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Summary: Lets you make up your own mind.
Review: Friedman is the scruffy little dog pulling back the curtain. Once you see what is there, you may find yourself a little angry at those people who you know having learned this in seminary, must have been intentionally keeping this information from you. Most seminary students probably learned this information but they do not choose pass it on to us commoners. This is not new or controversial information within Bible scholarship. This is simply a subversive leak of information from one of them to all of us. And, the nature of some of what you learn, such as the repeat sentences, is such that it does not require advanced knowledge of Hebrew or a reliance on some convoluted explanation to see it for yourself. There is also some fun speculation about the actual author or compiler of the sources, but that is held to a minimum.
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Summary: It's a Keeper; buy the Hardcover.
Review: I had ordered this book based on it's title and then read some negative reviews on Amazon. I'm glad I did not cancel my order. If finding out that the Five Books of Moses were not written by Moses is going to shatter your belief in God, then this is NOT the book for you. Although I was aware of the theory of multiple writers previous to purchasing the book, I am impressed with Friedman's presentation and delivery. He writes on the layman's level of understanding and documents the development of this theory over the last 300 years. This is not a new theory, but it is probably not had a better person explaining it than Friedman. There is a reason why this is a best-seller. Those reviews that have attacked the scholarship of this Harvard PhD, are typically fundamentalist Christians who do not want you to read it's compelling arguments. I've read it, and I'm still a Christian.
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Summary: excellent intro to the Documentary Hypothesis
Review: Open the bible to the book of Genesis and have a look at the Creation, from Let there be light on through Adam and Eve. You'll see, sometimes god is referred to as "God" and sometimes he's referred to as "the LORD", all capitals. The reason is that in the Hebrew, these correspond to God being named, respectively, "Elohim" (which can mean god or gods, depending on the grammar of the sentence) and "Yahweh", which is God's personal name. Next, look more closely and you'll see that associated with each name is a distinct view of God: when he's called Elohim (God) He's a sort of overarching power who causes things to happen just by willing it so (Chapter 1); whenever He's called Yahweh (The LORD) He's a more human figure, who shapes things out of clay, breaths life into them, makes mistakes etc. (Chapter 2 and 3). Check out the words used and you can see that the Elohim bits have a preferred writing style very distinct from the style of the bits where God is named Yahweh. And lastly look at the order of creation in the Elohim part and in the Yahweh part: they contradict each other! One obvious example is with humanity. In the first chapter Elohim creates human beings, male and female, together; in the second, Yahweh creates man, then messes about creating animals before finally settling down on woman, who's created last. The conclusion? The book of Genesis contains two distinct stories of the Creation, that some editor has woven together into one! This isn't amateur speculation. It's solid, agreed to by bible scholars for the last 150 years. They teach it in seminaries! It's because it's not just the book of Genesis; the same differences in names, vocabulary, style, themes and so on extend all throughout the first five books of the bible (the Pentateuch). Separate them out, and you get two distinct, self contained sets of stories. Actually, not two, four. It's called the Documentary Hypothesis. It's possible to show that the Pentateuch has four broad sources: J (Yahweh), E (Elohim), D (for the guy who wrote most of Deuteronomy) and P (the Priestly source which winds all over the five books). Hence: aka the JEDP hypothesis. Friedman's book is the finest exposition of the evidence for the Documentary Hypothesis that it has been my pleasure to read. It's aimed at bringing contemporary bible scholarship to the interested reader, and let me tell you, it succeeds brilliantly. It's totally altered the way I read some books of the bible (especially Deuteronomy) because when I see certain sayings or themes in them I know now how they fit in with other books written elsewhere, at a different time; how they fit in with the Bible's history; and how they're being used to bring out certain points by the authors. It was amazing. The traditional view has been simply that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, but the way Friedman writes... He presents the evidence step by step, showing how, by reading the bible carefully -- looking at the themes, the style, the vocabulary -- you can see how the environment of the Jewish people shaped the bible, just as much as it shaped them. Now I don't know what his beliefs are, but he writes a lot like a believer -- sufficiently so that right as you're reading how the history of the bible shaped it, *at the same time* you get this picture of God in the background, vast and subtle, moving empires across the ancient Middle East, shaping events across centuries to precisely determine the form of the bible. Awesome! Buy the book. Believer or freethinker (that's me, btw) it doesn't matter. For anyone who's interested in the origins of the very first book of history ever written (that's Friedman's description, not mine) this is an absolute must read.
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Summary: A very thorough analysis
Review: Richard Friedman, a highly respected academic, has written a very probing and revealing work regarding the authorship of the Bible. Not only does Friedman conclusively demonstrate the validity of the documentary hypothesis, which assigns four authors and a redactor to the books supposedly written by Moses, but he goes into detail as to why this was done.. Ancient rivalries between the Mosaic and the Aaronid priesthoods, additional rivalries between the northern and southern kingdoms, and the need for a foundational work attributable to Moses by those who saw the downfall of the Davidic dynasty are all examined skillfully by Friedman, who artfully laces these clues together into a compelling account of how the old testament came to be. Many critics of this work are quick to claim that only someone seeing with spirtually guided eyes could possibly understand the real meaning of the Bible, be it the old or new testament. But this is a fallacious argument that depends on self-election into God's informed elite, not on principles of true dispassionate scholarship.. Friedman's book liberates the bible from its fundamentalist chokehold and portrays it in historical and literary terms that preserve the lure and beauty of its prose while developing a modern and sobering account of it's origins.
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Summary: The Torah you know has been cut and pasted together
Review: ...or so says Richard Eliot Friedman. This is hardly news to the Biblical criticism school, but Friedman's book is one of the most concise and reader-friendly accounts of how the Old Testament of the Bible appear as they appear. To follow along, some familiarity with the text of the Bible, at least up through the books of I and II Kings and I and II Chronicles will likely be necessary. But after just one careful reading of the Bible through that point, this book should be a great reference to compare the texts that gave rise to the suspicion that certain passages of the Bible were recreated for various purposes. For example, the story of the Golden Calf is stated twice -- once in Exodus, and then again in Deuteronomy. Friedman's analysis of the textual nuances for each are the most fascinating aspect of the book. The bulk of Friedman's analysis involves an analysis of the underlying cultural factors, first in the unified kingdom under David and Solomon, then as the northern and southern kingdoms split, and then as the prophets arose in the midst of first the fall of the Northern kingdom in Israel to Assyria, and then the Southern kingdom a hundred and forty years later. The only drawback I might have is that instead of providing endnotes or footnotes to correlate to the text, there is only a selected bibliography. That might make it a little harder to trace a pertinent point to another source, but that's only a small consideration. In short, Friedman manages to stay relatively safely within the confines of the scholarly research, and gives an added life to the human elements behind why someone would write such profound text and attribute it to a higher power.
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Summary: Friedman Delivers
Review: This fascinating book unfolds like a mystery novel, and like a really good "whodunit," it is very hard to put down. Friedman sorts through everything that is known about the historicity of the Torah, adds some of his own deductions based on style and subject matter, and comes to a solid, well-supported conclusion. This book lacks for nothing; any question that can be answered, is. Friedman knows his archeology, his Hebrew, his history, his commentary. The reader will be able to go back to the Torah with fresh understanding after reading this book, but more, the reader learns quite a lot about Jewish history. I hesitate to say more, because I don't want to give anything away, so please just trust me; even is you have just a passing interest in the Bible, you will enjoy this book.
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Summary: It will challenge both fundamentalists and iconoclasts
Review: Friedman takes the Torah/Five Books of Moses/Pentateuch/Old Testament, which has been read for at least 2500 years (read the book) and contemplates its authorship in light of all the available evidence. The book demonstrates brilliant logic and analysis -- and provides insights that will blow most peoples' minds. This book will challenge both fundamentalists and iconoclasts. In short, it is a fascinating read.
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Summary: Valuable Contribution
Review: Friedman gives his professional opinions on the authors of the Pentateuch. He subscribes to the prevalent idea that the Bible as we know it is a composite of several authors, who worked at differing periods of Jewish history, and is not afraid to name names whenever he can. Others may disagree with his analysis but it is eminently readable and succeeds in putting the book in historical perspective. Regardless whether or not one agrees with all of Friedman's conclusions one of the unstated messages might be that biblical prophecy - regardless whether it is Jewish or Christian - which is currently in great deman again, should also be read in the historical context it was written in, rather than being applied to today's political events. Such post-dating produces self-fulfilling prophecies which are for the most part far from desirable.
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Summary: Eye opener
Review: One of the best books I've read in a long time. Friedman has the ability to make obscure subject seem fascinating. A must for any serious Bible student.
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Summary: Points Out The Stupidity Of Those Who Believe The Bible
Review: This is a GREAT book. I would give it 100 stars if I could. It points out, through careful research, the stupidity of those who believe the bible to be divinely inspired.
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