:32, “before any king reigned over the Israelites” in Gen. 36:31) – such references at least imply the Torah was edited at a later date
Repetitions of the same story (e.g., Abraham passing off his wife Sarah as his sister twice [Gen. 12, 20] and Isaac passing his wife Rebekah off as his sister [Gen. 26], the Ten Commandments occurring twice [Exod. 20, Deut. 5])
Use of different names for the same place (e.g., Mt. Sinai and Mt. Horeb) and for the same people (e.g., Jethro and Reuel)
Variations in stories such as the creation accounts (Gen. 1, 2 – Are humans created after or before animals? Does God speak into existence or mold clay?) and within the flood story (Gen 6-9 – How many pairs of clean animals are there?)
Use of different names for God
Account of the death of Moses (Deut. 34)
Use of third person to refer to Moses
By the seventeenth century a number of scholars had wrestled with the problems of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. Carlstadt, a leader of the Reformation movement in Germany, wrote a pamphlet in 1520 arguing that Moses did not write the Pentateuch, for the style of writing in the verses reporting Moses’ death (Deut. 32:5-12) was that of the preceding verses. In 1574, A. Du Maes, a Roman Catholic scholar, suggested that the Pentateuch was composed by Ezra, who used old manuscripts as a basis. Thomas Hobbes, the English philosopher, concluded in 1651 that Moses wrote only parts of Deuteronomy (Leviathan III:33).

Personally, I think that Moses has written parts of the Pentateuch.

Book Review 1

  Book name:BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION
  About the author:EDWIN CYRIL BLACKMAN received his education at Portsmouth,England;Peterhouse,Cambridge;Mansfield College,Oxford;and Marburg University,Germany.
Since 1934 he has been a Congregational minister and has taught New Testament and Biblical studies in Cheshunt College,Cambridge,and New College,London.His published
works include Marcion:His Influence;The Faith We Preach; and The Epistle of James. Mr.Blackman is a director of the London Missionary Society.The breadth of Mr.Blackman’s
subject is enormous,but his grasp of it is masterly,and he presents it in language as clear and clean as spring water.The book will be a stimulation and a delight to all
ministers and students of the Bible.
  The summary of the book:The aim of this book is to serve the cause of true exposition.The three longer chapters IV-VI are more obviously related to that purpose than the
others.Chapter IV is historical,and tries to give an impression of how Christian teachers and preachers through nineteen centuries have in fact expounded the Bible.Chapter
VI is intended to be a climax in that it ventures to lay down canons of exegesis for the preacher today.It is essential for the preacher to have a right judgment: the significance
of the Bible as Revelation,the authority of the Bible in the setting of the general problem of moral and spiritual authority,and the function and limits of historical criticism as
applied to the Bible.I INTRODUCTORY.  II THE MEANING OF REVELATION.  III THE QUESTION OF AUTHORITY:The Bible is God’s book–in classic phrase,it is the Word of God;The Bible is Christ’s
book,in the sense that it is indispensable for the knowledge of Jesus Christ.These answers are distinguishable,but by no means exclusive.We shall deal with them in order.
IV THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXEGESIS: A  .RABBING EXEGESIS,The activity of Ezra was a creative turning-point in the development of Judaism.He and his contemporaries were believed to have compile
the collection of the sacred Scriptures.Ezra received the cup of inspiration which enabled him to dictate afresh the twenty-four books of the Old testament,together with seventy others which
were not to be published but reserved for “the wise among the people”. B ALLEGORY__ PHILO TO AUGUSTINE,Augustine was a theologian, and more of a Biblical theologian than his Eastern contemporaries,
his interest was in expisition,rather than in methods of exposition.His contribution to the thought and praxis of the Church was along more than one line;he was theologian and philosopher,statesman
and pastor, a comprehensive genius with rare insight into the human heart;and his authority in later centuries is acknowledged by Catholic and Protestant alike.
C.MEDIEVAL EXEGESIS
D.THE REFORMATION AND AFTER
VI THE PRESENT TASK IN BIBLICAL EXPOSITION:There is need for a new positive exposition of the Bible which will do for the twentieth century what the Reformation did for the sixteenth.The present need
is equally if not more urgent,and the present opportunity is perhaps unprecedented.
We regard Christ as the centre of Scripture,
  The true use of interpretation is to get rid of interpretation,and leave us alone in company with the author.

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