The Scrolls of the Torah

doi:10.1628/978-3-16-200696-7

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The Scrolls of the Torah

Material, Compositional and Interpretive Perspectives

Edited by Jan Christian Gertz, Julia Rhyder, Thomas Römer and Konrad Schmid

2026. 464 pages.

Forschungen zum Alten Testament (FAT) 196

DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-200696-7

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Summary

Twenty-five leading scholars reimagine the history of the Pentateuch. From the materiality of the scrolls and the scribal cultures that produced them, through central themes and compositional features, to the early reception of the Pentateuch in Second Temple literature, this volume offers a wide-ranging snapshot of Pentateuchal research today.

This volume brings together twenty-four contributions from leading scholars that address enduring questions about the composition of the Pentateuch in the first millennium BCE across its various cultural settings, including the southern Levant, Mesopotamia, and possibly Egypt.
The first part offers a new assessment of the scribal cultures behind the Pentateuch, examining the material and sociological dimensions of scroll production in ancient Israel, Judah, and beyond. It underscores the importance of exploring the composition of the Pentateuch in light of broader ancient Near Eastern scribal cultures, while also attending to the particularities of Israelite text production in the Iron Age and Persian and Hellenistic periods. The volume then presents a series of case studies and methodological reflections that explore the literary history of the Pentateuch and the dating and interpretation of its texts. Particular attention is given to the interrelationship of narrative and legal materials, illustrated through case studies drawn primarily from Genesis and Numbers.
Together, the contributions offer a fresh assessment of how the Pentateuch reflects the scribal strategies, socio-political challenges, and the literary and theological debates that shaped textual production in the first millennium BCE. The volume concludes with two reception-historical studies that offer new insights into current scholarly discussions concerning the formation of the Pentateuch.

Table of contents:

I. The Scribal Cultures Behind the Pentateuch
Jeremy M. Hutton: The Possibility of Extended Literary Prose Narratives in the Iron Age IIA - Alice Mandell: The Hand of the Scribe: A »Stylus-and-Wedge«-Based Approach to the Study of Canaanite Cuneiform - William Tooman and Tobias Siegenthaler: Independent Scribes? Text Collections and Institutions in Ancient Mesopotamia - Angela Roskop Erisman: Implied Authors and Scribes: Literary and Material Aspects of Composition in the Pentateuch - Matthieu Richelle: The Quest for the Script of the Pentateuch

II. The Formation of the Pentateuch
Julia Rhyder: Scribal Groups, Social Conflict, and the Formation of the Pentateuch: The Laws of Priestly Blemishes (Lev 21:16-24) as a Case Study and a Warning - Thomas Römer: The 120 Years in the First and Last Scroll of the Pentateuch and the Composition of Genesis 6:1-4 - Ronald Hendel: Empirical Models for Source and Redaction Criticism of the Pentateuch: A Reassessment - Konrad Schmid: How Hellenistic Is the Pentateuch?

III. Narrative and Law in the Pentateuch
Joachim J. Krause: Interpreting the End: Reception and Reflection of a Prophetic Tradition in the Primeval History - Jeffrey Stackert: The Promise After the Flood and the Rationale for the Priestly Covenants - Mark G. Brett: A Mosaic of Quotations: Scribal Conversations in Genesis - Yael Landman: Letting Ishmael Live: Abraham's Plea in Genesis 17:18 - Joel S. Baden: Divine Justice and the Lessons of Genesis 18 - Thomas B. Dozeman: The Sons of Jacob - Mark S. Smith: »Few and Evil«: Jacob's Commentary on His Life in Genesis 47:7-10 - Aron Freidenreich: Moses's Introduction in P and Its Implications for the Priestly Work - Nathan MacDonald: Washing from the Laver in the Early Textual History of Exodus - Jan Christian Gertz: Who Made the Beginning Holy? Comments on the Debate over the Presence of the Holiness School in the Primeval History - Axel Bühler: Expressing Identity and Idealized Hellenistic Politics in the Book of Numbers - Christian Frevel: Scrolling Numbers: Remarks on Numbers as a Separate Book(-Scroll) - Sara Milstein: The Myth of the Marriage Metaphor

IV. Reception History
Liane M. Feldman: Moving Pieces: Materiality, Plurality, and the Beginning of the Aramaic Levi Document - Mahri Leonard-Fleckman: The Refiguration of Genesis 34 in the Book of Judith

Authors/Editors

Jan Christian Gertz Born 1964; 1993 Dr. theol., University of Göttingen; 1998 Habilitation, University of Göttingen; Professor of Old Testament / Hebrew Bible Studies at the University of Heidelberg.

https://orcid.org/0000000303289463

Julia Rhyder Born 1987; 2011 BA, University of Melbourne, Australia; 2012 BTheol (Hons), University of Divinity, Australia; 2018 PhD, University of Lausanne, Switzerland; the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, USA.

https://orcid.org/0000000231460662

Thomas Römer Born 1955; 1988 PhD, University of Geneva; Professor of Hebrew Bible and President of the Collège de France, Paris; extraordinary professor at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

https://orcid.org/0000000264907678

Konrad Schmid Born 1965; 1996 Dr. theol., University of Zurich; 1998 Habilitation, University of Zurich; Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism at the University of Zurich.

https://orcid.org/0000000289682604