Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Walter Mattfeld <mattfeld AT mail.pjsnet.com>]

A request for names of individuals who are of the persuasion that the OT 
might be 
Hellenistic creation, and who have written articles or books on the subject 
was recently 
made to this list by Mr. Litwak (28 Feb. 99). I would like to take this 
opportunity to 
call to everyone's attention the work currently being undertaken on this 
controversial 
subject: 

From Copenhagen University, Denmark : Drs. Frederic Cryer, Thomas L. 
Thompson, and Neils 
Peter Lemche.

"The Old Testament- A Hellenistic Book ?" Scandinavian Journal of the Old 
Testament 
(SJOT), Vol. 7.2, 1993, pp.163-193 by N.P. Lemche.

Thomas M. Bolin, "When the End is the Beginning- The Persian Period and the 
Origins of 
Biblical Tradition," SJOT, Vol. 10.1.

Dr. Diana Vikander Edelman of James Madison Univerity, VA., has edited a book 
in which 
various authors discuss possible Hellenistic influences on the OT, see The 
Triumph of 
Elohim, From Yahwisms to Judaisms, W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., Grand Rapids, 
Michigan, 1996.

Dr. Philip R. Davies is of the persuasion that there may be Hasmonean 
redactions in 
Genesis. See 
P.R. Davies, In Search of Ancient Israel, Sheffield University Academic 
Press, 1992, 
1995.

Herodian elements within the OT:

Dr. Bernd Joerg Diebner ( of Heidelberg University, Germany) is an editor of 
the 
Dielheim Blatter (DBAT), a bi-annual Journal of Biblical Studies (since 
1972), in which 
a number of articles have appeared from time to time on Herodian elements 
within the OT 
by various European scholars. Dr. Diebner has several articles on possible 
Herodian 
elements in the OT and has given lectures on the subject. He is in contact 
with scholars 
in Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands, all 
pursuing Herodian 
elements.

Respectfully submitted,

Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld
Walldorf by Heidelberg,
Baden-Wurttemburg,
Germany

P.S., 
My own personal research suggests that the OT is at earliest, a 3rd century 
BCE 
creation, having identified Stoical and Epicurean elements within it as well 
as positing 
that Bersossos' Babylonaica (circa 275 BCE) was "mined" for motifs used in 
Genesis. 
Please see my recent offering to this list of Smoking Guns, Clues to the OT's 
Hellenistic, Hasmonean, and Herodian Origins, Heidelberg, 1998, available 
upon request 
as an e-mail attachment. Please send requests to my e-mail address, not to 
b-hebrew:

mattfeld AT mail.pjsnet.com