1. Jewish and Early Christian Understanding

The belief that the Jewish and Christian Scriptures are “inspired” by God—that is, that their language and imagery are directly willed by God and committed to writing under his direction—is ancient and influential. Yet the notion of a text whose production is directed by God belongs more to the world of Hellenistic/Jewish culture than to the earlier strata of Israel’s traditions, in which Torah and prophecy are indeed the direc…