12) Great streams of tradition in the Old Testament

The Old Testament is often read by those who are devout but untrained as though it was all carved from one piece of stone, in one time and place, as trustworthy as it is static and unchanging. One of the great gains that has come from the sustained and meticulous study of the Bible in recent centuries is the appreciation of just how dynamic the processes are that have resulted in the Bible as we have it today. Like other disciplines the study of the Bible continues to develop as different questions and methods are used to explore the richness, depth and complexity of the Bible over  the centuries of its formation.

Source criticism is a method that has been used extensively used to trace the various streams of tradition that have been preserved in the Old Testament. The two creation accounts have been treated in earlier posts on this blog as a clear example of different traditions being preserved within biblical texts. Scholars had long been aware that there were different names used for God, and sometimes inconsistencies or duplication in narratives like that of the Flood story, that pointed in the direction of multiple points of view being combined in the final form of the Biblical text. It has been an area of study that gave rise to a theory called the Documentary hypothesis.

http://www.layevangelism.com/bastxbk/illustrations/docuhypoth.htm

In this theory great streams of tradition were not only formed over centuries, but they were also combined during the formation of the Old Testament.  According to this theory oral traditions were gradually committed to writing and preserved as traditions from the Northern tribes and kingdom were combined with those from the Southern tribes and kingdom. The major traditions have been identified as:

J - Yahwist (Southern)

E - Elohist (Northern)  J and E were combined about 700 BCE

P - Priestly (Soiuthern)

D - Deuteronomist  (about 621 BCE)

Events such as the religious reform in the time of Josiah, the fall of the northern and southern kingdoms, and then the shattering experience of the exile provided the catalyst for legal materials, narratives about the beginning of the nation, priestly traditions, and historical materials to be combined and preserved leading to the Old Testament text we are familiar with today. Different points of view about the conquest of the land, the creation of the world, necessary legal and liturgical texts and traditions are all combined in one final text. Their presence reveals something of the complexity and richness of Israel's history and the shaping of its self understanding and appreciation of its role in God's saving plan.

YouTube material you may wish to consult is readily available. Dr Christine Hayes at Yale provides a rich and comprehensive introduction to these matters. For the first of her series of lectures follow the links below.

The Parts of the Whole. Dr Christine Hayes

Of Seams and Sources. Dr Christine Hayes

Dr David Penchansky from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota gives a helpful and brief overview of the Documentary Hypothesis.

Documentary Hypothesis