Some of the key pieces you learn if you study authorship are the elements that a good author must know. First he or she must know their topic. Whether they know it straight on or obliquely will determine the way they approach the topic, of course. They must also know, or make some assumptions about, their intended audience. A language must be selected. A form must be adopted and strictly adhered to. And there are other things that come into play depending on the type of writing.
One element that all authors include in their writing is presupposition. That is a subset of knowing or guessing about their intended audience.
In examining the Bible's old testament for a while now I have reached this conclusion tentatively.
It seems the authors and compilers of the ancient writings leaned towards the belief that those who would read or hear the words would be skeptical at best and seriously distrust the words at the worse.
I find that many of the events, stories, and heroes of the ancient writings are elaborately told as if the author wanted to put everything into the telling to make it more believable. Just as people do today when telling or writing. They embellish, exaggerate or inflate the truth to make it more real and more amazing than it was.
It is almost as if the ancient authors envisioned a very disbelieving readership. And secondary to that, it seems to me that they also anticipated a simple minded and perhaps even gullible audience.
I grew up hearing the phrase "a simple faith." It has been said of my mother that she lived and practiced "a simple faith." I wonder in what context and connotation the word simple was being used? Simple, as in uncomplicated and unencumbered with supporting truths, or simple as in unlearned and unscholarly?
I know from working with special needs people that some who are in our view mentally challenged seem to live in a world that jumps from sublime happiness because they really have fewer cares than most of us carry, and complete frustration because they don't understand that many things in life take the care and planning of logical thinking.
So I wonder if the Bible is best taken without logic? But if it is, you shouldn't think too long on whether it is or not! Don't approach topics that are best understood without logic logically. Is that logical?
