Description
Book SynopsisIn this magisterial overview of the Pentateuch John Van Seters reviews the various historical-critical attempts to read it that arise from notions about the social evolution of Israel's religion and culture. Is the Pentateuch an accumulation of folk traditions, a work of ancient historiography, a document legitimizing religious reform? In dialogue with competing views, Van Seters advocates a compositional model that recognizes the social and historical diversity of the literary strata. Van Seters argues that a proto-Pentateuchal author created a comprehensive history from Genesis to Numbers that was written as a prologue to the Deuteronomistic History (Deuteronomy to 2 Kings) in the exilic period and later expanded by a Priestly writer to make it the foundational document of the Jerusalem temple community. This social-science commentary on the Pentateuch is renowned as one of the most influential volumes on this group of texts. For the new edition Van Seters has revised several secti
Table of ContentsNew Preface Preface to first edition Abbreviations Part I: Introduction Part II: The Pentateuch as a Whole: Basic Features and Problems Part III: A Survey of Historical-Critical Research on the Pentateuch Part IV: New Currents in Pentateuchal Studies from 1975 to the Present Part V: Deuteronomy Part VI: The Yahwist (J) Part VII: The Priestly Writer (P) Part VIII: Law in the Pentateuch Part IX: Conclusion Bibliography Index of References Index of Authors
