AI analyzes some of the oldest books, detects errors, and a revelation of biblical proportions is on the horizon
A global team of researchers with expertise in a range of disciplines have used artificial intelligence to examine the authorship of sacred writings.
An international team of researchers from Duke University in the United States has used artificial intelligence to uncover hidden linguistic patterns and offer insight into the authors behind some of the oldest texts in the Bible.
The group analyzed the first nine books of the Hebrew Bible, combining advanced linguistic analysis with an AI model developed specifically for this study.
Using this methodology, the researchers discovered three clearly distinct writing styles - evidence suggesting that different authors or groups of scribes were responsible for composing these sacred texts.
Thomas Römer, a professor at the Collège de France, explained: “We found that each group of authors has a different style - surprisingly, even regarding simple and common words such as ‘no,’ ‘which,’ or ‘king.’ Our method accurately identifies these differences.”
The study identified three major literary styles: the priestly source, the Deuteronomistic History, and the Book of Deuteronomy itself.
Although many chapters fit neatly into one of these categories, the team encountered a striking exception: the Ark Narrative in Samuel didn’t match any of the identified styles, raising new questions about the Bible’s composition.
“Valuable clues”
The project began in 2010, led by mathematician Shira Faigenbaum‑Golovin, who analyzed handwriting on pottery fragments dated to around 600 BCE.
Faigenbaum‑Golovin concluded that “the findings in those inscriptions could offer valuable clues for dating texts from the Old Testament. That’s when we started putting together our current team, who could help us analyze these biblical texts.”
Today, Faigenbaum‑Golovin leads a multidisciplinary group of mathematicians, archaeologists, linguists, and computer scientists, all working to merge mathematical analysis with biblical scholarship.
The authors of the study say their work could shed new light on the long‑debated question of biblical authorship, providing interpretable, statistically significant evidence of linguistic features that can be identified automatically within the texts.
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