Who Wrote the Bible?

Classic Episode: How Do I Learn Hard Things? | Monday Advice

Deep Questions with Cal Newport, 3 August 2026. The book comes up at 1 hr 9 min in.

Cal Newport strongly recommends this book, praising Friedman for making the highly complex academic field of textual biblical criticism—which identifies five distinct authors in the Pentateuch through linguistic and historical analysis—read like a detective novel without diluting the scholarship. He says it was a huge bestseller because it is so well written, and tips his cap to any scholar who can make an intricate topic compelling to a lay reader.

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