D in the pentateuch is restricted to the book of deuteronomy, although it continues into the subsequent books of joshua, judges and. Jean astruc came to believe that he could uncover the sources of the pentateuch by using the divine names yahweh and elohim as a guide. Introduction to reading the pentateuch jean louis ska. Critical theologians have worked for more than two centuries to separate the supposed. In 1753, in paris, a small book appeared anonymously under the title. Three men created the old documentary hypothesis over about 150 years ago. What evidence proves that moses wrote the first five books of the old testament. While jewish tradition holds that all five books were originally written by moses sometime in the 2nd millennium bce, by the 17th century leading scholars had rejected mosaic authorship. Although astrucs aim was to defend mosaic authorship, subsequent nonconservative scholars began using his approach to deny the same. Formation of the pentateuch flashcards by mollykay starkweather.
When and what did jean astruc contribute to early modern biblical scholarship. Astruc, jean cyclopedia of biblical, theological and. It takes ideas of the firmament common in both egyptian and mesopotamian cosmology, but it restructures the creation so that it is the work of a single deity rather than a combined effort of several gods in conflict. He believed moses was the author of the pentateuch, but he unlocked the door for the skepticism of later scholars. Grafwellhausen hypothesis or jedp theory the jedp theory found its roots in jean astruc 16841766, who speculated that moses used existing written or oral sources in constructing genesis. Jean astruc, johann gottfried eichhorn, and karl david ilgen alexander. Analyse the assumptions about the pentateuch religion essay. Physician and founder of modern pentateuch criticism. The term applies to the first five books of the biblegenesis, exodus, leviticus, numbers, and deuteronomy. A final reason that one must defend the mosaic authorship of the pentateuch, instead of sitting by idly and claiming that it doesnt really matter who wrote it, is because jesus himself acknowledged that the law came from moses. Jean astruc in the eighteenth century noted that the pentateuch is based on even earlier sources. This title is derived from pente,five, and teucos which, meaning originally vessel instrument, etc. Choose from 42 different sets of documentary hypothesis flashcards on quizlet.
The supplementary approach was dominant by the early 1860s, but it was challenged by an important book published by hermann hupfeld in 1853, who argued that the pentateuch was made up of four documentary sources, the priestly, yahwist, and elohist intertwined in genesisexodusleviticusnumbers, and the standalone source of deuteronomy. In the same year lowth discovered the system of parallelism in hebrew poetry and thus began the study of the bible as literature. The information in this program was taped live at the ankerberg theological research institutes apologetics conference in orlando, florida. French physician jean astruc developed the original documentary hypothesis in 1753, and it went through many different alterations until karl graf revised the initial hypothesis in the midnineteenth century. Study formation of the pentateuch flashcards from mollykay starkweathers. Entry for astruc, jean cyclopedia of biblical, theological and ecclesiastical literature one of 8 bible encyclopedias freely available, this encyclopedia, with its nearly 50,000 entries and 17 millin words, dwarfs modern bible encyclopedias with the depth of knowledge. It is a delight to have you come together for this one of my favorite sermon subjects, the demonstration of the mosaic authenticity of the pentateuch. In 1753 french physician jean astruc first suggested that the book of genesis drew its material from two sources based on the two different names used to refer to god, yahweh and elohim.
Authorship of pentateuch kenya projects organization. The first part genesis 111 is about the creation and the beginning of human beings on earth. Nevertheless, further attacks on the mosaic authorship of the pentateuch began taking hold in france through jean astruc, whose book conjectures about the original memoirs which it appeared that moses used in composing the book of genesis with certain remarks which help clarify these conjectures was published in 1753. Jean astruc sauve, france, 19 march 1684 paris, 5 may 1766 was a professor of medicine at montpellier and paris, who wrote the first great treatise on syphilis and venereal diseases, and also, with a small anonymously published book, played a fundamental part in the origins of critical textual analysis of works of scripture. Genesis, exodus, leviticus, numbers, and deuteronomy was a process that involved multiple authors over an extended period of time. A beginning was made as early as 1751 by a french roman catholic physician, jean astruc, who proved from the internal evidence that there were at least two separate documents combined in the pentateuch. In what year did astruc publish his work on the pentateuch. A century later, a french professor of medicine named jean astruc set out to prove the two heretics wrong, using the newly emerging science of textual criticism.
The two chief sources have since been identified in genesis on the basis of their respective uses of yahweh or elohim in referring to the deity. Because of its strengths, it was soon translated into french. French physician, jean astruc, published conjectures on the original memoranda which it appears moses used to compose the book of genesis 1753, which proposed that the variations in gods name, yahweh or elohim, indicated that different sources were used for genesis. In 1753, a french physician named jean astruc hypothesized that moses had made use of two older narratives in composing the book of genesis.
Development of the documentary hypothesis c arls td. Sir william osler, jean astruc and the higher criticism 1912. According to astruc, moses compiled genesis by dividing up these ancient memoirs that he had access to and reassembling them so as to provide a continuous. With the help of techniques that had, up to then, been applied only to latin and greek classics, he studied the torah and came to the conclusion that moses compiled the book of. In 1753 jean astruc anonymously published a work titled conjectures, where he proposed that the book of genesis can be divided, based on the name for god used in different sections.
Jean astruc 16841766 a frenchman named jean astruc attempted to use the divine names to analyze the book of genesis. The pentateuch tells the story from the creation of the world to the death of moses and the preparation of the israelites to enter the land of canaan. Following simon, jean astruc 16841766 expressed the view that two separate sources appear in the book of genesis, one that used elohim god and the other the divine name yahweh lord. Pentateuch oxford research encyclopedia of religion. By analyzing a the use of different names of god, b stylistic differences, and c patterns, astruc saw clues of a composite or editorial structure. Astruc himself did not intend to deny the mosaic authorship of genesis.
Learn documentary hypothesis with free interactive flashcards. In 1753, a french physician named jean astruc began the modern study of source or literary analysis by writing a commentary on the book of genesis. Astruc believed that moses must have used two different sources in writing. The lost city of the exodus books inner traditions. The composition of the torah or pentateuch, the first five books of the bible. Astruc was the first to offer an explanation of the character and mutual relations of these documents. What evidence proves moses wrote the first five books of. Pentateuch encyclopedia of the bible bible gateway. Jean astruc saintsauvesdauvergne, france, 19 march 1684 paris, 5 may 1766 was a professor of medicine at montpellier and paris, who wrote the first great treatise on syphilis and venereal diseases, and also, with a small anonymously published book, played a fundamental part in the origins of critical textual analysis of works of scripture astruc was the first to try to demonstrate. The first five books were separated from the whole about 400 b. Today, jean astrucs conjectures are recognized as the first scientific. According to astruc, moses compiled genesis by dividing up these ancient memoirs that he had access to and reassembling them so as to provide a continuous narrative. When jean louis skas introduzione alla lettura del pentateuco was first published in italy, it was quickly hailed as the most attractive and usable introduction to the pentateuch to appear in modern times. In 1753, a french court physician, jean astruc, published a book, conjectures, in which he stated that the different names of the godhead occurring in genesis show that the book is merely a collection of various source materials and that moses was the collector and compiler of these sources not the author.
Alert to the differences in the uses of the names for god in the torah, elohim and jehovah, astruc suggested that moses wrote genesis and exodus in 4 columns, 2 of which were distinguished by using different names for god. Apologetics press mosaic authorship of the pentateuch. French professor of medicine and court physician of louis xv. Julius wellhausen then restated grafs documentary hypothesis and brought it to light in european. He noticed that some portions utilize elohim as the name for god, while others use jehovah yahweh. Astruc believed that moses must have used two different sources in writing genesis, each having different names for god, and that the elohim source was the older. German scholarship took up this suggestion and elaborated it into a documentary hypothesis which typically denied mosaic authorship and the historicity of the events recorded in the. Torah simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. In the eighteenth century jean astruc, a celebrated physician, published a treatise on genesis in which he postulated that moses used two major sources in writing the book of genesis. The pentateuch is often called the five books of moses or the torah. I was first attracted to this when i was a college student and i was made acquainted with the approach of liberal higher criticism and, fortunately, i sat under the ministry of a pastor, harold john ockenga, who had had an.
Jean astruc project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. Jean astruc was a professor of medicine at montpellier and paris, who wrote the. Seminary courses, theology books, introductions to the pentateuch in. The french academic jean astruc, who was also a professor of medicine, applied techniques developed for studying classical texts to the old testament in an attempt to prove hobbes and spinoza were. Astrucs immediate predecessors were le clerc clericus, richard simon, fleury, and francois. His work was the beginning of pentateuchal sourcecriticism proper.
The distinguishing of the pentateuchal sources stated with jean astruc in 1753, he imagined that moses might have to do plagiarism by using other sources for the compilation of the pentateuch, and to distinguish the sources moses used, he had to introduce the divine names elohim and jehovah in the book of. It is to jean astruc, louis xvs doctor, that we owe the decisive argument. He noted that the first chapter of genesis refers to god as elohim, while the second chapter uses mostly jehovah or yahweh. Jean astruc was a professor of medicine at montpellier and paris, who wrote the first great treatise on syphilis and venereal diseases, and also, with a small anonymously published book, played a fundamental part in the. He placed passages that use the name elohim in one column a, those that use yahweh in another column b and passages with repetitions c and nonisraelite sources d in a third and fourth column. Why do some assert that the pentateuch were not written by. Pentateuch, the, is the greek name given to the five books commonly called the five books of moses. The conjectures of jean astruc, 1753 biblical conventions throughout the world are giving special prominence this year to pentateuch criticism, for 1953 marks the twohundredth anniversary of its birth as a special science. One of the most prominent theories in regards to the authorship of the torah is known as the documentary hypothesis alexander, 2012.
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