Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jim West <jwest AT highland.net>]

At 07:22 AM 9/2/00 -0700, you wrote:
>In the introduction of Genesis in The NIV Study Bible:
>
>During the last two centuries some scholars have claimed to find in the
Pentateuch four underlying sources.  The presumed documents, allegedly
dating from the tenth to the fifth centuries B.C., are called J (for
Jahweh/Yahweh, the personal OT name for God), E (for Elohim, a generic name
for God), D (for Deuteronomic) and P (for Priestly).  Each of these
documents is claimed to have its own characteristics and its own theology,
which often contradicts that of the other documents.  The Pentateuch is thus
depicted as a patchwork of stories, poems and laws. However, this view is
not supported by conclusive evidence, and intensive archaeological and
literary research has undercut many of the arguments used to challenge
Mosaic authorship.
>
>Whatyathunk?? :-)

hi jeremy,

the documentary hypothesis presented above is the standard scholarly
perception of the situation at present.  many if not most professional OT
scholars operate on its basic assumptions.  however, a change is taking
place which suggests that the sources are nonexistent and that the
pentateuch as a whole was composed in the post exilic era or even the
Hasmonean period.  the differences between the various tellings of the
stories arise from theological and literary intention rather than a
compiling of sources.

may i recommend:

Hebrew Bible / Old Testament: The History of its Interpretation, ed. Magne
Saebo.

best,

jim

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Do not ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by
incompetence" -Napoleon

Jim West, ThD
http://web.infoave.net/~jwest