{"id":33903,"date":"2014-02-20T08:00:04","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T16:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=33903"},"modified":"2014-02-18T09:56:36","modified_gmt":"2014-02-18T17:56:36","slug":"jedp-hypothesis-q-theory-and-the-critical-text-oh-my","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/jedp-hypothesis-q-theory-and-the-critical-text-oh-my\/","title":{"rendered":"JEDP Hypothesis, Q Theory, and the Critical Text… Oh My!"},"content":{"rendered":"
Question: Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 appear to be written by different people. How is your understanding on this?<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Here is my roundabout way of answering:<\/p>\n Yes, Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 do appear to be written by different people. Bible scholars have noted that different names of God are used in these two chapters, along with different terminology, different themes, and even a somewhat different order of events. These differences aren’t just with Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, of course, but with the entire Pentateuch.<\/p>\n This has led some scholars to suggest that there were maybe 4 authors (or groups of authors) for the Pentateuch, and they can be identified by their emphasis and by what name(s) for God they seemed to have preferred. This theory is called the Documentary theory or the JEDP hypothesis, and the four authors (or groups of authors) are identified as the Yahwist (J), the Elohist (E), the Deuteronomist (D), and the Priestly (P). According to this theory, it is believed that the Priestly author wrote Genesis 1:1-2:3 and the Yahwist wrote Genesis 2:4ff.<\/p>\n So what do I think of this theory? Well, I take an approach similar to how I approach a similar theory about the 4 Gospels in the New Testament. Conventional scholarly wisdom about the 4 Gospels says that there is a “Q” source document for the Gospels which has been lost. It is believed that Matthew and Luke had this “Q” (along with the Gospel of Mark) and used it to write their Gospel accounts.<\/p>\n I never bought into this line of reasoning and remember having many long discussions and debates with other students about this when when I was in Bible college and seminary. My view is a minority opinion, of course, but I was thrilled to read a few years back something that N. T. Wright wrote about Q<\/a>:<\/p>\n I have never completely caught the disease called Q, though from time to time I have experienced that shivery feeling, and the concomitant double vision, that those who have a chronic case of the Q disease reveal as their normal state. I have experienced, though, an interesting phenomenon: my inability to make up my mind on the synoptic problem has not, I think, in any way impaired my ability to read Matthew, Mark, and Luke as Matthew, Mark, and Luke, nor indeed my ability \u2014 though some would no doubt question this \u2014 to think and write about this historical Jesus.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So anyway, my view of the JEDP hypothesis is similar. I honestly believe Moses wrote most of the Pentateuch (probably all of it except the last chapter of Deuteronomy). Did he have sources? Probably. He likely had some documents or oral traditions from which he drew, and which might account for the differences in the various texts.<\/p>\n
\nWarning:<\/strong> This post will interest only the most scholarly among you… It is written in answer to a question sent in by a reader about Genesis 1-2. Here is the question:<\/p>\nThe JEDP Hypothesis<\/h2>\n
Q Theory<\/h2>\n
How People Write<\/h2>\n