The Pentateuch: A Social-Science Commentary (Second Edition)

by John Van Seters

Publisher:

Bloomsbury

, 2015

Overview

In this magisterial overview of the Pentateuch John Van Seters reviews the various historical-critical attempts to read it that arise from notions about the social evolution of Israel’s religion and culture. Is the Pentateuch an accumulation of folk traditions, a work of ancient historiography, a document legitimizing religious reform? In dialogue with competing views, Van Seters advocates a compositional model that recognizes the social and historical diversity of the literary strata. Van Seters argues that a proto-Pentateuchal author created a comprehensive history from Genesis to Numbers that was written as a prologue to the Deuteronomistic History (Deuteronomy to 2 Kings) in the exilic period and later expanded by a Priestly writer to make it the foundational document of the Jerusalem temple community. This social-science commentary on the Pentateuch is renowned as one of the most influential volumes on this group of texts. For the new edition Van Seters has revised several sections of the text, updating and integrating new bibliographical items, and refining the text where necessary. A reflective preface summarizes these changes and developments for the reader’s convenience.

Contents

Top Highlights

“by Moses that includes the giving of another set of laws in addition to those already given in” (Page 8)

“Within the Old Testament the terms ‘book of the law’ or ‘the law of Moses’ have a much more limited reference to a particular set of laws and not to a larger composition.” (Page 2)

“Holiness Code because of its emphasis on the people’s ‘holiness’, was recognized as a distinct, early P corpus of laws” (Page 21)

“This firm dating of one of the sources (D) created a fixed point to which the other sources could then be related.” (Page 17)

Product Details

• Title: The Pentateuch: A Social-Science Commentary (Second Edition)
• Author: John Van Seters
• Edition: Second Edition
• Series: The Cornerstones Series
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Print Publication Date: 2015
• Logos Release Date: 2019
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Bible. O.T. Pentateuch › Criticism, interpretation, etc
• ISBNs: 9780567658791, 9780567658807, 9781841270272, 9781841270364, 0567658791, 0567658805, 184127027X, 1841270369
• Resource ID: LLS:PENTTEUCHSSC2ED
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T02:12:00Z

About John Van Seters

John Van Seters is a distinguished professor emeritus at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and currently lives in Canada. He is the author of The Life of Moses, Prologue to History, and In Search of History.