The Pentateuch, in the Core Biblical Studies series, introduces the

Five Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and

Deuteronomy. It combines a purely literary approach to reading the

final form of the Pentateuch with a historical reading of the text. The

literary approach emphasizes the structural role played by the

so-called toledoth (generations) formulae that trace the history of

humankind from Adam, through the ancestors of Israel, and finally to

Moses and Aaron as the founders of Israel’s priesthood. The historical

reading of the text challenges the older model of source analysis to

argue instead for a model that traces the composition of the Pentateuch

from its origins in northern Israel during the 9th-8th centuries

B.C.E., (E), through its subsequent editions in Judah during the 8th-7th

centuries B.C.E,. (J and D), and finally through the final redaction in

the Persian period, (P).

Discussion throughout the volume focuses on how the text presents the origins or early history of Israel

and its ideals or how it employs narrative and law to provide the

foundations for an ideal national and religious identity.

The volume concludes with a brief treatment of how the Pentateuch is read in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.