Beschrijving

The study of the Pentateuch—the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, traditionally ascribed to Moses—has been a cornerstone of both Jewish and Christian religious traditions. For centuries, these texts were regarded as divine revelation, dictated to Moses on Mount Sinai. However, critical scholarship has challenged this assumption, proposing instead that the Pentateuch is a composite work that reflects multiple sources, redactions, and historical contexts. The origins of this academic inquiry can be traced back to early Jewish and Christian exegetes, but it was only in the early modern period that the systematic study of its composition began to take shape.