ascribed to their reputed authors. (12) That the process of selection
continued for fully three centuries, and that the results represent the
thoughtful, enlightened judgment of thousands of devoted Christians.
Thus through definite historical forces and the minds and wills of
men, the Eternal Father gradually perfected the record of his supreme
revelation, to humanity.




VI

THE GROWTH OF THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETIC HISTORIES

[Sidenote: _Analogies between the influences that produced the two
Testaments_]

Very similar influences were at work in producing and shaping both the
Old and the New Testaments; only in the history of the older Scriptures
still other forces can be distinguished. Moreover, the Old Testament
contains a much greater variety of literature. It is also significant
that, while some of the New Testament books began to be canonized less
than a century after they were written, there is clear evidence that
many of the Old Testament writings were in existence several centuries
before they were gathered together into a canon and thus crystallized
into their final form. The inevitable result is that they bear the marks
of much more elaborate editorial revision than those of the New. It is,
however, not the aim of the present work to trace this complex process
of revision in detail, nor to give the cumulative evidence and the many
data and reasons that lead to each conclusion. These can be studied in