The Importance of Oral Tradition and Pentateuchal Authorship

Indianapolis, IN

For many years it was believed that Moses was the sole author of the Pentateuch, but not only do Bible's the first five books do more to prove that Moses was not the author, but it is also evident that the Pentateuch was written by multiple unknown authors at various points in history. The most commonly accepted explanation among scholars for the Pentateuch's mysterious authorship is a theory known as the Documentary Hypothesis. This is the idea that the Pentateuch consists of four different written sources (all of them based on oral traditions), written by different authors, living at different times in the history of Israel, with different points of view and emphasis, that have been edited together into one long five-volume work" (Ehrman, The Bible: A Historical and Literary Introduction., 50). In this presentation I will discuss the importance of oral tradition as it was fundamental in the preservation and documentation of Biblical scripture.