4 Authors of Genesis?

[Mikolev]

A professor of mine , is telling us that The Old Testament was not written by Moses, but by 4 different authors. He claims that it can be proven by analyzing the way it is written.

Does anybody know what / who he could be referring to? Also, does anybody have any evidence I could use to rebutt his claims?

Thanks

Mikolev

 

[jbarcher]

http://www.christian-thinktank.com/qmoses1.html

(Btw, I don't think anyone has claimed that Moses wrote all of the OT. But I think by "OT" you mean "Genesis" or the Torah.)

 

[JohnJones]

...

 

[daveleau]

Some liberal theologians believe that there were multiple sources (4) for the Pentateuch. It is a widely held belief in some Christian churches. It is often referred to as the JPED idea because the designations for these supposed sources is J for Jehovah, E for Elohim, P for Priestly and D for Deutoronomical. The first two suggest 2 sources or authors because of their switching in the use of the proper name for God.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=4+sources+pentateuch&spell=1

 

[billwald]

Dr. Donald Akenson posits that Gen was written by one person during the Babylon captivity. See "Surpassing Wonder."

 

[TrevorL]

The idea of a number of authors to Genesis is sometimes called the "Documentary Hypothesis". I have never read any articles on the "Documentary Hypothesis", but I found the following statement with book references and brief reviews, and thought it of value. There could be many other valuable references, some more recent. I believe in the full inspiration of the Scriptures, the unity of the whole Bible, in the literal Creation narrative, Adam and Eve being our first humans, and Adam created from the dust of the earth.

F.T. Pearce (1965) wrote:
"It would be a great mistake to imagine that no defence of the Mosaic authorships in thorough-going terms has been undertaken. The defence has always been there, but learned critics have usually ignored it, regarding the authors as “prejudiced”, ignoring equally the fact that they are themselves just as prejudiced in the opposite direction in favour of an evolutionary theory. One reason for the lack of influence of the undoubtedly competent works written in defence of the Mosaic authorship is that the reply to the critics involves the examination and answering of a number of separate points, a rather tedious matter and one requiring a great deal of careful attention. As usual in the discussion of the Bible, it is much easier to be sensationally destructive than to expound constructively. The work of constructive defence has, however, gone steadily on, and the interested student would find the following books of help:
Moller, Are the Critics Right? (1890).
W. H. Green, The Unity of the Book of Genesis and The Higher Criticism of the Pentateuch (both 1895).
Griffiths, The Problem of Deuteronomy, 1910.
Orr, The Problem of the Old Testament, 1917 (good for the general reader).
Finn, The Unity of the Pentateuch, 1917 (a detailed masterpiece).
Aalders, A Short Introduction to the Pentateuch, 1948 (excellent summary).
Allis, The Five Books of Moses, 1948, distributed by the Baker House, Grand Rapids, U.S.A. (an excellent modern reply).
Manley, The Book of the Law, 1950 (Tyndale), a detailed and convincing examination of the characteristics of Deuteronomy."

Kind regards
Trevor

 

[jdrahnonfire]

I think real simply if you go to Jesus and find out what he said about the first five books you'll be amazed that he stands over the liberal theologians as knowing who was the author of the Pentateuch.
Matt 8:4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
Matt. 19:7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
Matt 22:24. Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
Mark 7:10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
Mark 10:3 And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?
Mark 10:4
And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put [her] away.
Mark 12:26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I [am] the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
Luke 16:32 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Luke 24:44 And he said unto them, These [are] the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and [in] the prophets, and [in] the psalms, concerning me.
John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, [but] grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
John 7:19 Did not Moses give you the law, and [yet] none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?
John 8:5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
I think the authorship was clearly spoken by the greatest theologian, our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

 

[daveleau]

I think the authorship was clearly spoken by the greatest theologian, our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Well said. It is reasonable that Moses did not sit down at once and write these in one sitting or in one short period of time. I think what the people are seeing is the difference or development of Moses' writing, rather than a different author. It is likely that Moses kept these scrolls with him for a long period of time and worked on them for a longer period.

 

[RVincent]

The "Higher Criticism" that proposed this multi-authorship of the Pentateuch are the same one who started the theory of two (or more!) authors of Isaiah.

One might be surprised to learn how much of the "Higher Criticism" has been accepted as truth in churches and is taught in Christian schools and Seminaries.

 

[Polycarp1]

Many who accept a modified form of the four-document hypothesis adhere to the idea that the basic content of each derives from Moses, but was preserved in a separate area with separate local interest. The Priestly tradition, for example, was particularly interested in genealogy and in ritual; the Elohist tradition, centered in the North, was interested in the story of Joseph, their ancestor; the Jahvist tradition, centered in the tribal area of Judah, was interested in the patriarch Judah and in the Torah elements that led to the Davidic monarchy. Each preserved a part of what Moses had taught, and the Torah as we know it was produced by combining what was preserved (with possible accretions where "the Law" was expanded by interpretation) to produce a complete document, preserving even the doublets and apparent contradictions.