The Bible's Author in the Catalog

Xander · Post by **Xander** » November 20th, 2006, 8:25 pm

I don't want to offend anyone but I have to defend my faith. I am a Christian (I know that not everyone is) and believe that the Bible is the holy, inspired word of God. Is it possible to have the authorship of The Bible changed from "Anonymous" in the catalog to "God" or "The Lord?" I am just defending what I find right. What are your thoughts???

thistlechick · Post by **thistlechick** » November 20th, 2006, 8:42 pm

As a Librarian (my religious beliefs aside... though some would argue that Librarianism is a religion of it's own =), I'm not comfortable with citing God as the author, however, Anonymous isn't correct either... Unknown would be more accurate... though, it's not at all necessary for us to have an author name listed in our catalog ... it can be sorted by the Title...

Thanks for pointing this out and voiceing your feelings on this topic =)

Xander · Post by **Xander** » November 20th, 2006, 8:46 pm

I would be comfortable with a simple removal of the author. There were numerous people who actually wrote down the books anyway. Be the words from divine inspiration or otherwise ...

thistlechick · Post by **thistlechick** » November 20th, 2006, 8:49 pm

Removal of author sounds like a good compromise... we also have to keep in mind that we're really just reading translations of God's word .... and we don't always know who the original translator was =)

Caeristhiona · Post by **Caeristhiona** » November 20th, 2006, 8:52 pm

What about listing it as "multiple"?

Or since we have mostly listed individual books from the canon, why not simply listing the author of the specific book?

kri · Post by **kri** » November 20th, 2006, 8:57 pm

Caeristhiona wrote:What about listing it as "multiple"?

Or since we have mostly listed individual books from the canon, why not simply listing the author of the specific book?

The problem with that is that you cannot proof who wrote the various pieces. It's all theory at this point. I had a class on The World of the Old Testament, and we read a book called "Who Wrote the Bible" among others that discussed this issue. Obviously the perspective was from that of a historian, and would be different from say, a follower of the Bible, or any other group of people.

Caeristhiona · Post by **Caeristhiona** » November 20th, 2006, 8:59 pm

kri wrote:The problem with that is that you cannot proof who wrote the various pieces. It's all theory at this point. I had a class on The World of the Old Testament, and we read a book called "Who Wrote the Bible" among others that discussed this issue. Obviously the perspective was from that of a historian, and would be different from say, a follower of the Bible, or any other group of people.

Okay, I can see where you are coming from... But it wouldn't be fair to say "Anonymous" either, just because most of the books aren't anonymous in the truest sense of the word.

That's why, if we are listing the Bible together, I would have to go with "Multiple Authors," or "Collaborative," or something like that.

Xander · Post by **Xander** » November 20th, 2006, 9:00 pm

A listing of Various would work as well. I still personally think that God should be used, but the best compromise seems to lie with the absence of an author notation.

Caeristhiona · Post by **Caeristhiona** » November 20th, 2006, 9:08 pm

In theory, I have to agree with you -- but in practice it just gets too theologically complicated.

BTW, I cannot tell you how tempted I was to post this response in linguam Latinam after seeing your signature.

Post by **hugh** » November 20th, 2006, 9:10 pm

how is it listed in the Library of Congress? ... I think we do whatever standard library practice is ... but I leave it to people who know about these things (who have already weighed in here).

Xander · Post by **Xander** » November 20th, 2006, 9:12 pm

Caeristhiona wrote:In theory, I have to agree with you -- but in practice it just gets too theologically complicated.

BTW, I cannot tell you how tempted I was to post this response in linguam Latinam after seeing your signature.

Couldn't have said it better. The sig line is all the Latin I know. I would be delighted to learn more in the future though.

Hugh's idea about the Library of Congress sounds good.

kri · Post by **kri** » November 20th, 2006, 9:22 pm

Caeristhiona wrote:Okay, I can see where you are coming from... But it wouldn't be fair to say "Anonymous" either, just because most of the books aren't anonymous in the truest sense of the word.

That's why, if we are listing the Bible together, I would have to go with "Multiple Authors," or "Collaborative," or something like that.

Oh, I didn't state what I thought it should or shouldn't be.

However, I will state here that I strongly believe that "God" or "the Lord" should absolutely not be the author attributed.

Caeristhiona · Post by **Caeristhiona** » November 20th, 2006, 9:23 pm

kri wrote:However, I will state here that I strongly believe that "God" or "the Lord" should absolutely not be the author attributed.

Which is precisely why we're discussing this.

If we're going to abide by American copyright laws and such, we might as well have freedom of religion and speech here on LibriVox.

Starlite · Post by **Starlite** » November 21st, 2006, 4:24 am

As a fellow Christian, I want to weigh in here too. I personaly believe God is the author. Having said that, I would prefer using something like "various" rather than anonymous as well.

Stephan · Post by **Stephan** » November 21st, 2006, 6:26 am

I'd say "unknown" if it was up for voting.

(I don't believe in the religion that stems from the bible and see it as a collection of writings of cunning, mostly unknown authors who knew how to make society work in a half acceptable way.)

The compromise to remove author is peaceful and good, imho.

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The Bible's Author in the Catalog

What should the authorship of The Bible be in the catalog?