Apologetic Values of Pentateucal Criticism

Biblical criticism is often viewed from two perspectives. On the one hand, it is seen as a discipline that aims at making the biblical content and intent explicit and easily understandable. On the other hand, however, it is perceived as a destructive exercise to fragment, disparage and rob the Bible of its spiritual authority. As a result, discussion on concepts such as textual, source, form and redaction criticism in biblical studies often attracts jeers. A central question that always accompanies such debate is about the relevance of those criticisms, which has led to the conclusion that such an exercise is just an academic showmanship. Through a descriptive method, this paper investigates the values of biblical criticism from an apologetic perspective by using Pentateuchal criticism as an example. It establishes that there are theological, exegetical and hermeneutical values in Pentateuchal criticism.

Biblical criticism, Pentateuchal criticism, Apologetics

1. Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible, revised and enlarged edition (Chicago: Moody Press, 1986), 3. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Kenneth S. Kantzer, “Inspiration,” in New International Bible Dictionary, J. D. Douglas & Merrill C. Tenney (eds.), (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986), 469. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Howard Marshall, Biblical Inspiration (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 38. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Documentary Hypothesis (DH) focuses on suggesting various sources that the content of the entire Pentateuch could have originated from. It was a response to the traditional conclusion that the Pentateuch as it appears today is a product of sole Mosaic authorship. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Philemon Ibrahim, “Pentateuchal Authorship: A Critical Analysis of Existing Imaginations,” The American Journal of Biblical Theology, Volume 2(2). January 12, (2020): 1-17. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. The Early Eastern Versions such as Syriac (c. 170); Old Syriac and Peshitta (3rd - 5th century); Coptic, Ethiopic, Arabic versions (3rd – 9th century) up to the time of The King James Version (1611); maintained the sole Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. See Paul D. Wegner, The Journey from Texts to Translations; The Origin and Development of the Bible (Michigan: Baker Academics, 1999), 245-204. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. T. Desmond Alexander, “Authorship of the Pentateuch.” In Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch, T. Desmond and David Weston Backer (eds.). 61-72. (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 61-63. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. T. Desmond Alexander, From Paradise to the Promised Land: An Introduction to the Pentateuch 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2012), 9. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Cuthbert A. Simpson, “The Growth of the Pentateuch,” The Interpreter’s Bible. Edited by George Authur Buttrick (Nashville; Abingdon Press, 1952), 185-192. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. “Who Wrote the Bible?” https://www.imamreza.net. Accessed 02/11/2022. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. Abraham ibn Ezra (AD 1089-1167) wrote a commentary on the Pentateuch in 1140, and was considered as one of the pioneers of biblical criticism. “Abraham ibn Ezra’s Commentary on the Pentateuch,” https://www.bl.uk. Accessed 02/11/2022. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. Jay F. Schachter, The Commentary of Abraham Ibn Ezra on the Pentateuch. Volume 5, Deuteronomy (KTAV Publishing House, 2003), 76. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Otto Eissfeldt, The Old Testament: An Introduction (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1966), 160. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. Paul Soninno, “Torah, Torah, Torah: The Authorship of the Pentateuch in Ancient and Early Modern Times,” in The Rhetoric of Power in Late Antiquity: Religion and Politics in Byzantium, Europe and the Early Islamic World. J. Stephens, E. DePalma Digeser, and R. M. Frakes (eds.). 241– 76. (London: I.B. Tauris, 2010), eBook Edition. http:// web.a.ebscohost.com.vwproxy.lipscomb.edu/ ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/Z TAwMHhuYV9fMzU1NTY4X19BTg2?sid=c3734bb4-8b6b-4946-b29c-5- a57150cd1e@sessionmgr4003&vid=2&format=EB&rid=1 Accessed 02/11/2022. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. E.H. Maly, “Pentateuch,” New Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. X1 (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1967), 99. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. Monika Bajic, “Authorship of the Pentateuch,” KAIROS - Evangelical Journal of Theology, Vol. X No. 2 (2016):216: 215-223 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. Eissfeldt, 163. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. Jean Astruc, “Pentateuchal Criticism, History of,” Dictionary of the Old Testament. Edited by Bill Arnold and Bryan E. Beyer (Michigan: Baker Book House, 1998), 71. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. Maly, 99. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. Karl H. Graf, Historical Books of the Old Testament (Leipzig: Weigel, 1866), 89. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

21. Julius Wellhausen, Composition of the Pentateuch (Berlin; George Reimer, 1889), 76. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

22. Bruce D. Chilton, “The Task of History for Ancient Israel” in Historical Knowledge in Biblical Antiquity (Blandford Forum: Deo Publishing, 2007), 5. See also, S. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (New York: The Meridian Library, 1957), 10-13. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

23. Noel Malcom, “Leviathan, the Pentateuch, and the Origins of Modern Biblical Criticism,” https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199264412.003.0012. Accessed 02/11/2022. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

24. Simpson, 189. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

25. Ibid. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

26. Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2008), 23. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

27. Ibid. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

28. Matthew Micael, The Old Testament and The African People (Kaduna: Pyla-mak, 2015), 48-52. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

29. Michael B. Dick, Reading the Old Testament (Grand Rapids; Hendrickson Publishers, 2008), 16. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

30. W. Kohlhammer, “Form Critical Problem of the Hexateuch,” in The Problem of the Pentateuch and Other Essays.” (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966), 52. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

31. Ibid. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

32. Conrad Emil Lindberg, Christian Apologetics: A Crash Course in Christian Apologetics (np: Christian Publishing House, 2022), 18. ebook from https://www.amazon.com/CHRISTIAN-APOLOGETICS-Course-Christian-Apologetics/dp/B0B2TYMTD5?asin=B0B2TYMTD5&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1. Accessed 10/11/2022 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

33. Douglas Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, IL.: InterVarsity Press, 2022) 10. Ebook , https://www.ivpress.com/Media/Default/Downloads/Excerpts-and-Samples/A0275-excerpt.pdf accessed 15/11/2022 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

34. John M. Frame, Apologetics A Justification of Christian Belief, Joseph E. Torres (ed.), (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 2015),31. https://www.pdfdrive.com/apologetics-a-justification-of-christian-belief-d175924778.html. Accessed 22/11/2022. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

35. Groothuis, 12. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• The Impact of Ownership Structure on Dividend Payout Policy of Listed Plantation Companies in Sri Lanka
• Urban Sustainability in North-East India: A Study through the lens of NER-SDG index
• Performance Assessment of Predictive Forecasting Techniques for Enhancing Hospital Supply Chain Efficiency in Healthcare Logistics
• The Fractured Self in Julian Barnes' Postmodern Fiction: Identity Crisis and Deflation in Metroland and the Sense of an Ending
• Impact of Flood on the Employment, Labour Productivity and Migration of Agricultural Labour in North Bihar