Footnote 3 – Finding Historical Memories in the Patriarchal Narratives

Modern critical scholars have divided the Pentateuch into four authorial strands, designated J (the Yahwist or, in German, Jahwist source), E (the Elohist source), P (the Priestly source) and D (the Deuteronomist source, whose contribution to the Pentateuch is confined to Deuteronomy). The narratives of J, P and E are intertwined in the first four books of the Bible.