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  • From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Documentary Hypothesis - Just a Bit More
  • Date: Sat, 5 Jun 2004 11:21:08 -0500

Dear Karl,

The problem with DH is: unless one already possesses the sources, any attempt to reconstruct hypothesized sources from a ”daughter“ document cannot help but be artificial with a high probability of being wrong. The division along postulated differences in theology or style is no less artificial than according to how God is addressed.

For example, years ago when I read a splitting apart of the story of the flood into J and E sources, I was struck by how strange and disjointed the stories were (to use your words). But as a whole, it fits together perfectly, albeit with a certain amount of redundancy not uncommon in other narratives.

In closing, until a copy of one of these sources in Hebrew is found, it seems best to limit our discussion to the documents that we have.

HH: One argument presented to us in seminary was a listing of DH schemes for dividing the biblical text that have arisen over the years. I believe the number was over thirty in the grouping we considered, and none of them agreed. The Documentary Hypothesis is just something else that diverts one's attention from what the Bible is saying when it is read correctly in the form in which it was intended to be read.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard





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