Already Evolving Bible

According to most critical scholars, the Torah is a consolidation of Priestly and non-Priestly writings by postexilic editors.

With different perspectives coming together to form a unified text, the Torah does not describe an always existent single “religion”, but is itself a "later" interpretation of traditions that came before it.

Some of those traditions having roots in oral culture. Our religious foundation of the Bible is, in itself, a reaction to an even earlier past.

In other words: We often view the Torah as the ancient, static bedrock of faith. But in reality, the Torah is a snapshot of a faith that was already centuries deep and evolving.

•In the time of the postexilic editors, the Torah was their “Modern" Anthology. It was their attempt to make sense of ancient, disparate traditions (J, E, P, D). It was their "Later Judaism."

• A Constant Conversation: The text didn't just record history; it was a dialogue between their present context and concerns and their ancient memories. The Torah is the conversation.

• The "Original" is Evolving: There is no single perfect "Point A." What I have is a text that was already adapting, shifting, and growing before the ink was even dry.

The Takeaway:

If the Torah itself is a product of evolution—a "later" look at an "earlier" truth—then change isn't the enemy of faith; it is the nature of faith.

I am not deviating from the tradition by rethinking it in my time; I am doing exactly what the authors of the Torah did in theirs. I am the next layer in the sediment of this living faith