Q:

Did Rashbi Write the Zohar?

In my experience, many religious Jews think that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai wrote the book we have today called the Zohar.
The Zohar is a Jewish work of mysticism that was published in the 13th century. It was said at the time to have been written by Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai in the second century, while he hid in a cave from the Romans with his son Eliezer. The manuscript then disappeared from history only to resurface without explanation a millennium later in the hands of R Moses ben Shem-Tov de Leon. However, during and ever since its publication there has been controversy over this works authenticity, both scholarly and anecdotal, including statements by the publisher, Moses ben Shem-Tov de Leon's wife as noted in the following excerpt from the Jewish Encyclopedia:

a rich man of Avila, named Joseph, offered [de Leon's] widow, who had been
  left without means, a large sum of money for the original from which
  her husband had made the copy; and she then confessed that her husband
  himself was the author of the work. She had asked him several times,
  she said, why he had chosen to credit his own teachings to another,
  and he had always answered that doctrines put into the mouth of the
  miracle-working Simeon ben Yohai would be a rich source of profit.

Furthermore, included in the Zohar there seem to be references to historical events (such as the Crusades in Zohar II, 32a and III, 212b), Hebrew orthographic conventions (eg. Zohar I 24b, III 65a), Spanish words (eg. Esnoga), and names of rabbis (eg. Rav Hamnuna Sava, Rav Yeva Sava, R' Hezkiah bar Rav, etc) which all appear to post-date Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
What are the detailed historical arguments supporting or denying Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai's authorship of the Zohar?
(Note this question does not seek names of authorities or non-authorities who personally support or deny Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai's authorship. It seeks detailed historical arguments.)

A:

The traditional argument is explored and defended at length here and the subsequent links in the series. No one claims that the entirety of the Zohar as we have it was written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (and no one says that he actually wrote as opposed to taught orally any of it).
It would seem rather repetitive to restate all the arguments there, but the real bottom line is that its authenticity is attested to not due to a clear chain of custody of the text (of which there is no single such chain) but due to the Kabbalists contemporary to its dissemination attesting to the authorship claims (for reasons unknown due to the writings on the question being lost) and their analyzing its contents and finding them acceptable. The rest consists of refuting the arguments to the contrary.

