The Genesis account was written by multiple people not Moses.

I thought most critical scholars gave up on J 20 years ago?

Granted, I believe Moses compiled from written and oral sources, guided by the Holy Spirit. But I think your sources may be out of date.

 

Wellhausen isn't exactly new and exciting anymore.

 

I think quite a few conservative scholars might indeed accept that Moses compiled and edited Genesis from much older sources. That does no harm to the veracity of the Scriptures, but gives another argument for its being accounts from people who were present, people who knew the truth, and for its reliability.
JDEP, however, is bunk.

 

The original given through Moses. Then the 5 books went through two edits, under the hand of God. A divide with the division of Juda and Israel. And a restoration with the nation coming out of captivity, the restoration, giving us our Hebrew texts in their current form.

 

Is nevertheless an interpreation of what is observed in the texts. The texts as originally given. The texts as they became in a divided use between Juda and Israel. And the texts as they are now after coming out of captivity. We do not know the details, God does.

 

Except that fact that Jesus said otherwise, that theory is far left liberal garbage.

 

Its not as simple a question as it seems.
The Pentateuch is attributed to Moses however there were many other contributors. He is the primary author upon whose authority the text stands.

But the matter of authorship was not as inflexible as it is today.
Things that the author said could have been included at a later date (how much later???) by others (disciples) and still be considered to bear the authority of the author.

Of particular note, at the time Moses was said to be alive, the Hebrew alphabet was at best quite rudimentary. There would have had to have been some restructuring/translating over the centuries so the text would be understandable.

I have enjoyed a book a while back by Gary Rendsburg called The Redaction of Genesis.
He offers a different take on how we got the text before us. He is of the opinion that the text was a 10th century (b.c.) redaction based upon the complicated interweaving of primary structures in the book... chiastic structuring to be more precise.

Things like place names, e.g. Jerusalem, before there was a Jerusalem, people groups before they were clans, mentioning “before there were kings”, as an explanatory note to readers, even Aramaic loan words before it was a language, etc. all contribute to the idea of multiple contributors.

Rob

 

Home - Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy
Was Hebrew the First Alphabet in the World and Used by Moses?
The Ancient Hebrew Alphabet - Aleph

 

God revealed Genesis to Moses around 2500 years after Adam. In his prayer Moses said: Psa.90:v.4 - a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past. In my vision, the different perspective of creation in Genesis, it consists in the mystery that involves deep secrets of God in everything that was created by the power of His Word. About this, John the Apostle, wrote: John 1:v.1- 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. --> Here the first great mystery - the Word is the invisible God - God is Spirit - and what God revealead to Moses in this first moment was that He - the Word - was in the beginning. Actually, God Father was presenting Jesus to Moses. Gen.1:v.1-3 - 1 In the beginning - in JESUS - God created the heavens - the 1st, and 2nd and 3rd heavens, and the heaven of the heavens - and the earth. John1:v.2-3 - 2 The same was in the beginning - in JESUS - with God. 3 All things were made by Him - by JESUS -; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. Hebrews 1:v.1-2 - 1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days - last two days or last two thousand years - spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds;

And God said: Genesis 1:v.3 - And God said - God is a title, the Word is God - : Let there be light: and there was light. 1John 1:v.5 - God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. Who really claim "Let there be light, and there was light, was JESUS. By the way, JESUS is the Greater Light.

Here goes a different perspective of the beginning. In Revelation 1:v. 8, JESUS claimed saying: 8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

In Christ JESUS
Oseas