I. How the Bible Came to Be

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I. How the Bible Came to Be

• Religion 1
• Kilbridge

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Presentation Outline

1. Inspiration Theories
2. Stages of Development
3. Documentary Hypothesis

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A. Inspiration Theories

• Divine Dictation (writer is robot)
• Negative Assistance (Holy Spirit watchdog)
• Positive Assistance (H.S. writer team)
• This is the Roman Catholic Churchs position
• How does God work in your life?

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B. Stages of Development

1. Life Event
2. Oral Tradition -stories, spoken word, laws
3. Written Tradition (1000 100 BC/BCE)
4. Redaction - gathering, ordering, editing of oral
   and written material includes writing original
   material (ca. 700-100 BC/BCE)

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C. Documentary Hypothesis

• Moses authorship questioned.
• An attempt to explain inconsistencies in style
  and vocabulary and the existence of repetitions
  (doublets).
• Julius Wellhausen, 1877
• The Redactors/Sources of the Pentateuch
• 1. Jahwist (J)
• 2. Elohist (E)
• 3. Deuteronomist (D)
• 4. Priest (P)

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1. Jahwist (J)

• 922-722 BC/BCE Judah (Southern Kingdom)
• God referred to as YHWH (trans LORD God)
• Characteristics
• 1. vivid storytelling
• 2. anthropomorphisms in depicting God
• (Gen. 27, 21 38, 21 7 16 821)
• 3. Theme of divine promise and its fulfillment
• Patriarchal Promise land, descendents,
  blessing

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2. Elohist (E)

• 922-722 BC/BCE Israel (Northern Kingdom) Bethel
  (Gen. 2817, 19)
• God Elohim (plural!) initially. YHWH after
  Burning bush episode.
• Characteristics
• 1. God communicates through dreams messengers
• 2. prophesy plays an important role
• 3. morality faith fear are proper responses
  to God.
• (Rudolph Otto Mysterium Tremendum et
  Fascinans)

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3. Deuteronomist (D)

• 600s and Exile Judah and Babylon
• The Book of the Law mentioned in 2Kings 228 on
  which Josiah based reforms?
• Characteristics
• 1. restricted to Deuteronomy (and subsequent
  books up
• to 2 Chronicles)
• 2. Speeches of Moses urging obedience to Law or
  Torah.
• 3. Pattern sin, punishment, repentance and
  forgiveness.

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4. Priest (P)

• 550 -400 BCE Jerusalem, Judah
• (The dating of P is debated some placing
  it between 722 and 587)
• God Elohim (a remote God)
• Characteristics
• 1. Israelite cult and ritual
• - laws Passover, tabernacle
• - Aarons significant role as head of Levites
• 2. Command to multiply and populate the world
  
• (fertility and spread out) (Gen. 128)
• - genealogies (toledot generations)
• - covenants
• 3. Final Redactor of early material (Genesis)
• - periodizes history using covenant and toledot