The Theme of the Pentateuch by D. J. Clines

Although generally sympathetic with critical scholarship, this University of Sheffield professor departs from mainstream critical agendas to assert the legitimacy of treating the Pentateuch as a single literary work with a unifying theme plot. Discerns the shape of the Pentateuch as “a movement towards goals yet to be realized” (29) and sees the theme of the Pentateuch as “the partial fulfillment–which implies also the partial non-fulfillment–of the promise to or blessing of the patriarchs” anticipated in Genesis 1-11, consisting in posterity (Gen 12-50), divine-human relationship (Ex and Lev), and land (Num and Deut) (30).

More information about this book