Documentary Hypothesis, The Eight Lectures

The documentary hypothesis is a still-popular theory that claims that the Pentateuch - the first five books of the Bible - are the result of the weaving together of four very different sources, separated not only by authorship/tradition but by time as well. These four sources, commonly referred to as JEPD, stand in opposition to both the Jewish and Catholic traditions that Moses authored the Pentateuch. Cassuto, a Jewish scholar writing in the 1940's, takes a critical eye at the 5 main pillars used to support JEPD theory, and finds them lacking. Actually more than lacking. Cassuto obliterates the arguments with carefully reasoned analysis, and in the process, shows that far from being the output of some politically motivated, sloppy cut-and-pasters as JEPD theorists imply, the Pentateuch when considered as the work of a single author has far more meaning and beauty than we could have ever imagined.