A study using artificial intelligence (AI) has provided fresh insight into the authorship of some of the Bible’s oldest books, offering new perspectives for Christians on how Scripture was written.
Researchers applied advanced linguistic analysis to the first nine books of the Hebrew Bible, known as the Enneateuch, revealing distinct writing styles that point to multiple authors or scribal groups.
The international research project was led by mathematician Shira Faigenbaum-Golovin of Duke University.
She explained to the Daily Post: “We concluded that the findings in those inscriptions could offer valuable clues for dating texts from the Old Testament. That's when we started putting together our current team, who could help us analyse these biblical texts.”
The AI model identified three clear writing styles: the Priestly source, the Deuteronomistic History, and the Book of Deuteronomy itself. This suggests that more than one person or group may have contributed to their writing.
However, parts of the story about Noah’s Ark didn’t match any of them, which suggests that another unknown writer also contributed to the creation of these ancient texts.
Professor Thomas Römer of the Collège de France highlighted the precision of the model, telling the Daily Post: “We found that each group of authors has a different style, surprisingly, even regarding simple and common words such as 'no,' 'which,' or 'king.' Our method accurately identifies these differences.”
Faigenbaum-Golovin said: “It's such a unique collaboration between science and the humanities. It's a surprising symbiosis, and I'm lucky to work with people who use innovative research to push boundaries.”
The team hopes to apply the same approach to other historical documents, stating in their study: “Our methodology thus provides a new tool to address disputed matters in biblical studies."