Exploring the Composition of the Pentateuch, Volume 3/1

How did the Pentateuch come into being, and what kinds of evidence can responsibly guide new answers to this enduring question? Exploring the Composition of the Pentateuch, Volume 3/1 captures an active scholarly conversation among a diverse group of biblical scholars who challenge prevailing orthodoxies about the formation of the Torah and seek new frameworks for understanding its composition.

Emphasizing the need to move beyond critique toward positive proposals supported by verifiable data and sound argumentation, the essays in this volume are organized into three areas of inquiry. Part 1 examines whether the Torah can be understood as a unified literary work in the form in which it has come down to us, probing inter-biblical relationships, the unity of Genesis narratives, and the Decalogic shape of Deuteronomic law. Part 2 considers historical and archaeological evidence for the Pentateuch’s setting, including artifact analysis, wilderness sanctuary materials, and linguistic forensics. Part 3 investigates issues such as Egyptian loanwords, early Hebrew linguistic features, diachronic development, and textual variants.

While this volume is forward-looking, it does not pretend to present a unified or finalized model. Instead, it offers a foundational step toward an evidence-based and methodologically transparent approach to Pentateuchal studies. It will be of particular interest to scholars and advanced students of biblical studies, the Hebrew Bible, and the history of the Pentateuch’s composition.

In addition to the editors, the contributors include Richard E. Averbeck, L. S. Baker Jr., Yoel Elitzur, Georg Fischer, Yehoshua Inbal, Michael LeFebvre, Richard S. Hess, Benjamin Noonan, and Gary Rendsburg.

“This volume explores different avenues for interpreting the Pentateuch and investigating its composition history. The whole project is a valuable contribution to the field; several chapters are of such great importance that they alone make this an essential resource. Among these are the study of the linguistic dating of texts by Bergland and the discussion of intertextuality by Bergland and Masotti.”—Duane A. Garrett, author of Job: Evangelical Exegetical Commentary

Kenneth Bergland is Assistant Professor at the Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies, Philippines.

Roy E. Gane is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Languages at Andrews University.

Benjamin Kilchör is Professor of Old Testament at STH Basel.

A. Rahel Wells is Professor of Hebrew Bible at Andrews University.