Thomas J. King

The Realignment of the Priestly Literature

Thomas J. King

Discussions of the Pentateuch still progress in the shadow of Wellhausen's classic source theory known as the Documentary Hypothesis. The theory continues to stimulate a lively and informative exchange in pentateuchal circles, even in the face of significant adjustments to the hypothesis and its alleged abandonment by some. In the midst of this discussion, the priestly literature holds a unique position as the most identifiable of the sources of the Pentateuch. Nevertheless, clarity regarding the character of the Priestly source has been obscured by the disjunction between the P narratives in Genesis and the predominantly legal material assigned to P in the rest of the Pentateuch. This book addresses that disjunction by recognizing the priestly narrative in the book of Genesis as a unique document, which has been incorporated into the larger Priestly source. This discovery also serves to bring further clarity to the redactional relationship between P and H. As a result, this study enriches our understanding of the priestly writings in the Pentateuch.