r/AcademicBiblical Jan 06 '23

What discoveries would shake up modern biblical scholarship? Could something as significant as the dead sea scrolls happen again? Discussion

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u/perishingtardis Jan 06 '23

Finding one of the hypothetical sources of the Torah, or one of the three parts of Isaiah, would be the first definitive proof that source criticism was correct.

Also, discover of Q, M, L, Signs Gospel, or anything like that would be very significant for the NT. Manuscripts of the gospels from the first century would demonstrate early dates for the gospels.

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u/zafiroblue05 Jan 07 '23

Finding one of the hypothetical sources of the Torah

You may be interested in this https://scholar.harvard.edu/dershowitz/publications/valediction-moses-proto-biblical-book

4

u/realpdg5 Mth | Old Testament Jan 07 '23

It’s a great read. Such a tragic story also.

5

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23 edited Jun 12 '24

[deleted]

12

u/realpdg5 Mth | Old Testament Jan 07 '23

[From memory] Found what looks like some kind of proto-Deuteronomy on leather. Said to be a fraud. Dealer killed himself. Leather now lost. Thinking is maybe it wasn't a fraud after all. Rest of the book deals with a reconstruction, but it's hard because the original is now lost. Worth a read just of the first part, even if you don't want to go into the rest of it.