The attitude of modern scholarship to the views of medieval Jewish exegetes on the question of the authorship of the biblical books

Many scholars take a great interest in the views of medieval commentators regarding the authorship of the Biblical books, including the way in which they were compiled and the writers’ identities. While they frequently stress the affinities medieval commentators exhibit with their modern critical counterparts, they also tend to overemphasize the innovative exegesis of the former, thus misrepresenting their opinions. For what reason do the views of the medieval Bible commentators on the question of the Bible’s authorship attract so much attention in modern scholarship? Why are modern academic studies on the subject, for all their qualities, filled with substantial methodological mistakes? And finally, how is the positive attitude of modern scholars towards every bit of original “critical” thought on the part of medieval exegesis to be explained? All of these questions will be addressed in this paper.