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Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels

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318:
the Law: transgressions take place now and then, but as exceptions from the rule. In the Books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings, the fact of the radical difference of the old practice from the Law is not disputed is simply condemned. In the Chronicles the pattern according to which the history of ancient Israel is represented is the Pentateuch, i.e. the Priestly Code.... n the older historical books, the revision does not proceed upon the basis of the Priestly Code, which indeed is completely unknown to them, but on the basis of Deuteronomy. Thus in the question of the order of sequence of the two great bodies of laws, the history of the tradition leads us to the same conclusion as the history of the cultus."
304:, c.620 BC), when a single place of worship was demanded by both priesthood and king; and the Priestly law-code does not demand, but presupposes, centralised worship. In the same way, the other elements of ancient Israelite religion (sacrifice, sacred feasts, the position of the priests and Levites, and the "endowment of the clergy", tithes due to the priests and Levites) have a radically different form in the Yahwist/Elohist to that in the Priestly source, with Deuteronomy occupying an intermediate position. The Priestly source consistently attempts to disguise what are in fact innovations with a veneer of antiquity by inventing, for example, a fictional 207:
middle layer, the Deuteronomist, shows a clear impulse to the centralisation of worship under the control of a dominant priesthood with royal support. Only in the final, post-Exilic, layer, the Priestly source, when the royal authority has vanished and the priesthood has assumed sole authority over the community, is there evidence of the religion that the world knows as Judaism.
231:, or "law", as they are known to the Jewish tradition and immediately precede the history of Israel making up the series from Joshua to Kings, the "prophets", called because they were thought to have been written by the prophet Samuel and others, but they were in fact written after those books). He then sets out some commonly agreed ground: 317:
The history of the traditions of Israel, like the history of worship, shows a steady progression from the epic and prophetic age of the Yahwist and the Elohist, to the law-bound world of the Priestly source, with Deuteronomy acting as the bridge. "In Chronicles the past is remodelled on the basis of
299:
Each of the sources (Yahwist/Elohist, Deuteronomist and Priestly) reflects a different stage in evolution of religious practice in ancient Israel. Thus, to take one of the five elements of this practice, the Yahwist/Elohist "sanctions a multiplicity of altars", allowing sacrifice at any place; the
206:
The book consists of an author's Introduction and three major sections. Its argument is that the ancient Israelites did not practice a religion recognisable as Judaism: the earliest religion of the Israelites, as depicted in the Yahwist and Elohist sources, was polytheistic and family-based. The
290:
Wellhausen proposes to fix the dates of each of the sources, especially of the Priestly source, "by reference to an independent standard, namely, the inner development of the history of Israel so far as that is known to us by trustworthy testimonies, from independent sources."
308:
not mentioned anywhere in the oldest sources, to justify its insistence on centralised worship in Jerusalem. "What is brought forward in Deuteronomy as an innovation is assumed in the Priestly Code to be an ancient custom dating as far back as to Noah."
88:, then came in 1885. Between the original publication and the translation, Wellhausen composed an 1881 article - originally called "Jewish History" but published as "Israel" - for Smith's ninth edition of 84:. The official English translation by J. Sutherland Black and Allan Menzies, with a preface by Wellhausen's friend and colleague the no less prominent British biblical scholar and orientalist 326:
In his concluding section Wellhausen restates his argument that the Priestly source is the last to appear, postdating the Deuteronomist. He summarises also his further conclusions:
436: 354:
It was that creation of a written Torah which marked the break between the ancient history of Israel and the later history of Judaism.
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as the first part of a two-volume work on the history of Israel and ancient Judaism, the second volume did not appear until 1894, as
170:, which is largely by the Priestly author, as well as the substantial amounts of material from the Priestly source to be found in 479: 35: 263: 90: 131: 69: 29: 330:
There was no written law in ancient Israel, the Torah being held as an oral tradition by priests and prophets.
447: 428: 85: 52: 474: 151: 469: 392: 262:, which consists largely of narratives and dates from the period prior to the destruction of the 216: 139: 147: 432: 63:. Influential and long debated, the volume is often compared for its impact in its field with 48: 384: 343:
and his successors were responsible for the codification and systematisation of worship and
334: 159: 135: 45: 41: 372: 279: 244: 224: 179: 171: 155: 407: 236: 175: 143: 115: 64: 463: 396: 348: 267: 80:("History of Israel") in 1878, the work had a second edition in 1883 under the title 454:
Kaiser, Christ, and Canaan: The Religion of Israel in Protestant Germany, 1871–1918.
444: 271: 163: 305: 127: 60: 227:: that the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (the 283: 240: 167: 388: 425:
The Pentateuch in the Twentieth Century: The Legacy of Julius Wellhausen
340: 259: 255: 195: 301: 275: 248: 187: 183: 456:
Forschungen zum Alten Testament I/122. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018.
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Wellhausen announces his intention to demonstrate the hypothesis of
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Deuteronomy was the first law and gained currency only during the
220: 191: 154:
and others, and puts forward the author's view, which is that the
56: 344: 130:. It reviews all the major advances of the preceding century by 286:
but with connections to all the other books except Deuteronomy.
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c.550 BC. The implication to be drawn from this was that the
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Deuteronomist records the moment in history (the reform of
373:"The Way of War: Wellhausen, Israel, and Bellicose Reiche" 94:, a piece published repeatedly in English and in German. 254:
2. This hexateuch draws on three sources, the combined
158:
was the last of the four sources, written during the
377:Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 51:(1844–1918) that formulated but did not found the 243:, tracing the history of the Israelites from the 30:[pʁoleˈɡoːmenatsuːɐ̯ɡəˈʃɪçtəˈʔɪsʁaɛls] 55:, a theory on the composition history of the 8: 97:Although Wellhausen originally intended the 239:make up a literary unit of six books, or 363: 337:, when the prophetic tradition ceased. 282:, made up largely of the law-code of 118:e-text of Wellhausen's "Prolegomena") 103:Israelitische und jüdische Geschichte 28: 7: 443:This book is partially available on 409:Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels 351:(the laws contained in Leviticus). 82:Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels 21:Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels 14: 270:, responsible for the book of 182:, did not exist in the age of 1: 274:and dating from the reign of 371:Kurtz, Paul Michael (2015). 347:for the introduction of the 235:1. The Pentateuch plus the 114:(All references are to the 496: 423:Nicholson, Ernst (2002). 132:Johann Gottfried Eichhorn 16:Book by Julius Wellhausen 70:On the Origin of Species 38:to the History of Israel 429:Oxford University Press 91:Encyclopædia Britannica 86:William Robertson Smith 480:Documentary hypothesis 411:, at Project Gutenberg 126:is the origins of the 53:documentary hypothesis 40:) is a book by German 389:10.1515/zaw-2015-0002 278:(c. 620 BC); and the 452:Paul Michael Kurtz, 313:History of tradition 247:to the conquest of 122:The subject of the 76:First published as 322:Israel and Judaism 295:History of worship 223:is later than the 217:Karl Heinrich Graf 140:Karl Heinrich Graf 78:Geschichte Israels 438:978-0-19-925783-6 264:kingdom of Israel 116:Project Gutenberg 49:Julius Wellhausen 487: 442: 401: 400: 368: 335:Babylonian exile 266:(c.722 BC); the 160:Babylonian exile 136:Wilhelm de Wette 42:biblical scholar 32: 27: 495: 494: 490: 489: 488: 486: 485: 484: 460: 459: 439: 422: 419: 417:Further reading 404: 370: 369: 365: 361: 324: 315: 297: 280:Priestly source 245:Patriarchal age 213: 204: 180:Book of Numbers 156:Priestly source 111: 25: 17: 12: 11: 5: 493: 491: 483: 482: 477: 472: 462: 461: 458: 457: 450: 437: 418: 415: 414: 413: 403: 402: 362: 360: 357: 356: 355: 352: 338: 331: 323: 320: 314: 311: 296: 293: 288: 287: 252: 237:book of Joshua 212: 209: 203: 200: 110: 107: 67:'s 1859 work, 65:Charles Darwin 15: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 492: 481: 478: 476: 473: 471: 468: 467: 465: 455: 451: 448: 446: 440: 434: 430: 426: 421: 420: 416: 412: 410: 406: 405: 398: 394: 390: 386: 382: 378: 374: 367: 364: 358: 353: 350: 349:Priestly code 346: 342: 339: 336: 332: 329: 328: 327: 321: 319: 312: 310: 307: 303: 294: 292: 285: 281: 277: 273: 269: 268:Deuteronomist 265: 261: 257: 253: 250: 246: 242: 238: 234: 233: 232: 230: 226: 222: 218: 210: 208: 201: 199: 197: 193: 189: 185: 181: 177: 173: 169: 166:contained in 165: 161: 157: 153: 149: 145: 141: 137: 133: 129: 125: 120: 119: 117: 108: 106: 104: 100: 95: 93: 92: 87: 83: 79: 74: 72: 71: 66: 62: 58: 54: 50: 47: 43: 39: 37: 31: 23: 22: 475:German books 453: 445:Google Books 424: 408: 380: 376: 366: 325: 316: 298: 289: 228: 214: 211:Introduction 205: 123: 121: 113: 112: 102: 98: 96: 89: 81: 77: 75: 68: 34: 20: 19: 18: 383:(1): 1–19. 272:Deuteronomy 124:Prolegomena 99:Prolegomena 46:orientalist 470:1878 books 464:Categories 359:References 306:Tabernacle 164:Mosaic Law 128:Pentateuch 109:Background 61:Pentateuch 397:170867945 284:Leviticus 241:Hexateuch 219:that the 168:Leviticus 225:Prophets 178:and the 36:Prologue 341:Ezekiel 260:Elohist 256:Yahwist 202:Summary 196:Solomon 172:Genesis 152:Colenso 148:Noldeke 26:German: 435:  395:  302:Josiah 276:Josiah 249:Canaan 188:Samuel 184:Joshua 176:Exodus 144:Kuenen 393:S2CID 251:; and 229:torah 192:David 57:Torah 433:ISBN 345:Ezra 194:and 44:and 385:doi 381:127 221:Law 59:or 466:: 431:. 427:. 391:. 379:. 375:. 198:. 190:, 186:, 174:, 150:, 146:, 142:, 138:, 134:, 105:. 73:. 33:; 449:. 441:. 399:. 387:: 258:/ 24:(

Index

[pʁoleˈɡoːmenatsuːɐ̯ɡəˈʃɪçtəˈʔɪsʁaɛls]
Prologue
biblical scholar
orientalist
Julius Wellhausen
documentary hypothesis
Torah
Pentateuch
Charles Darwin
On the Origin of Species
William Robertson Smith
Encyclopædia Britannica
Project Gutenberg
Pentateuch
Johann Gottfried Eichhorn
Wilhelm de Wette
Karl Heinrich Graf
Kuenen
Noldeke
Colenso
Priestly source
Babylonian exile
Mosaic Law
Leviticus
Genesis
Exodus
Book of Numbers
Joshua
Samuel
David

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