Key Terms Intro

Question 1

the writer of a text; a component of the hermeneutical triangle

Answer 1

author

Question 2

the collection of twenty-four books written by Israelites and Jews in the first millennium BCE, mostly in the Hebrew language, with portions of Ezra and Daniel written in Aramaic; the Written Torah of Judaism and the first testament of the Christian canon

Answer 2

hebrew bible

Question 3

a conceptual representation of the three major elements that are involved in the interpretation of texts; author, referent, and reader

Answer 3

hermeneutical triangle

Question 4

the story line of the Bible that is generally accepted within a particular religious or cultural community

Answer 4

Master narrative

Question 5

the name of the Hebrew Bible used in the Christian community

Answer 5

Old Testament

Question 6

the reader or audience element of the process of text interpretation

Answer 6

reader

Question 7

an element in the interpretation of texts; what the text refers to in the material world or in the mind of the author

Answer 7

referent

Question 8

a relatively modern name for the Hebrew Bible

Answer 8

Tanak

Question 9

a writing that is the focus of interpretation

Answer 9

text

Question 10

the covenant between YHWH and Abraham described in Genesis 17 that also applied to Isaac and Jacob and their offspring

Answer 10

Ancestral covenant

Question 11

a term for the attribution of human behavior or characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, natural phenomena, or deity; with regard to deity, this became a point of theological discussion in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Answer 11

anthropomorphism

Question 12

a pact or formal agreement between two parties in which there are mutual obligations and expectations; a metaphor of God’s relationship with his people

Answer 12

covenant

Question 13

the literary source document of the Pentateuch that consists largely of the book of Deuteronomy

Answer 13

Deuteronomic source

Question 14

scholarly hypothesis that suggests that the Torah/Pentateuch was not the work of one author, such as Moses, but is a composition based on four documents from different periods: J (the Yahwist), E(the Elohist), D(Deuteronomy), and P(the Priestly document).

Answer 14

documentary hypothesis

Question 15

a Hebrew word meaning “God”; Israel’s most general way of referring to its deity

Answer 15

Elohim

Question 16

the name given to a reconstructed source underlying certain Pentateuchal narratives; characterized by the use of the divine name Elohim

Answer 16

Elohist source

Question 17

a designation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, aka the Torah and the Pentateuch

Answer 17

Five Books of Moses

Question 18

the issue of the relationship of a text and the event to which it refers and whether the text accurately reflects the “happenedness” of the event

Answer 18

historicity

Question 19

Greek for “five scroll jars”; refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) traditionally attributed to Moses that together comprise the Torah

Answer 19

Pentateuch

Question 20

a literary source used in the composition of the Torah/Pentateuch; it probably was composed in Babylonia in the sixth century BCE

Answer 20

priestly document

Question 21

the analysis of the Hebrew Bible to determine its underlying literary sources

Answer 21

source analysis

Question 22

the first four books of the Hebrew Bible; Genesis through Numbers

Answer 22

Tetrateuch

Question 23

refers to study of the whole gamut of Jewish tradition or to some aspect thereof; refers to the “five books of Moses”

Answer 23

Torah

Question 24

the hypothetical pronunciation of the divine name YHWH

Answer 24

Yahweh

Question 25

the author of the J narrative source in the Torah/Pentateuch that favors the use of the divine name YHWH

Answer 25

Yahwist

Question 26

a reconstructed literary source lying behind the Torah/Pentateuch, written around 950 BCE in Judah

Answer 26

Yahwist narrative

Question 27

the sacred name of God in the Hebrew Bible; aka tetragrammaton

Answer 27

YHWH