Documentary hypothesis and Cat's in the Cradle: Difference between pages

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{{redirect-acronym|JEPD|[[Jointly exhaustive|Jointly Exhaustive]], [[Pairwise disjoint|Pairwise Disjoint]]}}

| Name = Cat's in the Cradle

[[Image:Modern_documentary_hypothesis.png|frame|right|A relational diagram describing the various versions postulated by the biblical documentary hypothesis.]]

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| Artist = [[Ugly Kid Joe]]

| from Album = [[America's Least Wanted]]

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| Released = 1992 or 1993

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| Recorded = 1991 - 1992 at Devonshire Studios, [[North Hollywood]], [[California|CA]]

| Genre = [[Heavy metal music|Heavy metal]]<br>[[Power ballad]]

| Length = 4:02

| Label = [[Mercury Records]]

| Writer = [[Harry Chapin]]

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"'''Cat's in the Cradle'''," is a [[folk rock]] song by [[United States|American]] [[singer]]/[[songwriter]] [[Harry Chapin]]. It appeared on Chapin's [[1974]] album ''[[Verities & Balderdash]]''.

It was written by Harry's wife [[Sandra Chapin|Sandy]], a [[poet]] and writer, long before the birth of their son Joshua. When Sandy showed it to Harry, he had only casual interest. After Joshua's birth, Harry realized just how much the song meant to him and, after reworking the song, eventually recorded it. The song became the best known of Harry's work and a staple for [[folk rock]] music.

The '''documentary hypothesis''' (DH) proposes that the first five books of the [[Old Testament]] ([[Genesis]], [[Exodus]], [[Leviticus]], [[Book of Numbers|Numbers]] and [[Deuteronomy]], known collectively as the [[Torah]] or [[Pentateuch]]), represent a combination of documents from four originally independent texts dating from various periods between the early 8th and late 5th centuries BCE. The hypothetical texts are:

==The story==

* the J, or [[Yahwist]], text (spelled with an initial ‘J’ in various languages; esp.: [[Julius Wellhausen]]'s native German)

* the E, or [[Elohist]], text (edited with J to form a combined [[JE|JE text]])

* the P, or [[Priestly source|Priestly]], text

* the D, or [[Deuteronomist]], text (which had a further major edit, resulting in sub-texts known as Dtr1 and Dtr2).

Cats in a cradle and a silver spoon was recorded by Guns 'n' Roses!

The texts were combined into their current form in the post-Exilic period (late 5th century BC) by an editor known as [[Torah redactor|R]] (for Redactor), who also made small additions to harmonize discrepancies between his sources.

If you are a fan you can hear Axl Rose.

==Covers and use in popular culture ==

In its modern form<ref>The outline given here follows the formulation put forward by [[Richard Elliott Friedman]], a leading contemporary advocate of the hypothesis; Friedman differs in some particulars from the original hypothesis as formulated by [[Julius Wellhausen]] in 1886.</ref> the DH identifies each author with a specific background and period in Jewish history. J is associated with the Aaronid priesthood ([[Levite]] priests claiming descent from [[Aaron]]) in the southern [[kingdom of Judah]] in the early [[8th century BCE]]; E with the contemporary Mushite priesthood (priests claiming descent from Moses) of the rival northern [[kingdom of Israel]] (following the division of the [[United Monarchy]] after the death of [[Solomon]]); JE with the kingdom of Judah following the destruction of Israel by the [[Assyrian Empire]] in the 720s BCE and the assimilation of Israelites in Judah; P with the centralizing religious reforms instituted by king [[Hezekiah]] of Judah (reigned ca 716 BCE to 687 BCE); and D with the later reforms of Hezekiah's great-grandson, [[Josiah]] (reigned ca 641 BCE to 609 BCE). R's association with [[Ezra]] would link in a key figure in the re-establishment of Jewish cultural identity following the return to [[Jerusalem]] of Jewish exiles from the [[Babylonian captivity]] in the [[5th century BCE]].

*The [[Capitol Steps]] made a parody of this song called "Aristocrats from the Cradle". It was recorded on their album "[[Springtime for Liberals]]".

The theory was first proposed in 1886 by [[Julius Wellhausen]], and has since been subject to considerable debate and refinement. Prominent modern-day scholars working within the Wellhausian framework include [[Richard Elliot Friedman]] (who has put forward proposals for the respective identities of both the author of the D text and R, as well as revising Wellhausen's proposals on the order and dating of the P and D texts), [[Frank Moore Cross]], and literary critic [[Harold Bloom]], who popularized the idea that the author of J might have been a woman. The DH dominated biblical scholarship throughout the 20th century, but has come under increasing challenge in recent decades from scholars drawing upon non-traditional fields of scholarship, notably archeology and comparative religion, who have seen in the books of the Torah more and more authors, and ascribed to them later and later dates.

<!--BEFORE ADDING A NAME TO THE LIST OF COVER ARTISTS, PLEASE READ THE TALK PAGE-->

== The hypothesis ==

* The song has since been recorded by artists such as [[Johnny Cash]], [[Ricky Skaggs]], [[Finn Kalvik]], [[Ugly Kid Joe]], and [[Mandy Patinkin]]. More recently, rapper [[Darryl McDaniels|DMC]] released a song and video in [[2006]], entitled "Just Like Me," which uses guitar samples and the chorus from "Cat's in the Cradle," with the chorus sung by [[Sarah McLachlan]]. The video gives credit and thanks to Harry Chapin and the Chapin Family at the end.

=== Background to the hypothesis ===

* The [[Ugly Kid Joe]] cover of the song is often mistaken for a [[Guns N' Roses]] cover of the song, [[Guns N' Roses]] has never recorded this song and has often been mislabeled as such on [[Limewire]] and other downloading programs.

According to Jewish tradition - a tradition adopted by the early Christian Church - the Torah, or first five books of the bible, were dictated directly by God to Moses. Yet certain medieval and renaissance scholars long noticed signs that Moses could not be the author of all of the Torah. They noted also that the Torah frequently repeats incidents and stories - over thirty such doublets have been identified - suggesting that these were re-tellings of the same incident from different sources. And they noted that the Torah contradicts itself from time to time. The evidence mounted throughout the 18th century, and by the late 19th century the traditional explanation had been abandoned in favour of the hypothesis that the Torah was composed over many centuries, from four original texts, none of them contemporaneous with Moses.

* Many people mistakenly believe the song to be the work of artist [[Cat Stevens]], and a mis-titled [[MP3]] version is widely circulated on the internet. [[Jack Black]] contributed to this confusion, playing part of the song in a ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' sketch where Black's character claimed the song was by [[Yusuf Islam]], a.k.a. [[Cat Stevens]]. There are no known, verifiable recordings of Cat Stevens performing the song however, and a Cat Stevens fan web site assures readers that Stevens has never performed the song, "not live, not in the studio, and not even privately."{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

In its modern form the DH points to six categories of evidence arguing for the four-text origin for the Torah. These include:<ref>

Richard Elliott Friedman, Introduction to ''The Bible with Sources Revealed'', 2003 (see bibliography section).

</ref>

* Singer [[Bob Rivers]] wrote a parody of the song, entitled "Cats In The Kettle", which plays with the stereotype that Chinese restaurants in America use cat meat to pad out their food. As with the erroneous attributions of Chapin's song to Stevens, this parody has been attributed incorrectly to [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] - a source of irritation to Yankovic, who eschews the use of racist humor.

#Linguistic evidence: Hebrew, like other languages, has changed over time, and individual parts of the Torah can be dated by these changes. (The changes themselves are known from archaeological discoveries).

#Terminology: Certain words and phrases can be assigned to one or other of the sources.

#Content: Each text has its own distinctive themes, and thus its own distinctive content relating to such matters as the revelation of God's name, the sacred objects ([[ark]], [[tabernacle]], [[cherubs]], [[urim and thummim]], etc), and ages, dates, measurements and numbers.

#Narrative continuity: Each text forms a connected, coherent narrative, which continues even at the level of individual incidents within the overall narrative (i.e., when two or more texts tell the same incident, such as the story of [[Noah's Ark]], the incident can be deconstructed into two or more coherent stories); individual doublets can also be assigned to separate texts.

# Connections with other biblical texts: Each of J, E, P and D has affinities with specific other texts of the bible, and these connections are specific to that text - thus J has connections with [[2 Samuel]], D with [[Jeremiah]] and P with [[Ezekial]], but the reverse is not also true.

#Interrelationships: the sources each have connections with each other, and with specific times and events in Hebrew history.

* The song was used as the music bed for a [[Northern Ireland Office]] [[anti-terrorism]] advertising campaign in the late 1980s.

=== The modern hypothesis ===

* In the end of the ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode [[The Son Also Draws]], the trees sing the song when Peter hugs Chris.

[[Image:Moderndocumenthypothesis.jpg|right]]

* At the end of the ''[[Scrubs (TV)|Scrubs]]'', season 4 episode "My Unicorn" when the character Murray (played by [[Matthew Perry]]) admits to his dad (who isn't actually his biological father) that he loves him. The dad (played by Perry's father [[John Bennet Perry]]) then proceeds to sing the song "Cat's in the Cradle" before Murray tells him not to.

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 ''Elohim'', and called ''Yahweh'' subsequent to the incident of the [[burning bush]]. E focuses on the [[Kingdom of Israel|northern kingdom of 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, precise measurements, 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.

* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'' episode "[[Saturdays of Thunder]]", Homer hears the song when the National Fatherhood Institute puts him on hold. Also, in the episode "[[Bart's Girlfriend]]", Homer sings part of the chorus after watching Bart grow increasingly infatuated with [[Jessica Lovejoy]].

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 BCE]]). 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).

* In the ''[['Til Death]]'' episode "I Heart Woodcocks" the song plays when Eddie puts Jeff's tape on his car stereo, though the captioning states the song is 'Cat Steven's Cat's in the Cradle."

After the fall of Israel to the [[Assyria]]ns (ca 720 BCE), 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, 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.

* In the Canadian television series, "[[Brothers By Choice]]" (1986), Max and Laura Williams sing the song at the end of episode 4.

During the centralising religious reform instituted by King [[Hezekiah]] (reigned ca 715–687 BCE), 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.

* In the 2007 movie ''[[Shrek the third]]'', Donkey sings the chorus line (to Shrek's irritation) when Shrek learns that he is going to be a father.

A few generations later the [[Shiloh (Biblical)|Shiloh]] priesthood wrote a law-code more favourable to themselves and conspired with King [[Josiah]] (reigned ca 640–609 BCE) to have it "found" in the [[Solomon's Temple|Temple]] so that he could base reforms on it. (Hezekiah's reforms had been undone by his immediate successors). 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.

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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 BCE). Subsequent kings undid his reforms, and shortly afterward [[Neo-Babylonian Empire|Babylon]] destroyed Judah, burnt the Temple, and killed the royal family (ca 586 BCE). 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.

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| before = "[[Kung Fu Fighting]]" by [[Carl Douglas]]

| title = [[Billboard Hot 100]] [[List of number-one hits (United States)|number one single]]

| years = [[December 21]] [[1974]]

| after = "[[Angie Baby]]" by [[Helen Reddy]]

}}

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[[Category:1974 songs]]

When [[Achaemenid Empire|Persia]] conquered Babylon (539 BCE), 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.

[[Category:1974 singles]]

[[Category:1992 singles]]

=== A Minimalist variant===

[[Category:Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles]]

[[Category:Number-one singles in Australia]]

[[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 BCE, 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]].

[[Category:Harry Chapin songs]]

[[Category:Power ballads]]

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 BCE), 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 BCE)). The modernisers eventually achieved pre-eminence under Manasseh's grandson, King [[Josiah]] (reigned ca. 641–609 BCE).

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 BCE 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 ===

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}}.

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].)

=== The Enlightenment ===

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.

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 BC|621 BCE]]). Soon other writers also began considering the idea. By [[1823]] Eichhorn abandoned claiming Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch.

=== 19th-century ===

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.

[[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.

[[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'').

=== Julius Wellhausen ===

In [[1886]] [[Julius Wellhausen]] published ''Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels'' ("Prolegomena to the History of Israel"). 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).

* '''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'').

* '''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.

Subsequent scholars have questioned 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 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 ===

Wellhausen's contemporaries 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 scholars have revised many of Wellhausen's specific claims, most still accept the general idea that the five books of Moses had a composite origin. In the modern era the term "documentary hypothesis" does not necessarily refer to one specific hypothesis. Rather, it applies to any understanding of the origin of the Torah that recognizes (basically) four sources redacted together into a final version. Current thinking ranges from the traditional Wellhausian theory that one redactor wove together four specific texts, to the view that the entire nation of [[Israel]] slowly created a consensus work based on various strands of the Israelite tradition, or anything in between.

==== 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?'' contains 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 argues 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 Shakespearean 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.

== References ==

John Rogerson provides an authoritative and readable overview in ''Old Testament Criticism in the Nineteenth Century: England and Germany'' (1985).

* Allis, Oswald T. ''The Five Books of Moses'', Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., Phillipsburg, New Jersey, USA, 1949, pages 17 and 22.

* [[Gleason Archer|Archer, Gleason]]. ''A Survey of Old Testament Introduction.'' Chicago: Moody, 1994.

* Blenkinsopp, Joseph ''The Pentateuch : an introduction to the first five books of the Bible'', Doubleday, NY, USA 1992. ISBN 038541207X

* [[Harold Bloom|Bloom, Harold]] and Rosenberg, David ''The Book of J'', Random House, NY, USA 1990. ISBN 0-8021-4191-9.

* [[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.

* [[Umberto Cassuto|Cassuto, Umberto]]. ''The Documentary Hypothesis and the Composition of the Pentateuch'', Magnes, 1961. ISBN 965-223-479-6.

* [[Umberto Cassuto|Cassuto, Umberto]]. ''The Documentary Hypothesis (Contemporary Jewish Thought)'', Shalem, 2006. ISBN 965-7052-35-1.

* Clines, David J. A. ''The Theme of the Pentateuch.'' JSOTSup. 10. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1978.

* [[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]]

== Notes ==

<!--See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref(erences/)> tags-->

<references/>

== External links ==

* [http://www.comparative-religion.com/articles/torah_torah_torah/ Redaction Theory (Documents Hypothesis)]

* [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://imp.lss.wisc.edu/~rltroxel/Intro/hypoth.html A Summary of the Documentary Hypothesis]

* [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://web.archive.org/web/20050912024847/http://www.souldevice.org/writings_dochyp.html Doug Beaumont, "Did Moses Write the Pentateuch?"] Retrieved from Internet Archive on [[2007-06-08]].

* [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.

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