MysteryProf

I've been looking into Biblical authorship and canonization lately, and recently I picked up two books: a compilation work called The Origin of the Bible with contributions from scholars such as F. F. Bruce and Philip Comfort, and Friedman's Who Wrote the Bible?

I read them both today and I found Friedman's book to be far more convincing -- after all, he presents actual evidence instead of trying to appeal to divine inspiration, etc. Buying that first book was probably a waste of cash. Anyway, I was intrigued by a few statements:

In an article by R. T. Beckwith on OT Canon, Origin of the Bible states that the Pentateuch:
However, Friedman declares:
I looked at the copyright dates in the books and Origin of the Bible's earliest copyright was in 1992, while Friedman's first edition was published in 1987, so obviously it wasn't a time issue.

What is the real status of the Documentary Hypothesis in contemporary scholarship? I had always thought that F. F. Bruce and his coauthors were considered respectable and influential scholars, so I expected them to be more "cutting edge" despite their Christian leanings. While I find Friedman's book more trustworthy than his opponents' work at this point, I can't get a good feel for what the academic community is thinking right now. Can anyone enlighten me?

Tytummest

Contrary to what Friedman asserts, there are competent biblical scholars who do claim that the first five books of the Bible were penned by Moses.

I would suggest you take a look at this review here of Friedman’s book by Gleason Archer. He lists a dozen or so scholars who do indeed disagree with, Graf, Wellhausen, Friedman, and other JEPD-ists.

The Origin of the Bible is probably not the book you want to read for a defense of Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch.

Check out the following if you want "cutting edge" traditional, conservative biblical scholarship:

A Survey of Old Testament Introduction by Gleason Archer – Chapters 5-18 delivers a vigorous attack on JEDP, and the rest of the book gives a solid foundation for the Mosaic authorship

Ancient Orient and Old Testament by K.A. Kitchen – (this book is out of print but, if you can find it used (try abebooks.com ) it’s definitely worth the price of admission as Kitchen presents a great deal of evidence against the Doc Hyp theory

On The Reliability of the Old Testament by K.A. Kitchen – Kitchen divides OT history into seven periods and then basically works backwards delving into the historicity of the OT - Extensive notes but the index is too short – see chap 10 for good, but short summary.

Old Testament Introduction by R.K. Harrison – Quite possibly the best introductions into the OT from a conservative position. Documentary hypothesis adherents beware.

You may not agree with everything in the above books but I highly doubt that you will find Friedman’s evidence more convincing than that of Archer, Kitchen, and Harrison.

And, what is the real status of the Documentary Hypothesis in contemporary scholarship? Based on the evidence, it's built on a flimsy foundation.