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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 12:29:10 -0500

Dear George,

You ask for a copy of J, E, and P knowing full well that given the
climatic conditions of Palestine such will never be found. You certainly
like to hedge your bets, don't you? Perhaps we should cut some tablets
and take them to Sinai to see if we can get them engraved.

HH: The fact is that I owe nothing to the JEDP theory.

I don't think the disagreement is as much as you would like to pretend
that it is. I went to a very conservative seminary myself. Yes, it was
brought up that there were differences, but such is hardly surprising.
There are many things in the physical sciences that are a matter for
disagreement -- and I'm not referring to some of the items which are
controversial in religious circles. I was recently chastised privately
for making a comment regarding a simple acceptance of the statements of
the Bible. I do not intend to belittle those who accept the Bible at its
face value, but that is not enough. If it were, many scholars would be
unemployed. A reasonable account must be given. It is not sufficient to
simply repeat its words by rote.

HH: The JEDP theory initially grew from apparent doublets in Genesis, if I remember correctly. There are a number of hypotheses simpler than JEDP to explain those. The documents are thousands of years old. There are various ways that phenomena could occur in the text. The highly speculative and evolutionary "history of religions" origins of JEDP testify against it, as do its results, which undermine the authority of God's word.

The mandate the Bible presents is that of making disciples and teaching them the whole counsel of God. The mandate is not to foster unbelief in the reliability of God's word and to erect an explanation for its existence that contradicts what the text claims for itself.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard





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