Before focusing on the Documentary Hypothesis, it may be helpful to briefly survey how the Pentateuch has been approached in the modern period. During the past 250 years, scholarly research on the Pentateuch has developed around four main methods: source criticism, form criticism, traditio-historical criticism, and literary criticism. Since each method addresses a specific set of issues, it is important to understand how they differ from one another. Moreover, as we shall observe, the rise of each