Bible breakthrough as AI unveils ancient book’s ‘likely authors’ | World | News
Experts have used cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) to uncover hidden linguistic patterns and identify the likely authors of some of the Bible’s oldest texts.
An international team of researchers led by Duke University in the United States has deployed AI technology to erase centuries of biblical history.
Scholars examined the first nine books of the Hebrew Bible – called Enneateuch – using sophisticated linguistic analysis as well as a specially developed AI model.
They discovered three completely distinct writing styles. These distinctive patterns suggest that different authors or groups of scribes were responsible for the sacred scriptures, thus offering new evidence in the centuries-old debate around the authorship of the Bible.
“We found that each group of authors had a different style – surprisingly, even when it came to simple, common words like ‘no’, ‘which’ or ‘king’. Our method precisely identifies these differences,” said Thomas Römer, professor at the Collège de France.
This groundbreaking project was led by mathematician Shira Faigenbaum-Golovin, who initially embarked on this research in 2010 by examining handwriting on ancient pottery shards dating back to 600 BC.
“We concluded that the findings of these inscriptions could offer valuable clues for dating Old Testament texts,” Faigenbaum-Golovin said. “That’s when we started to build our current team, who could help us analyze these biblical texts.”
Faigenbaum-Golovin now leads a team of mathematicians, archaeologists, linguists and computer scientists in an ambitious effort to merge scientific analysis with biblical scholarship.
The artificial intelligence model identified three distinct writing styles in the text: the priestly source, the Deuteronomistic story, and the book of Deuteronomy itself.
While some chapters fit neatly into one of these categories, researchers were surprised to discover that parts of the Ark narrative in 1 Samuel did not fit into any of the three styles, hinting at another mystery surrounding the composition of the Bible.
The team believes this technique could prove invaluable for authenticating other historical documents in the future.
“If you’re looking at fragments of documents to see if they were written by Abraham Lincoln, for example, this method can help determine if they’re real or just a fake,” Faigenbaum-Golovin explained.
The study authors state: “Our paper sheds new light on the question of biblical authorship by offering interpretable and statistically significant evidence for the existence of linguistic features in the writing of biblical authors/editors, which can be identified automatically.
“Our methodology thus provides a new tool for addressing controversial issues in biblical studies.”
The researchers are now exploring how the same approach could open up new insights into other ancient manuscripts. “This is a unique collaboration between science and the humanities,” Faigenbaum-Golovin said.
“It’s a surprising symbiosis, and I’m lucky to work with people who use innovative research to push the boundaries.”
