Criticism of the Documentary Hypothesis of the Origin of the Pentateuch from Umberto Cassuto

Part 2

Abstract

The present article, in its subject matter and in the way of dealing with the subject, constitutes a direct continuation of the article by I. Fridman bearing the same title which was published in the «Theological Herald» of Moscow Theological Academy, № 4 (35) (2019). In this preceding article the author’s attention was concentrated on the criticism to which U. Cassuto subjected the first of the «pillars» of the Documentary Hypothesis (singled out by himself), to wit — the peculiarities of using the Divine names in the text of the Pentateuch. In the present article the author’s attention is focused on investigating the four remaining «pillars» of the hypothesis, namely — the variations of language and style within the Pentateuch, the contradictions and divergences of view, the duplications and repetitions as well as the traces of composite structure in some of the sections of the Torah. In the concluding part of the article the author draws the reader’s attention to the influence exercised by Cassuto’s ideas upon the Bible studies worldwide in the second half of the 20^th as well as the beginning of the 21^th centuries.