Scientists claim a major new biblical discovery has been made, as AI analysis uncovers potentially hidden 'fingerprints' in the Old Testament that rewrite the context behind some of the religious book's most famous chapters.
Despite being thousands of years old, people are still making new discoveries in the Bible which challenge long-held beliefs and ideas.
Beyond scientific 'proof' that Adam and Eve did indeed exist there remains countless forbidden chapters omitted from the famous text that remain contentious in religious circles to this day.
However, new research presented by scientists could become one of the biggest of its kind, and threaten the consensus behind who many consider to be the true authors of Christianity's primordial book.
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As reported by the Daily Mail, advancements in artificial intelligence technology have allowed scientists to analyze the language and writing styles of chapters within the Bible, and what has emerged could send shockwaves throughout the religious world.
It has identified what are being called 'fingerprints' throughout the text, suggesting the notion of multiple authors by the way of three distinct writing styles and vocabularies, whereas traditional understanding would have you believe that just one man - Moses - wrote the Old Testament's first five books.
Scanning through all 50 chapters of the first five Old Testament chapters, AI was able to pick up tonal shifts, various inconsistencies and internal contradictions, and even repeated stories that, while 'hidden' within the text, appear to suggest that it wasn't just one person's work.
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Speaking about the analysis, the study's co-author Thomas Römer of the Collège de France outlined:
"There are no authors of the Bible in the modern sense. The original versions of the scrolls were continuously reworked and rewritten by redactors who added, altered, and sometimes omitted parts of the former texts."
While three voices or 'fingerprints' emerged in the study's results, it's highly likely that a far greater number of individuals contributed to what we now find within the modern Old Testament, and many scholars even now consider the figure of Moses as a legend as opposed to a historical individual.
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This includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and many of the Bible's most recognizable tales are found within these first five books.
Stories such as the Ark of the Covenant, the Ten Commandments, and the creation of the world in Genesis are all relayed in these opening chapters, and if it is understood and accepted that these indeed came from different authors then it would significantly reshape how many view their portrayal.