his book undoubtedly marks a new stage in the discussion in that it puts forward a real alternative to that hypothesis which purports to cover, and offer an explanation for, the entire history of the growth of the Pentateuch from its smallest units to its final form. C. Assessment of the Documentary Hypothesis 1. Presuppositions a. Philosophical and religio-historical The Documentary Hypothesis was not simply an attempt to solve a literary puzzle. The criterion to which Wellhausen attached the greatest
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