Bible and History

It is an undisputable fact that the Bible is one of the most influential, mysterious and bizarre texts ever written. It exists for scores of years and has been studied by thousands of scholars, and still it imposes questions that cannot be easily answered or cannot be answered at all. One of the major ones is: "Who wrote the Bible?" Although there are various hypotheses, no one knows that with certainty. It is widely believed that the first five books have been written by Moses. They describe Jerusalem as the starting point, referring to different dates and events. However, there are serious archeological doubts that all started there. Besides, the dates described in the biblical texts do not match between the historical figures and monuments. It is hard to find real proofs of the great empire described in the Bible. Moreover, the Old Testament itself does not give any idea who wrote the corresponding texts. Furthermore, saying that Moses wrote the first texts, it appears that he has written about his own death, which is not only strange, but impossible. Thus, people started questioning Bible's uniqueness: Is the Bible indeed exceptional and exclusive, or is it just another piece of literature? Personally I believe that the biblical writings have historical, theological and psychological integrity to certain extent. It is true that each writer had specific aim and purpose behind describing particular events, places and people, but it is also true that most probably the writers tended to talk about real places, occurrences and people that were surrounding them during the different times. Of course, the texts should not be understood literally since their idea is to convey some moral or lesson. So, the Bible can definitely be viewed as literature, as well. The main idea of the Bible is about establishing one God and one unified kingdom. During 6th/7th century B.C. the Old Testament started taking its final universal form. The texts had to offer hope for the future: this was the main purpose. Also, the idea of the messiah ("mission") appeared Ð'- the universal idea of the person offering secure future.

As far as the historical significance, though, it is difficult to judge the accuracy of the biblical writings. Each writer had his or her own perspective of view. Also, Constantine put pressure to collect the Bible texts Ð'- "Codecs Vatcanus", establishing ancient censorship. For example, the gospel of Mary Magdalene, found in Cairo, was not included in the Bible, aiming