Moses Didn't Write the Pentateuch.

Or did he? Or was he one of four different authors?

I came across the theory of the four writers of the Pentateuch recently after hearing it mentioned in a documentary about research at Oxford. I'm not a Bible scholar or anything, this was the first I'd heard of the theory and I would like to hear the general opinions on this.

From what I've read, the modern thinking goes that four different people wrote the Pentateuch, referred to as J,D,E and P each of which are said to have written according to their own agenda. There is also assumed to be a fifth (referred to as R) that correlated the different versions into the Pentateuch. The theory stems from various discrepancies, contractions and variations in writing style etc.

Some good links, (though there's probably better):

From Oxford:
users.ox.ac.uk...

another more general overview:

www.religioustolerance.org...
www.religioustolerance.org...

Again, I'm not too up on this theory myself. I'd like to know if this is outright rejected by the more fundamentalist or evangelical Christians (or Christianity in general) and the Jewish faith or if there are sections that accept the possibility, or just what their general thinking is on the matter. Also if you disagree an explanation of why you think the theory is wrong would be appreciated.

[edit on 29-8-2005 by kegs]

Originally posted by kegs
From what I've read, the modern thinking goes that four different people wrote the Pentateuch, referred to as J,D,E and P each of which are said to have written according to their own agenda. There is also assumed to be a fifth (referred to as R) that correlated the different versions into the Pentateuch.

The Pentateuch was written in the 7th century BCE, hundreds of years later than when Moses supposedly lived. All indications are that the Jews were indigenous people to the area, and not immigrants from Egypt. That being the case, the entire Moses story is mythology.

Legends don't write books.

Thanks spam, I know that and I basically think the same.



I do honestly want to know though the thoughts of those that reject this idea.





[edit on 30-8-2005 by kegs]

Moses could not have written the pentateuch for a variety of reasons including the ones given above although most likely to have been written during the Babylonian captivity, others include:-
The pentateuch was written in Hebrew which didn't exist at the time of moses who was schooled in Egyptian anyway.
In Genesis there was no one around to see the making of the Earth so therefore God must has wrote the first bit before Adam and Eve learned to read and write via the snake and finish it off.
Moses must be good at predictions as he supposedly writes about his own death.
These are just a few other reasons that Moses did not write the pentateuch.


G

[edit on 7-9-2005 by shihulud]