What Happened to the Documentary Hypothesis?

In its best-known formulation, the Documentary Hypothesis is the theory that the Pentateuch comprises four originally independent works—identified by the sigla J (for J/Yahwistic), E (for Elohistic), D (for Deuteronomic), and P (for the Priestly source)—that were subsequently interwoven.a It was developed to explain the Pentateuch’s various contradictions, discontinuities, and duplications that stand alongside cohesive ties that connect discontinuous parts of the text with each other. Many of the Pentateuch’s discrepancies are well known. For example, if the world and its inhabitants were created in Genesis 1, why were they created anew in Genesis 2? Did Noah bring a single […]