Source and Redaction Criticism

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511811142.005

3 - Source and Redaction Criticism

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012

Suzanne Boorer

Edited by

Thomas B. Dozeman

Show author details

Suzanne Boorer: Affiliation:
Senior Lecturer in Old Testament Theology, Murdoch University
Thomas B. Dozeman: Affiliation:
United Theological Seminary, Ohio

Book contents

Get access

Summary

Source and redaction criticism are two related methodologies that come under the broader umbrella of the historical critical approach, which seeks to interpret texts within their original historical contexts. The aim of source and redaction criticism is to discern the history of the literary composition of the text. They seek to explore the diachronic dimensions of the text by identifying the literary sources or layers of which the text is composed, their relative chronology, and how they have been brought together and edited over time to eventually form the text as we now have it. Source criticism as such focuses on identifying the earlier written sources of which the present text is comprised, and, if possible, discerning the date and original historical context of each, and to interpret them in relation to these. Redaction criticism focuses on the stages and processes, and something of the intent, whereby these written sources were combined with each other and/or redacted (or edited) to give the final form of the text. As such these methods are interrelated: source criticism takes the text apart into its earlier written components; redaction criticism puts the text back together again and shows the rationale behind each of the stages identified.

THE METHODOLOGY OF SOURCE CRITICISM

Source criticism grew out of the study of Pentateuch, which, especially from the nineteenth century onward, was recognized not as the work of one author but as a composite text, made up of several written sources.

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Methods for Exodus , pp. 95 - 130

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511811142.005 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Barton, John. “Source Criticism.” Pages 162–65 in vol. 6 of Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by Freedman, D. N.. 6 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1992.Google Scholar

Barton, John. “Redaction Criticism.” Pages 644–47 in vol. 5 of Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by Freedman, D. N.. 6 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1992.Google Scholar

Boorer, Suzanne. The Promise of the Land as Oath: A Key to the Formation of the Pentateuch. Pages 5–33. BZAW 205; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1992.CrossRef Google Scholar

Childs, Brevard S.Exodus: A Commentary. London: SCM, 1974.Google Scholar

Clements, Ronald E.One Hundred Years of Old Testament Interpretation. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976.Google Scholar

Dozeman, Thomas B.God on the Mountain: A Study of Redaction Theology and Canon in Exodus 19–24. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989.Google Scholar

Dozeman, Thomas B., and Schmid, Konrad, eds. A Farewell to the Yahwist? The Composition of the Pentateuch in Recent European Interpretation. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2006.

Hayes, John H.An Introduction to Old Testament Study. Nashville: Abingdon, 1979.Google Scholar

Hyatt, J. P.Exodus. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980. Repr., London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1971.Google Scholar

Knierim, Rolf. “Criticism of Literary Features, Forms, Tradition and Redaction.” Pages 123–65 in The Hebrew Bible and Its Modern Interpreters. Edited by Knight, Douglas A. and Tucker, Gene M.. Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1985.Google Scholar

Nicholson, E. W.The Pentateuch in the Twentieth Century: The Legacy of Julius Wellhausen. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.Google Scholar

Noth, Martin. Exodus: A Commentary. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1962.Google Scholar

Noth, Martin. A History of Pentateuchal Traditions. Translated by Anderson, Bernhard W.. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1972.Google Scholar

Propp, William H.Exodus 1–18; Exodus 19–40. New York: Doubleday, 1999, 2006.Google Scholar

Rad, Gerhard. “The Form-Critical Problem of the Hexateuch.” Pages 1–78 in The Problem of the Hexateuch and Other Essays. London: SCM, 1984.Google Scholar

Rendtorff, Rolf. The Problem of the Process of Transmission of the Pentateuch. Translated by Scullion, J. J.. Sheffield: JSOT, 1990.Google Scholar

Steck, Odil. Old Testament Exegesis: A Guide to the Methodology. 2nd ed. Translated by Noyalski, J. D.. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1998.Google Scholar

Seters, John. The Life of Moses: The Yahwist as Historian in Exodus. Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox, 1994.Google Scholar

Westermann, Claus. Genesis 1–11. Pages 575–84. London: SPCK, 1984.Google Scholar

Knierim, Rolf, “Criticism of Literary Features, Form, Tradition and Redaction,” in The Hebrew Bible and Its Modern Interpreters (ed. Knight, Douglas A. and Tucker, Gene M.; Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1985), 130–31Google Scholar

Westermann, Claus, Genesis 1–11 (London: SPCK, 1984), 575–84Google Scholar

Steck, Odil, Old Testament Exegesis: A Guide to the Methodology (2nd ed.; trans. Nogalski, J. D.; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1998), 54–58Google Scholar

Alter, Robert, The Art of Biblical Narrative (New York: Basic Books, 1981), 88–113Google Scholar

Hayes, John H., An Introduction to Old Testament Study (Nashville: Abingdon, 1979), 106–20, 155–97Google Scholar

Clements, Ronald E., One Hundred Years of Old Testament Interpretation (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976)Google Scholar

Boorer, Suzanne, The Promise of the Land as Oath: A Key to the Formation of the Pentateuch (BZAW 205; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1992), 5–33CrossRef Google Scholar

Nicholson, E. W., The Pentateuch in the Twentieth Century: The Legacy of Julius Wellhausen (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998)Google Scholar

Wellhausen, Julius, Geschichte Israels I (Berlin, 1978)Google Scholar

,English Translation, Prolegomena to the History of Ancient Israel (New York: Meridian Books, 1957)Google Scholar

Wellhausen, Julius, Die Composition des Hexateuchs und der historischen Bucher des Alten Testaments (Berlin: G. Reimer, 1889)Google Scholar

Rad, Gerhard, Das Formgeschichtliche Problem des Pentateuch (BWANT 26; Stuttgart, 1938)Google Scholar

,English Translation, “The Form-Critical Problem of the Hexateuch,” in The Problem of the Hexateuch and Other Essays (trans. Dicken, E.; Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1966), 1–78Google Scholar

Noth, Martin, A History of Pentateuchal Traditions (trans. Anderson, Bernhard W.; Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1972)Google Scholar

Brueggemann, Walter and Wolff, Hans W., eds., The Vitality of Old Testament Traditions (2nd ed.; Atlanta: John Knox, 1982)

Jenks, A. W., The Elohist and North Israelite Tradition (Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 1965)Google Scholar

Propp, William H., Exodus 1–18; Exodus 19–40 (AB; New York: Doubleday, 1999, 2006)Google Scholar

Cross, Frank M., Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1973)Google Scholar

Schmid, H. H., Der Sogenannte Yahwist: Beobachtungen und Fragen zu Pentateuchforschung (Zurich: Theologischen, 1976)Google Scholar

Seters, John, In Search of History: Historiography in the Ancient World and the Origins of Biblical History (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1983)Google Scholar

Rendtorff, Rolf, The Problem of the Process of Transmission in the Pentateuch (trans. Scullion, J. J.; Sheffield: JSOT, 1990)Google Scholar

Blum, Erhard, Studien zur Komposition des Pentateuch (BZAW 189; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1990)CrossRef Google Scholar

Blum, E., “The Literary Connection between the Books of Genesis and Exodus and the end of the book of Joshua,” in A Farewell to the Yahwist: The Composition of the Pentateuch in Recent European Interpretation (ed. Dozeman, Thomas B. and Schmid, Konrad; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2006), 89–106Google Scholar

Noth, Martin (Exodus: A Commentary [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1962] 19–20)Google Scholar

Hyatt, J. P. (Exodus [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1980] 56–7)Google Scholar

Coats, George W. (Exodus 1–18 [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999] 22)Google Scholar

Childs, Brevard S., Exodus: A Commentary [London: SCM, 1974] 2–3Google Scholar

Dozeman, T., God on the Mountain: A Study of Redaction Theology and Canon in Exodus 19–24 (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1989)Google Scholar

Nicholson, E. W., “The Covenant Ritual in Exodus 24:3–8,” VT 32 (1982): 74–86, 77Google Scholar

Childs, Brevard S., Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979) 65Google Scholar

Nicholson, E. W., “The Decalogue as the Direct Address of God,” VT 27 (1977): 422–33Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this chapter is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.