Difference between revisions of "Documentary hypothesis" - New World Encyclopedia

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[[Image:Modern_documentary_hypothesis.png|frame|right|A relational diagram describing the various versions postulated by the biblical documentary hypothesis.]]
 
  
The '''documentary hypothesis''' proposes that the [[Pentateuch|Five Books of Moses]] (the [[Torah]], or first five books of the [[Old Testament]]) represent a combination of documents from four major identifiable sources dating from various periods between the early 8th and late 5th centuries BC. [[Historian]]s and [[scholar|academics]] in the fields of [[linguistics]] and [[source criticism]] have identified the following potential sources:
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[[Image:Modern_documentary_hypothesis.png|frame|right|A relational diagram outlining of the '''documentary hypothesis''']]
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In biblical scholarship, the '''documentary hypothesis''' proposes that the [[Pentateuch]] (also called the [[Torah]], or first five books of the [[Hebrew Bible]]) was not literally revealed by [[God]] to [[Moses]], but represents a composite account from several later documents. Four basic sources are identified in the theory, designated as "J" ([[Yahwist]]), "E" ([[Elohist]]), "P" (Priestly), and "D" (Deuteronomic), usually dated from the ninth or tenth through the fifth centuries B.C.E. Although the hypothesis had many antecedents, it reached its mature expression in the late nineteenth century through the work of [[Karl Heinrich Graf]] and [[Julius Wellhausen]] and is thus also referred to as the Graf-Wellhausen hypothesis.
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The documentary hypothesis has been refined and criticized by later writers, but its basic outline remains widely accepted by contemporary biblical scholars. [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jews]] and conservative [[Christianity|Christians]], however, usually reject the theory, affirming that [[Moses]] himself is the primary or sole author of the [[Pentateuch]].
  
* the J, or Yahwist, source
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==Synopsis==
* the E, or Elohist, source (later combine with J to form the "JE" text)
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The documentary hypothesis proposes that the [[Pentateuch]] as we have it was created sometime around the fifth century B.C.E.E. through a process of combining several earlier documents—each with its own viewpoint, style, and special concerns—into one. It identifies four main sources:
* the P, or Priestly, source
 
* the D, or Deuteronomist, text (which had two further major edits, resulting in sub-texts known as Dtr1 and Dtr2).
 
  
The hypothesis further postulates the combination of the sources into their current form by an editor known as R (for Redactor) who also made small additions.
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* the "J," or [[Yahwist]], source
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* the "E," or [[Elohist]], source (later combined with J to form the "JE" text)
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* the "P," or [[priestly source|Priestly]], source
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* the "D," or [[Deuteronomist]], text (which had two further major edits, resulting in sub-texts known as Dtr1 and Dtr2)
  
The specific identity of each author remains unknown, (although a supposition can identify R as [[Ezra]]), but textual elements identify each author with a specific background and with a specific period in Jewish history. Thus scholars associate J the [[kingdom of Judah]] in the early 9-8th century B.C.E., E with the [[kingdom of Israel]], the combined "JE" text with the kingdom of Judah following the destruction of Israel by the [[Assyrian Empire]] in the 720s B.C.E., P with the centralizing religious reforms instituted by king [[Hezekiah]] of Judah (reigned ca 716 B.C.E. to 687 B.C.E.), and D with the later reforms of Hezekiah's grandson, [[Josiah]] (reigned ca 641 B.C.E. to 609 B.C.E.). R'is considered to have completed the work sometime after the return to [[Jerusalem]] of Jewish exiles from the [[Babylonian captivity]] in the 5th century B.C.E..
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The hypothesis further postulates the combination of the sources into their current form by an editor known as "R" (for Redactor), who added editorial comments and transitional passages.
  
== The hypothesis ==
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The specific identity of each author remains unknown, (although a number of candidates have been proposed). However, textual elements identify each source with a specific background and with a specific period in Jewish history. Most scholars associate "J" with the southern [[Kingdom of Judah]] around the ninth century B.C.E., and "E" with a northern context slightly later. Both of these sources were informed by various oral traditions known to their authors.
=== Background to the hypothesis ===
 
  
Modern studies into the authorship of the Bible — the identity, period and motivation of its author(s) — began in the 19th century. The documentary hypothesis offers an account of the origins  of the first five books - [[Genesis]], [[Exodus]], [[Leviticus]], [[Deuteronomy]] and [[Book of Numbers|Numbers]].<ref>Richard Elliot Friedman, Introduction to ''The Bible with Sources Revealed,'' 2003 (see bibliography section).</ref>
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The combined "JE" text is thought to have been compiled in the [[Kingdom of Judah]] following the destruction of Israel by [[Assyria]] in the 720s B.C.E.. "P" is often associated with the centralizing religious reforms instituted by king [[Hezekiah]] of Judah (reigned c. 716 to 687 B.C.E.), and "D" with the later reforms [[Josiah]] (reigned c. 641 to 609 B.C.E.). "R" is considered to have completed the work, adding transitional elements to weave the stories together as well as some explanatory comments, sometime after the Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem from the [[Babylonian Exile]] in the fifth century B.C.E..E.
  
Major areas considered by scholars supporting the documentary hypothesis include:
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== History of the hypothesis ==
 
 
# The variations in the [[names of God in Judaism|divine names]] in [[Genesis]];
 
# The secondary variations in [[diction]] and in [[Stylistics (linguistics)|style]];
 
# The parallel or duplicate accounts ([[doublet]]s);
 
# The continuity of the various [[source text|sources]];
 
# The political assumptions implicit in the text;
 
# The interests of the author(s).
 
 
 
Many portions of the Torah seem to imply more than one author. Doublets and triplets repeat stories with different points of view. Notable repetitions include:
 
* the creation-accounts in ''Genesis''.  The [[creation (theology)|creation]]-story in Genesis first describes a somewhat evolutionary process, starting with the creation of the Earth, then the lower forms of life, then animals, and finally man and woman (created together). It then begins the story again, but this time with the creation of man first, then animals to assuage man's loneliness, and when this fails, the creation of [[Adam and Eve|Eve]] from [[Adam and Eve|Adam's rib]];
 
* in the flood story [[Noah]] takes his family into the ark twice;
 
* the stories of the covenant between [[God]] and [[Abraham]];
 
* the naming of [[Isaac]];
 
* the three strikingly similar narratives in [[Genesis]] about [[Wife-sister narratives in Genesis|a wife confused for a sister]];
 
* the two stories of the revelation to [[Jacob]] at [[Bet-El]];
 
* three different versions of how the town of [[Be'ersheba]] got its name;
 
* Exodus 38:26 mentions "603,550 men over 20 years old included in the census" immediately after [[passage of the Red Sea]], while Numbers 1:44-45 cites the precisely identical count, "The tally of Israelites according to their paternal families, those over 20 years old, all fit for service. The entire tally was 603,550", in a census taken a full year later, "on the first [day] of the second month in the second year of the Exodus" (Numbers 1:1);
 
* the story of the [[Deluge (mythology)|flood]] in Genesis appears to claim that two of all kinds of animal went on the [[Noah's Ark|ark]], but also that seven of certain kinds went on, and that the flood lasted a year, but also lasted only 40 days;
 
* the [[Ten Commandments]] appear in [[Exodus|Exod]] 20, but in a slightly different wording in [[Deuteronomy|Deut]] 5. A second, almost completely [[Ritual Decalogue|different set of Ten Commandments]] appears in Exod 34;
 
* Numbers 25 describes the rebellion at [[Peor]] and refers to daughters of [[Moabite|Moab]], but the same chapter portrays one woman as a [[Midian]]ite;
 
* Moses' wife, though often identified as a Midianite (and hence [[Semitic]]), appears in the tale of [[Snow-white Miriam]] as a "Cushite" ([[Ethiopian]]), and hence [[Black (people)|black]] ;
 
* in some locations God appears friendly and capable of errors and regret, and walks the earth talking to humans, but in others God seems unmerciful and distant;
 
* a number of places or individuals have multiple names.  For instance, some passages give the name of the mountain that Moses climbed to receive the commandments as ''Horeb'' and others as ''Sinai'', Moses' father-in-law has at least two names in the Hebrew original (יֶתֶר, יִתְרוֹ, and רְעוּאֵל), etc.
 
* [[Books of Samuel|Samuel 1]] relates that the prophet [[Saul]] committed suicide by falling on his sword. In Samuel 2, an [[Amalekite]] tells [[King David|David]] that he slew Saul upon request. Yet another reference in Samuel 2 states that a group of [[Philistine]]s killed Saul.
 
 
 
However, [[Rabbinic literature|classical rabbinical]] and other interpretations claim to have accounted for all of the above difficulties. Note also that [[Orthodox Judaism]] regards the Torah as all but impossible to understand without the insight of the [[Talmud|Oral Torah]].  On the other hand, many supporters of the documentary hypothesis disagree and view these arguments as [[apologetic]].  See the section on [[#Debates on the hypothesis]] below.
 
 
 
=== The modern hypothesis ===
 
 
 
[[Image:Moderndocumenthypothesis.jpg|right]]
 
 
 
The hypothesis proposes that a [[Torah redactor|redactor (referred to as '''R''')]] composed the [[Torah]] by combining four earlier source texts (J, E, P and D), specifically:
 
* '''J''' - the ''[[Jahwist]]''. J describes a human-like [[God]] called ''[[Tetragrammaton|Yahweh]]'' and has a special interest in [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] and in the [[Aaron]]id priesthood. J has an extremely eloquent style. J uses an earlier form of the [[Hebrew language]] than P.
 
* '''E''' - the ''[[Elohist]]''. E describes a human-like God initially called ''El'' (which sometimes appears as ''Elohim'' according to the rules of [[Hebrew grammar]]), and called ''Yahweh'' subsequent to the incident of the [[burning bush]]. E focuses on [[Kingdom of Israel|biblical Israel]] and on the [[Shiloh (Biblical)|Shiloh]] priesthood. E has a moderately eloquent style. E uses an earlier form of the Hebrew language than P.
 
* '''P''' - the ''[[Priestly source|Priestly]]'' source.  P describes a distant and unmerciful God, sometimes referred to as ''Elohim'' or as ''[[El Shaddai]]''. P partly duplicates J and E, but alters details to suit P's opinion, and also consists of most of [[Leviticus]]. P has its main interest in an Aaronid priesthood and in King [[Hezekiah]]. P has a low level of literary style, and has an interest in lists and dates.
 
* '''D''' - the ''[[Deuteronomist]]''. D consists of most of [[Deuteronomy]]. D probably also wrote the Deuteronomistic history ([[Book of Joshua|Josh]], [[Book of Judges|Judg]], [[Books of Samuel|1 & 2 Sam]], [[Books of Kings|1 & 2 Kgs]]). D has a particular interest in the Shiloh priesthood and in King [[Josiah]]. D uses a form of Hebrew similar to that of P, but in a different literary style.
 
 
 
The hypothesis postulates that various collections of remembered traditions took written form both in biblical Israel (producing E) and in Judah (producing J) shortly after their separation into two kingdoms (ca [[930 B.C.E.]]). Rival priesthoods  allegedly wrote these collections: the priests of Shiloh (in Israel) wrote E; while the Aaronid priests (in Judah) wrote J.  The literary scholar [[Harold Bloom]] in ''The Book of J'' proposed a female author for J, and some who accept this view have argued{{Fact|date=February 2007}} the case for seeing such an author not as a priest(ess) but as a mere member of the tribe of Judah; many small details in the J source allegedly convey typical female perspectives from the era, not those of males. The king of Israel had removed the priests of Shiloh (Levite like the Aaronids) from power and set up an alternate religion instead. E allegedly reflects these circumstances by describing stories appearing to condemn the changes (such as referring to a [[Golden Calf]] — the symbol of the new version of the religion).
 
 
 
The hypothesis then goes on to state that after the fall of Israel to the [[Assyria]]ns (ca 720 B.C.E.), the refugees from Israel brought E to [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]], and in the interests of assimilating those refugees into the general population, an unknown scribe combined the text with J to produce [[JE]]. Producing JE, in preference to keeping the texts separate, had the presumed goal of assimilating the refugees rather than having them form a separate subversive nation within Judah. In the circumstances, scholars speculate, the writer of JE may have thought it necessary to retain as much as possible of both J and E, in order to avoid readers and listeners complaining about missing or different texts and thus causing schisms.
 
 
 
The hypothesis suggests that, because of the centralising religious reform instituted by King [[Hezekiah]] (reigned ca 715 - 687 B.C.E.), the Aaronid priests created a text (P) which rewrote JE in a light favourable to them and to the changes. In addition to performing this change, they removed a few intolerable stories (such as that of the [[golden calf]]), and added a few stories. Within the text the author also added a body of laws (constituting most of Leviticus) supported by the Aaronids.
 
 
 
A few generations later, scholars believe, the [[Shiloh (Biblical)|Shiloh]] priesthood wrote a law-code more favourable to themselves and conspired with King [[Josiah]] (reigned ca 640 - 609 B.C.E.) to have it "found" in the [[Solomon's Temple|Temple]] so that he could base reforms on it (Hezekiah's descendants had previously undone Hezekiah's reforms). A scribe connected to the Shiloh group subsequently created a text (Dtr1) describing the span of time intervening between Moses and Josiah's rule, embedding the law code at the start in the framework of Moses' dying words.
 
 
 
Dtr1 presented Josiah as a parallel to Moses, an ideal king whose reforms would save Judah. But Josiah died in battle with the Egyptian army (ca 609 B.C.E.). Subsequent kings undid his reforms, and shortly afterward [[Neo-Babylonian Empire|Babylon]] destroyed Judah, burnt the Temple, and killed the royal family (ca 586 B.C.E.). The scribe who created Dtr1 made minor additions (Dtr2) to the text to reflect the additional history, and to iron out the flaws in their original presentation of Josiah and the permanence of Judah (by implying that the destruction came as a result of the undoing of Josiah's reforms). The resultant text became known as D.
 
 
 
When [[Achaemenid Empire|Persia]] conquered Babylon (539 B.C.E.), the Persian king [[Cyrus the Great|Cyrus II]] sent the exiled élite of Judah back to their homeland, empowering [[Ezra]] to dictate the religion. JE and P contained rival histories and rival religious views, and P and D contained rival law-codes. The Jews had to keep both sets of texts in order to avoid alienating each group in the new melding of the nation, and thus to avoid a power struggle or the setting up a nation within a nation. But they also had motivation to iron out the differences: so that people had certainty as to the law-code and to their history. Someone joined the texts together, making only minor additions and changes, creating the Torah, and Ezra read it out. Anyone who disagreed had the [[List of kings of Persia|Persian king]] to answer to.
 
 
 
=== A Minimalist variant===
 
 
 
[[Israel Finkelstein]] has criticised Biblical scholars and suggested that the combined [[David]]ic and [[Solomon]]ic [[United Monarchy|Empires]] existed only in legend.  On the basis of an archaeological exploration of the size of Jerusalem in the 10th century, he suggests that power centred in [[Samaria]] until the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 720 B.C.E., and that following the fall of Israel, Jerusalem expanded by 500% to become a city, rather than a small market town.  This expansion Finkelstein sees as due to the enormous number of refugees who fled south to escape from the wrath of [[Sargon]] of [[Assyria]].
 
 
 
Interpreting the E source within this political context leads to the suggestion that it reflected the views of Shilohite priests, refugees living in Jerusalem, who criticised  the policies and actions of the previous kings of Israel, which they saw as directly responsible for the disastrous collapse of Israel.
 
 
 
The J source in this scenario offers a [[Judea]]n response to the more sophisticated E account, written possibly in the early part of the reign of [[Hezekiah]] (ca. 716 - 687 B.C.E.), and intended to give the Levitical Aaronite priesthood of Jerusalem priority over the Mushite Shilohite refugees from the north.  P then resulted from a gathering of materials following the debacle at the end of Hezekiah's rule, and formed part of a political struggle between the traditionalists and modernisers. The traditionalists (those opposed to Hezekiah's centralism and wishing to return to the pre-Hezekiah situation), made alliance with the pro-Assyrian faction surrounding Hezekiah's successful son, King [[Manasseh]] (reigned ca. 687 - 642 B.C.E.)). The modernisers eventually achieved pre-eminence under Manasseh's grandson, King [[Josiah]] (reigned ca. 641 - 609 B.C.E.).
 
 
 
Finkelstein's Minimalist school allows for much later redaction than in other versions of the documentary hypothesis.  For example, on the basis of the [[Elephantine papyri]], it would seem that the Jewish temple remained largely [[polytheist]]ic as late as 409 B.C.E. during the reign of [[Darius II]].  [[Thomas L. Thompson]], for instance, on the basis of chronological synchronism that posits a central role in the Torah for the 480 years between the Exodus and the construction of the Temple, and then down to the rebuilding of the temple and the [[Maccabean]] revolt, suggests that a major redaction of the textual material occurred during the early [[Hasmonean]] monarchy.
 
 
 
=== Secondary hypothesis ===
 
 
 
The secondary hypothesis of the documentary hypothesis suggests that two schools of writers put together the biblical text of the Old Testament: the priests of Shiloh and the Aaronid priesthood.
 
 
 
The priests of Shiloh have associations with the following texts:
 
* E (the Elohist source of the Torah)
 
* the Deuteronomistic law code (Deuteronomy 12-26)
 
* the Deuteronomistic history (most of the material in: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, I and II Samuel, I and II Kings; compiled from older sources)
 
* the [[Book of Jeremiah]]
 
 
 
The Aaronid priests have associations with the following texts:
 
* J (the Jahwist source of the Torah)
 
* P (the Aaronid rewriting of JE)
 
* the book of generations (used by R in the Torah)
 
* the book of journeys (used by R in the Torah)
 
* the Aaronid law code (Lev)
 
* the [[Books of Chronicles]] (compiled from older sources)
 
* the [[Book of Ezekiel]]
 
  
== History of the hypothesis ==
 
 
=== Traditional Jewish and Christian beliefs ===
 
=== Traditional Jewish and Christian beliefs ===
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The traditional view holds that [[God]] revealed the Pentateuch (also called the [[Torah]]) to [[Moses]] at [[Mount Sinai]] in a verbal fashion, and that Moses transcribed this dictation verbatim. Moreover, the [[Ten Commandments]] were originally written directly by God onto two tablets of stone. Based on the [[Talmud]] (tractate ''Git.'' 60a), however, some believe that God may have revealed the Torah piece-by-piece over the 40 years that the [[Israelite]]s reportedly wandered in the [[desert]].
  
The traditional Jewish view holds that [[God]] revealed his will to [[Moses]] at [[Mount Sinai]] in a verbal fashion, and that Moses transcribed this dictation verbatim, and that the Pentateuch itself, except for passages dealing with events after the revelation, reflects this transcription exactly{{Fact|date=February 2007}}.
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This tradition of Moses being the author of the [[Torah]], long held by both Jewish and Christian authorities, was nearly unanimously affirmed with a few notable exceptions until the seventeeth century B.C.E.<ref>[https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11646c.htm “Pentateuch”] ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. Retrieved August 26, 2020.</ref>
Based on the [[Talmud]] (tractate ''Git.'' 60a), some believe that God may have revealed the Torah piece-by-piece over the 40 years that the Israelites reportedly wandered in the desert.
 
 
 
The Pentateuch itself does not imply as much. The expression "God said to Moses" shows only the Divine origin of the [[Mosaic law]]s, but does not prove that Moses himself codified in the Pentateuch the various laws promulgated by him. It does, on the other hand, ascribe to Moses the literary authorship of at least four sections, partly historical, partly legal, partly poetical. The voice of tradition, however, both Jewish and Christian, proclaimed the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch so unanimously and constantly that down to the [[17th century]] it did not allow the rise of any serious doubt. (See a 1911 Roman Catholic account of the Pentateuch's [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11646c.htm authenticity].)
 
  
 
=== Rabbinical biblical criticism ===
 
=== Rabbinical biblical criticism ===
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Certain traditional rabbinical authorities do evidence skepticism of the [[Torah]]'s complete Mosaic authorship.
  
Certain rabbinical authorities noted a number of exceptions to the supposed Mosaic authorship account. Noting that over the millennia, scribal errors had crept into the text, the [[Masoretes]] (seventh to tenth centuries C.E.) compared all extant variations and attempted to create a definitive text. Rabbi [[Abraham ibn Ezra]] and Joseph Bonfils observed that some phrases in the Torah present information that people should only have known after the time of Moses. Ibn Ezra hinted, and Bonfils explicitly stated, that Joshua (or perhaps some later prophet) wrote short phrases in the Torah. Other rabbis would not accept this view.
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*The [[Talmud]] itself indicates that God dictated only the first four books of the Torah, and that [[Moses]] wrote [[Deuteronomy]] in his own words (Talmud Bavli, ''Meg.'' 31b). The Talmud also affirms that a peculiar section in the [[Book of Numbers]] (10:35-36) was originally a title of a separate book, which no longer exists (''Sabb.'' 115b).
  
The [[Talmud]] (tractate ''Sabb.'' 115b) states that a peculiar section in the [[Book of Numbers]] (10:35 — 36, surrounded by inverted [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] letter ''nuns'') in fact forms a separate book. On this verse a [[midrash]] on the book of [[Book of Proverbs|Mishle]] states that "These two verses stem from an independent book which existed, but was suppressed!"  Another (possibly earlier) midrash, ''Ta'ame Haserot Viyterot'', states that this section actually comes from the book of prophecy of [[Eldad and Modad|Eldad and Medad]]. The Talmud says that God dictated four books of the Torah, but that Moses wrote Deuteronomy in his own words (Talmud Bavli, ''Meg.'' 31b).
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*Recognizing that over the millennia, scribal errors had crept into the text, the [[Masoretes]] (seventh to tenth centuries C.E.) compared all extant versions and attempted to create a definitive text.
  
Individual [[rabbi]]s and scholars have on occasion pointed out that the Torah showed signs of non-Mosaic origins in some passages:
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*In the twelfth century, Rabbi [[Abraham ibn Ezra]] observed that some parts of the [[Torah]] presented apparently anachronistic information, which should only have been known after the time of Moses. Later, Rabbi [[Joseph Bonfils]] explicitly stated that [[Joshua]] (or some later [[prophet]]) must have added some phrases.
  
* Rabbi [[Judah ben Ilai]] held that Joshua must have written the final verses of the Torah (Talmud, ''B. Bat.'' 15a and ''Menah.'' 30a, and in Midrash ''Sipre.'' 357).
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*Also in the twelfth century, Rabbi [[Joseph ben Isaac]] noted close similarities between a number of supposedly distinct episodes in [[Exodus, Book of|Exodus]] and the [[Book of Numbers]]. He hypothesized that these incidents represented parallel traditions gathered by Moses, rather than separate incidents.
* Parts of the Midrash retain evidence of the [[redaction]]al period during which [[Ezra]] redacted and canonized the text of the Torah as it survives today.  A rabbinic tradition states that at this time (440 B.C.E.), Ezra edited the text of the Torah, and found ten places in the Torah where lacked certainty as to how to fix the text; these passages appear marked with special punctuation marks called the ''eser nekudot''. (Ezra's minimal redaction corrected ten textual variants between three texts.)
 
* In the middle ages, Rabbi [[Abraham ibn Ezra]] (ca 1092 - 1167 C.E.) and others noted that several text sequences in the Torah  apparently could not have originated in Moses' lifetime. For example, see Ibn Ezra's comments on [[Genesis|Gen]] 12:6; 22:14; [[Deuteronomy|Deut]] 1:2; 3:11; and 34:1, 6.  Rabbi Joseph Bonfils elucidated Ibn Ezra's comments in his commentary on Ibn Ezra's work.
 
* In the [[12th century]] CE the commentator R. Joseph ben Isaac, known as the ''Bekhor Shor'', noted close similarities between a number of wilderness narratives in Exodus and Numbers, in particular, the incidents of water from the rock and the stories about manna and the quail. He hypothesised that both of these incidents actually happened once, but that parallel traditions about these events eventually developed, both of which made their way into the Torah.
 
* In the [[13th century]] CE Rabbi [[Hezekiah ben Manoah]] (known as the ''Hizkuni'') noticed the same textual anomalies that Ibn Ezra had noted; thus R. Hezekiah's commentary on Gen 12:6 notes that this section "is written from the perspective of the future".
 
* In the [[15th century]], Rabbi Yosef Bonfils, while discussing the comments of Ibn Ezra, noted: "Thus it would seem that Moses did not write this word here, but Joshua or some other prophet wrote it.  Since we believe in the prophetic tradition, what possible difference can it make whether Moses wrote this or some other prophet did, since the words of all of them are true and prophetic?"
 
* [[Martin Buber]] reports how his friend and co-translator of Scripture [[Franz Rosenzweig]] jokingly used to expand the [[sigil]] '''R''' for the redactor to ''Rabbenu'' — "Our Master" (a common epithet for Moses).
 
  
For more information on these issues from an Orthodox Jewish perspective, see ''Modern Scholarship in the Study of Torah: Contributions and Limitations'', edited by Shalom Carmy (Jason Aronson, Inc.), and ''Handbook of Jewish Thought'', Volume I, by [[Aryeh Kaplan]] (Moznaim Pub.)
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*In the thirteenth century, Rabbi [[Hezekiah ben Manoah]] noticed the same textual anomalies that Ibn Ezra did and commented that this section of the Torah "is written from the perspective of the future."<ref>Shalom Carmy (ed.), ''Modern Scholarship in the Study of Torah: Contributions and Limitations'' (Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson, 1996, ISBN 978-1568214504).</ref>
  
 
=== The Enlightenment ===
 
=== The Enlightenment ===
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[[Image:Spinoza.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Baruch Spinoza]] was among those who faced persecution for his skepticism about biblical revelation]]
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A number of [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] writers expressed more serious doubts about the traditional view of Mosaic authorship. For example, in the sixteenth century, [[Andreas Karlstadt]] noticed that the style of the account of the death of [[Moses]] matched the style of the preceding portions of [[Deuteronomy]]. He suggested that whoever wrote about the death of Moses also wrote Deuteronomy and perhaps other portions of the Torah.
  
A number of [[the Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] Christian writers expressed doubts about the traditional Christian view. For example, in the [[16th century]], [[Andreas Karlstadt|Carlstadt]] noticed that the style of the account of the death of Moses matched the style of the preceding portions of Deuteronomy, suggesting that whoever wrote about the death of Moses also wrote larger portions of the Torah.
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By the seventeenth century, some commentators argued outright that Moses did not write most of the [[Pentateuch]]. For instance, in 1651 [[Thomas Hobbes]], in chapter 33 of ''Leviathan'', argued that the Pentateuch dated from after Mosaic times on account of [[Deuteronomy]] 34:6 ("no man knoweth of his sepulchre to this day"), [[Genesis]] 12:6 ("and the [[Canaan]]ite was then in the land"), and Num 21:14 (referring to a previous book of Moses's deeds). Other skeptics included [[Isaac de la Peyrère]], [[Baruch Spinoza]], [[Richard Simon]], and [[John Hampden]]. However, these men found their works condemned and even banned.
 
 
By the [[17th century]] some commentators argued outright that Moses did not write most of the Pentateuch. For instance, in 1651 [[Thomas Hobbes]] in chapter 33 of ''Leviathan'', argued that the Pentateuch dated from after Mosaic times on account of Deut 34:6 ("no man knoweth of his sepulchre to this day"), Gen 12:6 ("and the [[Canaan]]ite was then in the land"), and Num 21:14 (referring to a previous book of Moses's deeds). Other skeptics include [[Isaac de la Peyrère]], [[Baruch Spinoza|Spinoza]], [[Richard Simon]], and [[John Hampden]]. Nevertheless, these people found their works condemned and even banned; the authorities forced de la Peyrère and Hampden to recant, whereas an attempt was made on Spinoza's life.
 
 
 
The [[France|French]] scholar and physician [[Jean Astruc]] first introduced the terms ''[[Elohist]]'' and ''[[Jehovist]]'' (or Elohistic and Jehovistic) in a little book titled ''Conjectures sur les memoires originaux, dont il parait que Moses s'est servi pour composer le livre de la Genèse'' ("Conjectures on the original documents that Moses appears to have used in composing the Book of Genesis"), anonymously printed in 1753. Astruc noted that the first chapter of [[Genesis]] uses only the word "Elohim" for [[God]], while other sections use the word "Jehovah". The second and third chapters combine the title and the name, giving rise to a new conception of the Deity as ''Jehovah Elohim'' ("Lord-God", as commonly translated in many English Bibles today). He speculated that Moses may have compiled the Genesis account from earlier documents, some perhaps dating back to Abraham, and may have combined these into a single account. So he began to explore the possibility of detecting and separating these documents and assigning them to their original sources. He did this, taking it as axiomatic that one can analyze scriptural documents in the same manner as secular ones, and assuming that the varying use of terms indicated different writers.
 
 
 
Using "Elohim" and "Yahweh" as a criterion, Astruc used columns titled respectively "A" and "B", and also isolated other passages. The A and B narratives he regarded as originally complete and independent narratives. This work gave birth to the practice of Biblical textual criticism that became known as [[higher criticism]].
 
 
 
[[Johann Gottfried Eichhorn|J. G. Eichhorn]] brought Astruc's book to Germany and further differentiated the two chief documents through their linguistic peculiarities in 1787. However, neither he nor Astruc denied Mosaic authorship, nor analyzed beyond the book of Exodus.
 
 
 
H. Ewald recognized that the documents that later came to be known as "P" and "J" left traces in other books. F. Tuch showed that "P" and "J" also appeared recognizably in [[Joshua]].
 
 
 
[[Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette|W. M. L. de Wette]] (1780 — 1849) joined this hypothesis to one asserted by [[17th-century]] commentators by stating that the author(s) of the first four books of the Pentateuch did not write the Book of [[Deuteronomy]]. In 1805 he attributed Deuteronomy to the time of [[Josiah]] (ca. [[621 B.C.E.]]). Soon other writers also began considering the idea. By 1823 Eichhorn abandoned claiming Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch.
 
 
 
=== 19th-century theories ===
 
  
About 1822 [[Friedrich Bleek]] commented about the original relationship of Joshua to the Pentateuch in its continuation of the narrative in Deuteronomy, of which it formed the conclusion. The letters "J" for ''Jahwist'' and "E" ''Elohist'' then became associated with the documents.
+
The French scholar and physician [[Jean Astruc]] first introduced the terms ''Elohist'' and ''Jehovist'' in 1753. Astruc noted that the first chapter of [[Genesis]] uses only the word "Elohim" for [[God]], while other sections use the word "Jehovah." He speculated that Moses compiled the Genesis account from earlier documents, some perhaps dating back to [[Abraham]]. He also explored the possibility of detecting and separating these documents and assigning them to their original sources.
  
[[Hermann Hupfeld|H. Hupfeld]] followed K. D. Ilgen in identifying two separate documents that used "Elohim". In 1853 Hupfeld set forth [[Genesis]] chapters 1 to 19 and 20 to 50 as providing the two separate Elohistic source documents. He also emphasized the importance of the redactor of these documents. He followed the arrangement of the documents as: First Elohist, Second Elohist, Jehovist, Deuteronomist: J, E, and D.
+
[[Johann Gottfried Eichhorn]] further differentiated the two chief documents in 1787. However, neither he nor Astruc denied Mosaic authorship, and they did not analyze the Pentateuch beyond the [[Book of Exodus]]. H. Ewald first recognized that the documents that later came to be known as "P" and "J" left traces in other books. F. Tuch showed that "P" and "J" also appeared recognizably in [[Joshua]].
  
[[Karl Heinrich Graf]] showed that many individual features distinguished [[Leviticus]] chapters 17 to 26 from  the priestly document. He suggested a fifth document, which [[August Klostermann]] named the "[[Holiness Code]]" (because this body of laws featured the declaration of God's holiness, Israel's duty to be holy as his people, and extremely frequent use of the word ''holy'').
+
[[Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette|W. M. L. de Wette]] joined this hypothesis with the earlier idea that the author(s) of the first four books of the Pentateuch did not write the Book of [[Deuteronomy]]. In 1805, he attributed Deuteronomy to the time of [[Josiah]] (c. 621 B.C.E.). Soon other writers also began considering the idea. By 1823, Eichhorn, too, had abandoned the claim of Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch.
  
==== Julius Wellhausen ====
+
=== Nineteenth-century theories ===
  
In 1886 the [[Germany|German]] historian [[Julius Wellhausen]] published ''Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels'' ("Prolegomena to the History of Israel"). In this book he stated: "according to the historical and prophetical books of the Old Testament the priestly legislation of the middle books of the Pentateuch was unknown in pre-exilic time, and that this legislation must therefore be a late development."(2) The letter "P", for ''priestly'', became associated with this view.
+
Further developments of the theory were contributed by [[Friedrich Bleek]], [[Hermann Hupfeld]], [[K. D. Ilgen]], [[August Klostermann]], and [[Karl Heinrich Graf]]. The mature expression of the documentary hypothesis, however, is usually credited to the work of Graf and [[Julius Wellhausen]]. Accordingly it is often referred to as the "Graf-Wellhausen" hypothesis.
  
Wellhausen argued that the Bible provides historians with an important source, but that they cannot take it literally. He argued that a number of people wrote the "hexateuch" (including the [[Torah]] or [[Pentateuch]], and the book of [[Joshua]]) over a long period. Specifically, he narrowed the field to four distinct narratives, which he identified by the aforementioned '''J'''ahwist, '''E'''lohist, '''D'''euteronomist and '''P'''riestly accounts. He also proposed a '''R'''edactor, who edited the four accounts into one text.  (Some see the redactor as ''Ezra'' the scribe.) Using earlier propositions, he argued that each of these sources has its own vocabulary, its own approach and concerns, and that the passages originally belonging to each account can be distinguished by differences in style (especially, the name used for God, the grammar and word usage, the political assumptions implicit in the text, and the interests of the author).
+
In 1886, Wellhausen published ''Prolegomena to the History of Israel'',<ref>[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4732 ''Prolegomena to the History of Israel'' by Julius Wellhausen] at Project Gutenberg. Retrieved August 26, 2020.</ref> in which he argued that the [[Bible]] provides historians with an important source, but that they cannot take it literally. He affirmed that a number of people wrote the "hexateuch" (including the [[Pentateuch]] plus the book of [[Joshua]]) over a long period. Specifically, he narrowed the field to four distinct narratives, which he identified by the aforementioned '''J'''ahwist, '''E'''lohist, '''D'''euteronomist and '''P'''riestly accounts. He also proposed a '''R'''edactor, who edited the four accounts into one text.
  
* '''The "J" source:''' In this source God's name always appears as YHVH, which scholars transliterated in modern times as ''Yahveh'' (German spelling: ''Jahwe''; earlier translators in English used the [[transliteration]] ''Jehovah'').
+
Using earlier propositions, he argued that each of these sources has its own vocabulary, its own approach and concerns, and that the passages originally belonging to each account can usually be distinguished by differences in style—especially the name used for God, the grammar and word usage, the political assumptions implicit in the text, and the interests of the author. Specifically:
* '''The "E" source:''' In this source God's name always comes in the form ''Elohim'' (Hebrew for "God", or "Power") until the revelation of God's name to Moses, after which God's name becomes YHVH.
 
* '''The "D" or "Dtr" source:''' The source that wrote the book of Deuteronomy, as well as the books of Joshua, Judges, First and Second Samuel and First and Second Kings.
 
* '''The "P" source:''' The priestly material. Uses ''Elohim'' and ''El Shaddai'' as names of God.
 
  
Wellhausen argued that from the style and point of view of each source one could draw inferences about the times of writing of that source (in other words, the historical value of the Bible lies not in it revealing things about the events it describes, but rather in revealing things about the people who wrote it). He argued that in the progression evident in these four sources, from a relatively informal and decentralized relationship between people and God in the J account, to the relatively formal and centralized practices of the P account, one could see the development of institutionalized Israelite religion.
+
* '''The "J" source:''' Here, God's name appears in Hebrew as YHWH, which scholars transliterated in modern times as “[[Yahweh]]” (the German spelling uses a "J," prounounced as an English "Y"). Some Bible translations use the term ''Jehovah'' for this word, but normally it is translated as "The Lord."
 +
* '''The "E" source:''' Here, God's name is “Elohim” until the revelation of His true name to Moses in the [[Book of Exodus]], after which God's name becomes YHWH in both sources.
 +
* '''The "D" or "Dtr." source:''' The source of the Book of [[Deuteronomy]] and parts of the books of [[Joshua, Book of|Joshua]], [[Judges, Book of|Judges]], [[Samuel, Books of|Samuel]], and [[Kings, Books of|Kings]]. It portrays a strong concern for centralized worship in [[Jerusalem]] and an absolute opposition to intermarriage with [[Canaan]]ites or otherwise mixing Israelite culture with Canaanite traditions.
 +
* '''The "P" source:''' This is the priestly material. It uses ''Elohim'' and ''El Shaddai'' as names of God and demonstrates a special concern for [[ritual]], [[liturgy]], and religious law.
  
Subsequent scholars have questioned (and to a large degree rejected) a number of Wellhausen's specific interpretations, including his reconstruction of the order of the accounts as J-E-D-P. Biblical scholars today suggest that he organized the narrative to culminate with P because he believed that the [[New Testament]] followed logically in this progression.  (This assumption prompted the Jewish scholar [[Solomon Schechter]] to refer to Wellhausen's theories as "Higher Antisemitism").  In the 1950s the Israeli historian [[Yehezkel Kaufmann]] published ''The Religion of Israel, from Its Beginnings to the Babylonian Exile'', in which he argued for the order of the sources as J, E, P, and D.
+
Wellhausen argued that from the style and theological viewpoint of each source, one could draw important historical inferences about the authors and audiences of each particular source. He perceived an evident progression from a relatively informal and decentralized relationship between the people and God in the "J" account, to the more formal and centralized practices of the "D" and "P" accounts. Thus, the sources reveal the process and evolution of the institutionalized Israelite religion.
 
 
Wellhausen resigned his post as professor of biblical studies, stating that his hypotheses had started to make his students (trainees for the [[Evangelicalism|Evangelical]], i.e., Protestant, ministry) unsuitable as ministers.
 
  
 
=== The modern era ===
 
=== The modern era ===
 +
[[Image:Moderndocumenthypothesis.jpg|thumb|300px|Chart describing one modern update of the original theory, showing influence of "JE" on "D"]]
 +
Other scholars quickly responded to the documentary understanding of the origin of the five books of [[Moses]], and within a few years it became the predominant hypothesis. While subsequent scholarship has dismissed many of Wellhausen's more specific claims, most [[history|historians]] still accept the general idea that the [[Pentateuch]] had a composite origin.
  
Other scholars quickly responded to the documentary understanding of the origin of the five books of Moses, and within a few years it became the predominant hypothesis. While subsequent scholarship has dismissed many of Wellhausen's specific claims, most [[history|historians]] still accept the general idea that the five books of Moses had a composite origin.
+
An example of a widely accepted update of Wellhausen's version came in the 1950s when Israeli historian [[Yehezkel Kaufmann]] published ''The Religion of Israel, from Its Beginnings to the Babylonian Exile'' (1960), in which he argued for the order of the sources as "J," "E," "P," and "D"—whereas Wellhausan had placed "P" after "D." The exact dates and contexts of each source, as well as their relationships to each other, have also been much debated.
 
 
Note that the term "documentary hypothesis" does not necessarily refer to one specific hypothesis. Rather, this name applies to any understanding of the origin of the Torah that recognizes (basically) four sources redacted together into a final version.  One could claim that one redactor wove together four specific texts, or one could hold that the entire nation of [[Israel]] slowly created a consensus work based on various strands of the Israelite tradition, or anything in between.  Gerald A. Larue writes:
 
<blockquote>
 
Back of each of the four sources lie traditions that may have been both oral and written. Some may have been preserved in the songs, ballads, and folktales of different tribal groups, some in written form in sanctuaries. The so-called 'documents' should not be considered as mutually exclusive writings, completely independent of one another, but rather as a continual  stream of literature representing a pattern of progressive interpretation of traditions and history
 
<ref>
 
Larue, Gerald A. ''Old Testament Life and Literature'', Allyn & Bacon, Inc, Boston, MA, USA 1968.
 
</ref>
 
</blockquote>
 
 
 
==== Richard Elliot Friedman ====
 
 
 
In recent years researchers have made attempts to separate the J, E, D, and P portions. [[Richard Elliott Friedman]]'s ''Who Wrote The Bible?'' offers a very reader-friendly and yet comprehensive argument explaining Friedman's opinions as to the possible identity of each of those authors and, more important, why they wrote what they wrote. [[Harold Bloom]] then wrote ''The Book of J'', in which his co-author, Hebrew translator [[David Rosenberg]], claims to have reconstructed the book that J wrote (though, certainly, some of J's original contribution could have become lost in the consolidation, if one accepts the four-author hypothesis). Bloom (picking up on Friedman's earlier speculation) also indicates a belief indentifying J as a woman, but other scholars do not accept this.
 
 
 
More recently, Friedman published ''The Hidden Book in the Bible'', in which he makes a comprehensive argument for his hypothesis that J wrote not only the portions of the Torah commonly attributed to J, but also sections of Judges, Joshua and First and Second Samuel (which Bloom and earlier Biblical scholars attributed to another source, the [[Court History of David]]), which contained the bulk of the accounts of the life of King [[David]], with a close thematic interrelationship between the earlier and later portions of what Friedman presents as a single united work by one author of [[Shakespeare]]an literary ability.
 
 
 
Friedman has also published ''The Bible with Sources Revealed'' (2003), his own translation of the Torah with the material from each source (as he sees them) in a different color of ink or a different typeface.
 
 
 
==== The hypothesis of female authorship ====
 
Some modern scholars argue for the possibility of female authorship based on (for example) the fact that an upper-class woman (in Judah especially) may have had greater status and access to education than a lower-class man at that time,<ref>
 
Richard Freidman, ''Who wrote the Bible?''
 
</ref>
 
making female authorship at least possible.  Scholars have particularly singled out the J source as a candidate for female authorship (see above for discussion of the J source, especially the work of Bloom and Rosenberg in ''The Book of J''<ref>
 
Bloom, Harold and Rosenberg, David ''The Book of J'', Random House, NY, USA 1990. ISBN 0-8021-4191-9
 
</ref>
 
).  However, [[Richard Friedman]] in ''Who wrote the Bible?'' notes that while these ideas leave the door open to female authorship, they do not constitute a proof of it either way.
 
 
 
== Debates on the hypothesis ==
 
=== Various views of opponents ===
 
 
 
Most [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jews]] and many conservative Christians reject the documentary hypothesis entirely and accept the traditional view that [[Moses]] essentially produced the whole Torah. Jewish sources predating the emergence of the documentary hypothesis offer alternative explanations for the stylistic differences and alternative Divine names from which the hypothesis originated. For instance, some regard the Tetragrammaton as an expression of mercifulness (''middath ha-rachamim'') while ''Elohim'' refers to strict judgement (''middath ha-din''); traditional Jewish literature cites this concept (first found in [[Mekhilta|Mechilta]] section [[Beshalach]]) copiously.
 
 
 
Most Orthodox Jews and many conservative Christians accept the divine origin of the Pentateuch in its entirety as a given. They usually reject the documentary hypothesis as incompatible with their religious view of the Bible. Some religious conservatives believe that Moses wrote much of the text and edited or compiled the rest. Others who reject the hypothesis allow for considerable post-Mosaic editing of the Pentateuch, though not along J.E.D.P. lines. Many conservative scholars argue for the literary unity of the books[http://www.hkbts.edu.hk/Common/Reader/News/ShowNews.jsp?Nid=193&Pid=16&Version=0&Cid=43&Charset=iso-8859-1&p=1].
 
 
 
Over the last century, an entire literature has developed within conservative scholarship and religious communities dedicated to the refutation of [[Higher criticism|higher biblical criticism]] in general and of the documentary hypothesis in particular.
 
 
 
R. N. Whybray's ''The Making of the Pentateuch'' offers a critique of the hypothesis from a critical perspective. Biblical archaeologist [[W.F. Albright]] stated that even the most ardent proponents of the documentary hypothesis must admit that, like the [[Sefer haYashar (Biblical references)|Book of Jasher]], and the [[Book of the Wars of the Lord]], no tangible, external evidence for the existence of the hypothesized J, E, D, P sources exists. The late Dr. Yohanan Aharoni, in his work ''Canaanite Israel during the Period of Israeli Occupation'' (referenced from [http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Biblical_Criticism.htm simpletoremember.com]) states that "[r]ecent archaeological discoveries have decisively changed the entire approach of Bible critics" and that later authors or editors could not have put together or invented these stories hundreds of years after they happened.
 
 
 
Some studies claim to show a literary consistency throughout the [[Pentateuch]]. For instance, a 1980 computer-based study at [[Hebrew University]] in [[State of Israel|Israel]] (as summarised at [http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Biblical_Criticism.htm simpletoremember.com]) concluded that a single author most likely wrote the Pentateuch. Some Bible scholars have rejected this study for a number of reasons, including the fact that a single later editor can rewrite a text in a uniform voice (see [http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Biblical_Criticism.htm simpletoremember.com]). On the other hand, say critics like [[James Orr (theologian)|James Orr]], if one admits that the texts speak with a uniform voice, much of the initial plausibility of the hypothesis evaporates. Some, perhaps most notably [[Gleason Archer]], have proposed harmonisations of the Torah which allegedly resolve the discrepancies.
 
 
 
Other criticisms arise from several sources:
 
* [[Axel Olrik]]'s ''Principles for Oral Narrative Research'' states that preserving various versions of the same material without regularizing it signals accuracy in transmitting an oral tradition, not a failure of editorship. (§15)
 
* [[Umberto Cassuto]] points out an instance of "emendation" which, in modern scientific terms, equates to falsifying the data so that it supports an assertion.<ref>
 
Cassuto, Umberto. ''The Documentary Hypothesis'' (Contemporary Jewish Thought), Shalem, 2006. ISBN 965-7052-35-1
 
</ref>
 
* Rabbi Dr. Dovid Gottlieb points out at [http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Biblical_Criticism.htm simpletoremember.com] that according to the Documentary Hypothesis, "the editor is supposed to have composed the Torah out of fragmentary documents possessed by a variety of different group, each with its own conception of G-d and its traditions of history, laws etc. the editor somehow convinced all the groups to replace their fragments with his one composite. This occurred at a time when there were Jewish communities in Israel, Babylon, Alexandria, Egypt and elsewhere. Yet this event – the unification of the text – left no historical record at all. No opposition, no hold-outs retaining their fragments, no celebration of the editor and the event of finally achieving the authentic divine text…."
 
  
=== Various views of supporters ===
+
=== Recent books===
 +
[[Richard Elliott Friedman]]'s ''Who Wrote The Bible?'' (1981) offers a very reader-friendly and yet comprehensive argument explaining Friedman's opinions as to the possible identity of each of those authors and, more important, why they wrote what they wrote. [[Harold Bloom]]'s ''The Book of J'' (1990) includes the publication of the J source only as a stand-alone document, creatively translated by co-author, [[David Rosenberg]]. Bloom argues that "J," whom he believes to be a literary genius on a par with [[William Shakespeare]], was a woman living at the time of King [[Rehoboam]] of Judah. More recently, [[Israel Finkelstein]] (2001) and [[William Dever]] (2001) have each written a book correlating the documentary hypothesis with current [[archaeology|archaeological research]].
  
Bible-scholars supporting the documentary hypothesis continue to debate the specifics — as commonly happens in the fields of archaeology, history and science.
+
===Criticisms of the hypothesis===
  
While accepting the documentary hypothesis as correct in outline, some scholars believe that the Wellhausen School overemphasized the use of written sources to the neglect of the oral traditions that underlay the sources. The oral traditionalists, starting with [[Hermann Gunkel]] (the "father of [[form criticism]]"), viewed the narratives of the Torah as originally stories handed down orally in the form of [[saga]]s, much like the ''Iliad'' or ''Odyssey'', passed down via word of mouth by an illiterate people. Eventually scribes wrote these oral traditions down.
+
Most [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jews]] and many conservative Christians reject the documentary hypothesis entirely and accept the traditional view that [[Moses]] essentially produced the whole [[Torah]].
  
Form and tradition history do not necessarily contradict the documentary hypothesis; one could use these methods to try to reconstruct the oral history behind Wellhausen's written sources. On the other hand, one can take oral tradition as an alternative to written sources. The Scandinavian scholar [[Ivan Engnell]] has espoused this point of view: he believes that the Hebrew people transmitted the whole of the Torah orally into the post-exilic period, at which point an author — whose attributes match those ascribed to the Redactor R of the documentary hypothesis — wrote it down in a single document.
+
Jewish sources predating the emergence of the documentary hypothesis offer alternative explanations for the stylistic differences and alternative divine names from which the hypothesis originated. For instance, some regard the name [[Yahweh]] ('''YHWH''') as an expression of God's mercifulness, while ''[[Elohim]]'' expresses His commitment to law and judgment. Traditional Jewish literature cites this concept frequently.
  
The [[Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg|Heidelberg]] professor Rolf Rendtorff expresses the view that larger chunks of narrative within the texts which the documentary hypothesis calls J and E evolved independently of other parts of each of these texts, and did not form part of a large text like J or E. This view proposes that a Deuteronomic redactor combined the narratives editorially only at a later stage. In this synthesis, Rendtorff allows for a post-exilic P source, but one far reduced from the notions of Wellhausen.
+
Over the last century, an entire literature has developed within conservative scholarship and religious communities dedicated to the refutation of [[biblical criticism]] in general and of the documentary hypothesis in particular.
  
Some critical analysis rejects the partitioning scheme of Wellhausen. For example Hans Heinrich Schmid, in his 1976 work, ''Der sogenannte Jahwist'' ["The So-called Yahwist"], almost completely eliminates the J document. According to Blenkinsopp (1992), this approach — if taken to the logical extreme — eliminates all narrative sources other than the Deuteronomic author.
+
R. N. Whybray's ''The Making of the Pentateuch'' offers a critique of the hypothesis from a critical perspective. Biblical archaeologist [[W. F. Albright]] stated that even the most ardent proponents of the documentary hypothesis must admit that no tangible, external evidence for the existence of the hypothesized "J," "E," "D," "P" sources exists. The late Dr. [[Yohanan Aharoni]], in his work ''Canaanite Israel During the Period of Israeli Occupation'', states, "[r]ecent archaeological discoveries have decisively changed the entire approach of Bible critics" and that later authors or editors could not have put together or invented these stories hundreds of years after they happened.
  
Other modifications to the documentary hypothesis appeared in the mid-1970s in the work of [[John Van Seters]], and continued into the 1980s and 1990s. Dating the J material  to the period of the exile (6th century B.C.E.), but maintaining its focus as identity-creation, Van Seters' work continues to use the terminology established in the 18th and 19th centuries, but holds a different view regarding the compositional process. While Schmid and other European scholars continue to think in terms of documents and redactors, Van Seters proposes a process of supplementation in which subsequent groups modify earlier compositions to include their points-of-view and to change the focus of the narratives.
+
Some studies claim to show a literary consistency throughout the [[Pentateuch]]. For instance, a 1980 computer-based study at Hebrew University in [[Israel]] concluded that a single author most likely wrote the Pentateuch. However, others have rejected this study for a number of reasons, including the fact that a single later editor can rewrite a text in a uniform voice.<ref>[https://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/bible_criticism.htm Biblical Criticism - The Jewish View,] SimpleToRemember.com - Judaism Online. Retrieved August 26, 2020.</ref>
  
The modifications to the documentary hypothesis suggested by Van Seters and others have provided challenges for biblical scholars, particularly in the United States of America. Many see the supplementary model as incompatible with the established views of the documentary models of composition. They correctly see a challenge to the early dating for composition and the problematic control of documentary materials, for which the literary evidence appears harder and harder to maintain.
+
==Footnotes==
 +
<references />
  
 
== References ==
 
== References ==
 
+
* Blenkinsopp, Joseph. ''The Pentateuch: An Introduction to the First Five Books of the Bible''. Doubleday, 1992. ISBN 038541207X
John Rogerson provides an authoritative and readable overview in ''Old Testament Criticism in the Nineteenth Century: England and Germany'' (1985).
+
* Bloom, Harold and David Rosenberg. ''The Book of J''. Random House, 1990. ISBN 0802141919
 
+
* Carmy, Shalom (ed.). ''Modern Scholarship in the Study of Torah: Contributions and Limitations''. Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson, 1996. ISBN 978-1568214504
* Allis, Oswald T. ''The Five Books of Moses'', Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., Phillipsburg, New Jersey, USA, 1949, pages 17 and 22.
+
* Cassuto, Umberto. ''The Documentary Hypothesis''. Shalem, 2006. ISBN 9657052351
* [[Gleason Archer|Archer, Gleason]]. ''A Survey of Old Testament Introduction.'' Chicago: Moody, 1994.
+
* Dever, William G. ''What Did The Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?'' Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2001. ISBN 0802847943
* Blenkinsopp, Joseph ''The Pentateuch : an introduction to the first five books of the Bible'', Doubleday, NY, USA 1992. ISBN 038541207X
+
* Finkelstein, Israel and Neil A. Silberman. ''The Bible Unearthed''. Simon and Schuster, 2001. ISBN 0684869128
* [[Harold Bloom|Bloom, Harold]] and Rosenberg, David ''The Book of J'', Random House, NY, USA 1990. ISBN 0-8021-4191-9.
+
* Friedman, Richard E. ''Who Wrote The Bible?'' Harper and Row, 1987. ISBN 0060630353
* [[Joseph Campbell|Campbell, Joseph]] "Gods and Heroes of the Levant: 1500-500 B.C." ''The Masks of God 3: Occidental Mythology'', Penguin Books, NY, USA, 1964.
+
* Kaufmann, Yehezkel and Moishe Greenberg (trans.). ''The Religion of Israel, from Its Beginnings to the Babylonian Exile''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960. ISBN 978-0226427287
* [[Umberto Cassuto|Cassuto, Umberto]]. ''The Documentary Hypothesis and the Composition of the Pentateuch'', Magnes, 1961. ISBN 965-223-479-6.
+
* Mendenhall, George E. ''Ancient Israel's Faith and History: An Introduction to the Bible in Context''. Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. ISBN 0664223133
* [[Umberto Cassuto|Cassuto, Umberto]]. ''The Documentary Hypothesis (Contemporary Jewish Thought)'', Shalem, 2006. ISBN 965-7052-35-1.
+
* Nicholson, Ernest Wilson. ''The Pentateuch in the Twentieth Century: The Legacy of Julius Wellhausen''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0198269587
* Clines, David J. A. ''The Theme of the Pentateuch.'' JSOTSup. 10. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1978.
+
* Van Seters, John. ''Prologue to History: The Yahwist as Historian in Genesis''. Westminster John Knox Press, 1992. ISBN 0664219675
* [[William G. Dever|Dever, William G.]] ''What Did The Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?'' William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI, USA, 2001. ISBN 0-8028-4794-3
 
* [[Israel Finkelstein|Finkelstein, Israel]] and [[Neil A. Silberman|Silberman, Neil A.]] ''The Bible Unearthed'', Simon and Schuster, NY, USA, 2001. ISBN 0-684-86912-8
 
* [[Robin Lane Fox|Fox, Robin Lane]], ''The Unauthorized Version''. A classics scholar offers a measured view for the layman.
 
* [[Richard Elliott Friedman|Friedman, Richard E.]] ''Who Wrote The Bible?'', Harper and Row, NY, USA, 1987. ISBN 0-06-063035-3. This work does not constitute a standard reference for the Documentary Hypothesis, as Friedman in part describes his own theory of the origin of one of the sources.  Rather, it offers an excellent introduction for the layman.
 
* [[Richard Elliott Friedman|Friedman, Richard E.]] ''The Hidden Book in the Bible'', HarperSan Francisco, NY, USA, 1998.
 
* [[Richard Elliott Friedman|Friedman, Richard E.]] ''The Bible with Sources Revealed'', HarperSanFrancisco, 2003. ISBN 0-06-053069-3.
 
* Garrett, Duane A. ''Rethinking Genesis: The Sources and Authorship of the First Book of the Bible'', Mentor, 2003. ISBN 1-85792-576-9.
 
* Kaufmann, Yehezkel, Greenberg, Moishe (translator) ''The Religion of Israel, from Its Beginnings to the Babylonian Exile'', University of Chicago Press, 1960.
 
* Larue, Gerald A. ''Old Testament Life and Literature'', Allyn & Bacon, Inc, Boston, MA, USA 1968
 
* [[Josh McDowell|McDowell, Josh]] ''More Evidence That Demands a Verdict: Historical Evidences for the Christian Scriptures'', Here's Life Publishers, Inc. 1981, p. 45.
 
* McDowell, Josh ''The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict'', Thomas Nelson Inc.,Publishers. 1999, pages: 411, 528.
 
* Mendenhall, George E. ''The Tenth Generation: The Origins of the Biblical Tradition'', The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973.
 
* Mendenhall, George E. ''Ancient Israel's Faith and History: An Introduction to the Bible in Context'', Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. ISBN 0-664-22313-3
 
* Nicholson, Ernest Wilson. ''The Pentateuch in the Twentieth Century: The Legacy of Julius Wellhausen'', Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0198269587
 
* Rogerson, J. ''Old Testament Criticism in the Nineteenth Century: England and Germany'', SPCK/Fortress, 1985.
 
* [[Baruch Spinoza|Spinoza, Benedict de]] ''A Theologico-Political Treatise'' Dover, New York, USA, 1951, Chapter 8.
 
* Tigay, Jeffrey H. "An Empirical Basis for the Documentary Hypothesis"  ''Journal of Biblical Literature'' Vol.94, No.3 Sept. 1975, pages 329-342.
 
* Tigay, Jeffrey H., (ed.) ''Empirical Models for Biblical Criticism'' University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, PA, USA 1986. ISBN 081227976X
 
* Van Seters, John. ''Abraham in History and Tradition'' Yale University Press, 1975.
 
* Van Seters, John. ''In Search of History: Historiography in the Ancient World and the Origins of Biblical History'' Yale University Press, 1983.
 
* Van Seters, John. ''Prologue to History: The Yahwist as Historian in Genesis'' Westminster/John Knox, Louisville, Kentucky, 1992. ISBN 0664219675
 
* Van Seters, John. ''The Life of Moses: The Yahwist as Historian in Exodus-Numbers'' Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox, 1994. ISBN 0-664-22363-X
 
* Wiseman, P. J. ''Ancient Records and the Structure of Genesis'' Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, TN, USA 1985. ISBN 0-8407-7502-4
 
* Whybray, R. N. ''The Making of the Pentateuch: A Methodological Study'' JSOTSup 53. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1987.
 
 
 
== See also ==
 
* [[Higher criticism]]
 
* [[Source criticism]]
 
* [[Textual criticism]]
 
* [[The Bible and history]]
 
* [[Dating the Bible]]
 
* [[Umberto Cassuto]]
 
  
 
== External links ==
 
== External links ==
 +
All links retrieved August 26, 2020.
  
* [http://www.comparative-religion.com/articles/torah_torah_torah/ Redaction Theory (Documents Hypothesis)]
+
* [http://www.threetwoone.org/diagrams/hebrew-bible-sources-timeline.gif Hebrew Bible Timeline Chart] by Mark Poyser
* [http://communities.msn.com/judaismfaqs/whowrotethetorahbiblicalcriticismfaq.msnw Biblical criticism and the origin of the Torah] Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved from "Judaism FAQs" site on 2006-10-17
+
*[http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/moses.html "Did Moses Write the Pentateuch?"] by Don Closson, Probe Ministries
* [http://imp.lss.wisc.edu/~rltroxel/Intro/hypoth.html A Summary of the Documentary Hypothesis]
+
*[http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation -  ''Dei Verbum''] by Pope Paul VI, 1965
* [http://www.iishj.org/images/Bible.pdf Teaching Bible using the Documentary Hypothesis]
 
* [http://www.threetwoone.org/diagrams/hebrew-bible-sources-timeline.gif Detailed timeline and chart of sources of the Hebrew Bible]
 
* [http://www.hope.edu/academic/religion/bandstra/RTOT/PART1/PT1_TC.HTM Reading the Old Testament]
 
* [http://www.cs.umd.edu/users/mvz/bible/doc-hyp.pdf Documentary Hypothesis (pdf)]
 
 
 
=== Criticisms ===
 
 
 
* [http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Bible_Criticism_and_Its_Counterarguments.htm "On Bible Criticism and Its Counterarguments: A Short History"] - on the SimpleToRemember.com Judaism Online website
 
* Smith, Colin: [http://www.aomin.org/JEDP.html "A Critical Assessment of the Graf-Wellhausen Documentary Hypothesis"], June 2002. Retrieved from the Alpha and Omega Ministries website on 26 July 2006.
 
* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.brace/docu.htm "The ''Documentary Source Hypothesis''"]. On Robin Brace's "My Christian World" site (2003). Retrieved 2006-12-27
 
* [http://www.gospelpedlar.com/articles/Bible/5booksindex.html Who Wrote The First 5 Books of the Bible?] - articles on the GospelPedlar website from 1895 to 1964
 
* [http://www.souldevice.org/writings_dochyp.html Doug Beaumont, "Did Moses Write the Pentateuch?"] (The souldevice.org website apparently no longer serves this article as of 6 November 2006.)
 
* [http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/13 "Mosaic Authorship  of the Pentateuch — Tried and True"] - article by Eric Lyons and Zach Smith  from ApologeticsPress (2003). Retrieved on 2006-08-08.
 
* [http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/moses.html Don Closson, "Did Moses Write the Pentateuch?"] - from Probe Ministries
 
* [http://www.ankerberg.org/Articles/apologetics/AP0404W3.htm John Ankerberg and John Weldon, "Biblical Archaeology - Silencing the Critics - Part 2"]. Retrieved from the Ankerberg Theological Research Institute site, 2006-12-27.
 
* [http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v20/i4/moses.asp Russell Grigg, "Did Moses really write Genesis?"] - on the "Answers in Genesis" Christian apologetic ministry website
 
* [http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html ''Dei Verbum''] - "On Divine Revelation", available on the Vatican's website
 
 
 
=== Alternative hypotheses ===
 
 
 
* [http://www.trueorigin.org/tablet.asp Curt Sewell, "The Tablet Theory of Genesis Authorship"]
 
* [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Crete/6111/pneumatikos/wiseman.htm The Wiseman Hypothesis]
 
* [http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_pentateuch_wenham.html Gordon Wenham, "Pentateuchal Studies Today"] - from ''Themelios'' 22.1 (October 1996): 3-13.
 
 
 
== Notes ==
 
 
 
<!--See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref(erences/)> tags—>
 
<references/>
 
 
 
[[Category:Documentary Hypothesis]]
 
[[Category:Christian history]]
 
[[Category:Hypotheses]]
 
 
 
  
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[[Category:Religion]]
 
[[category:philosophy and religion]]
 
[[category:philosophy and religion]]
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[[Category:judaism]]
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[[Category:bible]]
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Revision as of 20:22, 26 August 2020


A relational diagram outlining of the documentary hypothesis

In biblical scholarship, the documentary hypothesis proposes that the Pentateuch (also called the Torah, or first five books of the Hebrew Bible) was not literally revealed by God to Moses, but represents a composite account from several later documents. Four basic sources are identified in the theory, designated as "J" (Yahwist), "E" (Elohist), "P" (Priestly), and "D" (Deuteronomic), usually dated from the ninth or tenth through the fifth centuries B.C.E. Although the hypothesis had many antecedents, it reached its mature expression in the late nineteenth century through the work of Karl Heinrich Graf and Julius Wellhausen and is thus also referred to as the Graf-Wellhausen hypothesis.

The documentary hypothesis has been refined and criticized by later writers, but its basic outline remains widely accepted by contemporary biblical scholars. Orthodox Jews and conservative Christians, however, usually reject the theory, affirming that Moses himself is the primary or sole author of the Pentateuch.

Synopsis

The documentary hypothesis proposes that the Pentateuch as we have it was created sometime around the fifth century B.C.E. through a process of combining several earlier documents—each with its own viewpoint, style, and special concerns—into one. It identifies four main sources:

  • the "J," or Yahwist, source
  • the "E," or Elohist, source (later combined with J to form the "JE" text)
  • the "P," or Priestly, source
  • the "D," or Deuteronomist, text (which had two further major edits, resulting in sub-texts known as Dtr1 and Dtr2)

The hypothesis further postulates the combination of the sources into their current form by an editor known as "R" (for Redactor), who added editorial comments and transitional passages.

The specific identity of each author remains unknown, (although a number of candidates have been proposed). However, textual elements identify each source with a specific background and with a specific period in Jewish history. Most scholars associate "J" with the southern Kingdom of Judah around the ninth century B.C.E., and "E" with a northern context slightly later. Both of these sources were informed by various oral traditions known to their authors.

The combined "JE" text is thought to have been compiled in the Kingdom of Judah following the destruction of Israel by Assyria in the 720s B.C.E. "P" is often associated with the centralizing religious reforms instituted by king Hezekiah of Judah (reigned c. 716 to 687 B.C.E.), and "D" with the later reforms Josiah (reigned c. 641 to 609 B.C.E.). "R" is considered to have completed the work, adding transitional elements to weave the stories together as well as some explanatory comments, sometime after the Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian Exile in the fifth century B.C.E.

History of the hypothesis

Traditional Jewish and Christian beliefs

The traditional view holds that God revealed the Pentateuch (also called the Torah) to Moses at Mount Sinai in a verbal fashion, and that Moses transcribed this dictation verbatim. Moreover, the Ten Commandments were originally written directly by God onto two tablets of stone. Based on the Talmud (tractate Git. 60a), however, some believe that God may have revealed the Torah piece-by-piece over the 40 years that the Israelites reportedly wandered in the desert.

This tradition of Moses being the author of the Torah, long held by both Jewish and Christian authorities, was nearly unanimously affirmed with a few notable exceptions until the seventeeth century B.C.E.[1]

Rabbinical biblical criticism

Certain traditional rabbinical authorities do evidence skepticism of the Torah's complete Mosaic authorship.

  • The Talmud itself indicates that God dictated only the first four books of the Torah, and that Moses wrote Deuteronomy in his own words (Talmud Bavli, Meg. 31b). The Talmud also affirms that a peculiar section in the Book of Numbers (10:35-36) was originally a title of a separate book, which no longer exists (Sabb. 115b).
  • Recognizing that over the millennia, scribal errors had crept into the text, the Masoretes (seventh to tenth centuries C.E.) compared all extant versions and attempted to create a definitive text.
  • In the twelfth century, Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra observed that some parts of the Torah presented apparently anachronistic information, which should only have been known after the time of Moses. Later, Rabbi Joseph Bonfils explicitly stated that Joshua (or some later prophet) must have added some phrases.
  • Also in the twelfth century, Rabbi Joseph ben Isaac noted close similarities between a number of supposedly distinct episodes in Exodus and the Book of Numbers. He hypothesized that these incidents represented parallel traditions gathered by Moses, rather than separate incidents.
  • In the thirteenth century, Rabbi Hezekiah ben Manoah noticed the same textual anomalies that Ibn Ezra did and commented that this section of the Torah "is written from the perspective of the future."[2]

The Enlightenment

Baruch Spinoza was among those who faced persecution for his skepticism about biblical revelation

A number of Enlightenment writers expressed more serious doubts about the traditional view of Mosaic authorship. For example, in the sixteenth century, Andreas Karlstadt noticed that the style of the account of the death of Moses matched the style of the preceding portions of Deuteronomy. He suggested that whoever wrote about the death of Moses also wrote Deuteronomy and perhaps other portions of the Torah.

By the seventeenth century, some commentators argued outright that Moses did not write most of the Pentateuch. For instance, in 1651 Thomas Hobbes, in chapter 33 of Leviathan, argued that the Pentateuch dated from after Mosaic times on account of Deuteronomy 34:6 ("no man knoweth of his sepulchre to this day"), Genesis 12:6 ("and the Canaanite was then in the land"), and Num 21:14 (referring to a previous book of Moses's deeds). Other skeptics included Isaac de la Peyrère, Baruch Spinoza, Richard Simon, and John Hampden. However, these men found their works condemned and even banned.

The French scholar and physician Jean Astruc first introduced the terms Elohist and Jehovist in 1753. Astruc noted that the first chapter of Genesis uses only the word "Elohim" for God, while other sections use the word "Jehovah." He speculated that Moses compiled the Genesis account from earlier documents, some perhaps dating back to Abraham. He also explored the possibility of detecting and separating these documents and assigning them to their original sources.

Johann Gottfried Eichhorn further differentiated the two chief documents in 1787. However, neither he nor Astruc denied Mosaic authorship, and they did not analyze the Pentateuch beyond the Book of Exodus. H. Ewald first recognized that the documents that later came to be known as "P" and "J" left traces in other books. F. Tuch showed that "P" and "J" also appeared recognizably in Joshua.

W. M. L. de Wette joined this hypothesis with the earlier idea that the author(s) of the first four books of the Pentateuch did not write the Book of Deuteronomy. In 1805, he attributed Deuteronomy to the time of Josiah (c. 621 B.C.E.). Soon other writers also began considering the idea. By 1823, Eichhorn, too, had abandoned the claim of Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch.

Nineteenth-century theories

Further developments of the theory were contributed by Friedrich Bleek, Hermann Hupfeld, K. D. Ilgen, August Klostermann, and Karl Heinrich Graf. The mature expression of the documentary hypothesis, however, is usually credited to the work of Graf and Julius Wellhausen. Accordingly it is often referred to as the "Graf-Wellhausen" hypothesis.

In 1886, Wellhausen published Prolegomena to the History of Israel,[3] in which he argued that the Bible provides historians with an important source, but that they cannot take it literally. He affirmed that a number of people wrote the "hexateuch" (including the Pentateuch plus the book of Joshua) over a long period. Specifically, he narrowed the field to four distinct narratives, which he identified by the aforementioned Jahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomist and Priestly accounts. He also proposed a Redactor, who edited the four accounts into one text.

Using earlier propositions, he argued that each of these sources has its own vocabulary, its own approach and concerns, and that the passages originally belonging to each account can usually be distinguished by differences in style—especially the name used for God, the grammar and word usage, the political assumptions implicit in the text, and the interests of the author. Specifically:

  • The "J" source: Here, God's name appears in Hebrew as YHWH, which scholars transliterated in modern times as “Yahweh” (the German spelling uses a "J," prounounced as an English "Y"). Some Bible translations use the term Jehovah for this word, but normally it is translated as "The Lord."
  • The "E" source: Here, God's name is “Elohim” until the revelation of His true name to Moses in the Book of Exodus, after which God's name becomes YHWH in both sources.
  • The "D" or "Dtr." source: The source of the Book of Deuteronomy and parts of the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. It portrays a strong concern for centralized worship in Jerusalem and an absolute opposition to intermarriage with Canaanites or otherwise mixing Israelite culture with Canaanite traditions.
  • The "P" source: This is the priestly material. It uses Elohim and El Shaddai as names of God and demonstrates a special concern for ritual, liturgy, and religious law.

Wellhausen argued that from the style and theological viewpoint of each source, one could draw important historical inferences about the authors and audiences of each particular source. He perceived an evident progression from a relatively informal and decentralized relationship between the people and God in the "J" account, to the more formal and centralized practices of the "D" and "P" accounts. Thus, the sources reveal the process and evolution of the institutionalized Israelite religion.

The modern era

Chart describing one modern update of the original theory, showing influence of "JE" on "D"

Other scholars quickly responded to the documentary understanding of the origin of the five books of Moses, and within a few years it became the predominant hypothesis. While subsequent scholarship has dismissed many of Wellhausen's more specific claims, most historians still accept the general idea that the Pentateuch had a composite origin.

An example of a widely accepted update of Wellhausen's version came in the 1950s when Israeli historian Yehezkel Kaufmann published The Religion of Israel, from Its Beginnings to the Babylonian Exile (1960), in which he argued for the order of the sources as "J," "E," "P," and "D"—whereas Wellhausan had placed "P" after "D." The exact dates and contexts of each source, as well as their relationships to each other, have also been much debated.

Recent books

Richard Elliott Friedman's Who Wrote The Bible? (1981) offers a very reader-friendly and yet comprehensive argument explaining Friedman's opinions as to the possible identity of each of those authors and, more important, why they wrote what they wrote. Harold Bloom's The Book of J (1990) includes the publication of the J source only as a stand-alone document, creatively translated by co-author, David Rosenberg. Bloom argues that "J," whom he believes to be a literary genius on a par with William Shakespeare, was a woman living at the time of King Rehoboam of Judah. More recently, Israel Finkelstein (2001) and William Dever (2001) have each written a book correlating the documentary hypothesis with current archaeological research.

Criticisms of the hypothesis

Most Orthodox Jews and many conservative Christians reject the documentary hypothesis entirely and accept the traditional view that Moses essentially produced the whole Torah.

Jewish sources predating the emergence of the documentary hypothesis offer alternative explanations for the stylistic differences and alternative divine names from which the hypothesis originated. For instance, some regard the name Yahweh (YHWH) as an expression of God's mercifulness, while Elohim expresses His commitment to law and judgment. Traditional Jewish literature cites this concept frequently.

Over the last century, an entire literature has developed within conservative scholarship and religious communities dedicated to the refutation of biblical criticism in general and of the documentary hypothesis in particular.

R. N. Whybray's The Making of the Pentateuch offers a critique of the hypothesis from a critical perspective. Biblical archaeologist W. F. Albright stated that even the most ardent proponents of the documentary hypothesis must admit that no tangible, external evidence for the existence of the hypothesized "J," "E," "D," "P" sources exists. The late Dr. Yohanan Aharoni, in his work Canaanite Israel During the Period of Israeli Occupation, states, "[r]ecent archaeological discoveries have decisively changed the entire approach of Bible critics" and that later authors or editors could not have put together or invented these stories hundreds of years after they happened.

Some studies claim to show a literary consistency throughout the Pentateuch. For instance, a 1980 computer-based study at Hebrew University in Israel concluded that a single author most likely wrote the Pentateuch. However, others have rejected this study for a number of reasons, including the fact that a single later editor can rewrite a text in a uniform voice.[4]

Footnotes

  1. “Pentateuch” Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  2. Shalom Carmy (ed.), Modern Scholarship in the Study of Torah: Contributions and Limitations (Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson, 1996, ISBN 978-1568214504).
  3. Prolegomena to the History of Israel by Julius Wellhausen at Project Gutenberg. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  4. Biblical Criticism - The Jewish View, SimpleToRemember.com - Judaism Online. Retrieved August 26, 2020.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Blenkinsopp, Joseph. The Pentateuch: An Introduction to the First Five Books of the Bible. Doubleday, 1992. ISBN 038541207X
  • Bloom, Harold and David Rosenberg. The Book of J. Random House, 1990. ISBN 0802141919
  • Carmy, Shalom (ed.). Modern Scholarship in the Study of Torah: Contributions and Limitations. Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson, 1996. ISBN 978-1568214504
  • Cassuto, Umberto. The Documentary Hypothesis. Shalem, 2006. ISBN 9657052351
  • Dever, William G. What Did The Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It? Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2001. ISBN 0802847943
  • Finkelstein, Israel and Neil A. Silberman. The Bible Unearthed. Simon and Schuster, 2001. ISBN 0684869128
  • Friedman, Richard E. Who Wrote The Bible? Harper and Row, 1987. ISBN 0060630353
  • Kaufmann, Yehezkel and Moishe Greenberg (trans.). The Religion of Israel, from Its Beginnings to the Babylonian Exile. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960. ISBN 978-0226427287
  • Mendenhall, George E. Ancient Israel's Faith and History: An Introduction to the Bible in Context. Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. ISBN 0664223133
  • Nicholson, Ernest Wilson. The Pentateuch in the Twentieth Century: The Legacy of Julius Wellhausen. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0198269587
  • Van Seters, John. Prologue to History: The Yahwist as Historian in Genesis. Westminster John Knox Press, 1992. ISBN 0664219675

External links

All links retrieved August 26, 2020.

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