On the Issue of Modern Theories of the Formation of the Old Testament Canon

Abstract

The study of modern theories of the formation of the Old Testament canon involves a review of existing theories and hypotheses that shed light on the complex and multi-stage process of forming a single holistic collection of books. The purpose of the article is to review the researchers’ hypotheses about the place, time, authorship, edition, compilation and publication of the sacred Old Testament books. The question of the process of formation of the Old Testament canon in the ancient Israelite environment and the criteria of canonicity used at the time of giving the sacred books a certain status remains debatable. The liberal approach has become widespread in modern biblical studies, which requires the formation of a correct attitude towards it on the part of biblical theological science. Sometimes the conclusions of researchers are unexpected for the consciousness of a person who lives by the tradition of the Church and has passed the stage of reception of the tradition contained in it and the attitude to the sacred Old Testament books. On the basis of the numerous modern theories that have appeared, seeking to explain the process of the formation of the canon and the authorship of its books, there is a need to analyze existing theories and form a correct attitude towards them from the side of the Orthodox dogma. The relevance of the research topic is due to the attention that has been paid to the process of collecting the entire corpus of Old Testament books. With the emergence of biblical criticism as a scientific discipline, a variety of theories have emerged that represent the process of collecting biblical books together in various ways. The diversity of opinions in research circles requires forming Orthodox theological assessment of such a phenomenon in the history of the Old and New Testament Churches as the period of collecting the Old Testament books and fixing them in a single code.

Keywords

• old testament
• pentateuch
• bible
• biblical criticism
• textual criticism
• orthodoxy
• christianity
• judaism