Formation of the Pentateuch Flashcards
What three traditions/collections of scripture support that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible (Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch)?
- the Old Testament- particularly Deut. 31:24 and Neh 8:1 (the people telling Ezra to bring the book of the law, or Torah, that Moses wrote)
- Rabbinic tradition- when quoting the Torah, a rabbi would not quote Genesis vs. Exodus, a rabbi would cite “According to Moses”
- the New Testament- especially Jesus’ words (quoting Moses in Mark 7, “Moses said: Honor your mother and father”) and Paul’s words (the law of Moses is used as a common trope) among other NT authors
What two verses from scripture bring up skepticism as to whether Moses wrote the entire Pentateuch?
- Numbers 12:3, talking about Moses being very humble (why would Moses brag about his humility?)
- Moses’s death in Deuteronomy 34:5-12
Name the three Englightenment philosophers who doubted Moses’ authorship of the Pentateuch, list their dates, and describe their collective concerns about the scriptures generally.
- Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) and the others expressed a frustration with the strong influence of the church over the state. The problem with the church and state being so tied together is that the church will share in the blame of any social ill.
- Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) also joined in pointing out how dangerous Christianity could be as usurping and as being usurped by the governmental powers.
- Voltaire (1694-1778) said that Europeans had a tradition based on a book that didn’t even make any sense.
What are the three main instances in the Pentateuch that led Englightenment scholars/critics to doubt that Moses was the Pentateuch’s exclusive author?
- Third person references to Moses in Num 12:3, Exod 11:3, Deut 34:1-12, etc.
- Anachronistic phrases like “to this day,” “at that time,” “beyond the Jordan,” “before any king reigned over Israel,” “as far as Dan,” presence of the Philistines, etc. (although these might be glosses)
- Doublets and triplets such as the creation narratives, the flood narratives, and the lying ancestor narratives
When and what did Jean Astruc contribute to (Early) Modern Biblical scholarship?
Jean Astruc (1684-1766) argued that different divine names for God indicated different historical situations in which two historical sources were written, the J (discovered in 1711) source and the E source.
When and what did Johannes Gottfried Eichorn contribute to modern Biblical source criticism?
Johnannes Gottfried Eichorn (1752-1827) distinguished the D (deuteronomist) source in 1780 from the Levitical source called P (priestly material).
When and what did Wilhelm de Wette contribute to modern Biblical source criticism?
Wilhelm de Wette (1782-1849) distinguished D (Deuteronomist) source as the book of the law “found” in Josiah’s reign in 2 Kings 22:8, which took place during the 7th century BCE. This date has held in biblical scholarship since 1805.
When and what did Julius Wellhausen contribute to modern biblical source criticism?
One of the most famous biblical scholars of all time, Julius Wellhausen organized biblical sources in a series that had remarkable influence on later scholarship. His volume Prolegomena to the History of Israel in 1878 asserted that the J, E, D, and P sources can be arranged such that we can see how Israelite religion developed.
How did Wellhausen organize the sources of the Bible to demonstrate the development of Israelite religion?
J (the Yahwist) and E (the Elohim) sources were bound together and were characterized by their devotion to one supreme God, occurring during the time of Moses.
Centralization of worship in Yahweh at a particular place in Jerusalem during the monarchy led to D (the book of Deuteronomy).
The calcification and retrenchment into the religion of the priests, devolving into legalism, gave rise to P text during the period of exile.
What were the three main problems with Wellhausen’s organization of J, E, D, and P?
- Wellhausen was conflating the religious history of the Reformation onto ancient Israel through his patterning of J, E, D, and P, moving from a more pure origin of faith then a cultic centralization, then devolving to a legalism in which priests had too much control.
- Wellhausen’s organization was overlaid with the German Romantic ideal of seeking a kernel of truth, finding a pure spirit of antiquity, which further idealizes the J and E texts while further villifying the P text and the priests generally.
- While alienating Catholicism by vilifying priests and the Priestly text (P), Wellhausen’s parallels between the priests in the Priestly text and the image of Jews as legalistic perpetuated anti-Semitism.
When and what did Hermann Gunkel (affectionately known as Uncle Hermie) contribute to modern Biblical scholarship?
- In the early 20th century, Gunkel introduced form criticism, which is concerned with identifying the constituent genres of biblical literature.
What is form criticism?
Form criticism addresses the culturally and historically conditioned nuances of every genre.
When and what did Gerhard von Rad contribute to biblical source scholarship?
von Rad argued for the formation of a hexateuch rather than a pentateuch, meaning the first six books of the Bible formed one narrative from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua. He used form criticism to justify this argument.
When and what did Martin Noth contribute to biblical scholarship, in a nutshell?
Noth basically reformulated the classic Wellhausen principle, acknowledging some of Wellhausen’s mistakes, but trying to streamline and formalize the process. Noth argues there is a tetrateuch (Genesis, Leviticus, Exodus, and Numbers, with Deuteronomy going with a Deuteronomistic history).
How did Martin Noth break down the biblical sources as part of his systemized, revitalized documentary hypothesis?
- Yahwistic (J) source - united monarchy (10th century BCE) with an oral G source from earlier, a Southern (Judah) perspective, anthropomorphic deity (God present and interacting more directly with people almost as a person)
- Elohistic (E) source- divided monarchy (9th century BCE), a Northern (Israel) perspective, transcendent deity (emphasis on prophecy, God revealed through dreams and intermediaries)
- J and E were combined after the fall of the Northern kingdom in 722
- Deuteronomist (D) source- (622-621 BCE) not found but composed, an originally Northern text that undergoes cultic reform in the South
- Levitical/priestly (P) source- sometime after 587 BCE, concerned with ritual/diet/Sabbath, a transcendent/remote deity, numerous covenants
