The composition of the Torah was a process that involved multiple authors over an extended period of time. While Jewish tradition holds that all five books were originally written by Moses sometime in the 2nd millennium BCE, leading scholars have rejected Mosaic authorship since the 17th century.
The two scrolls on display
11th century manuscript of the Hebrew Bible.
Julius Wellhausen
* Independent document, c. 620 BCE. ** Response to D, c. 540 BCE. *** Largely a redactor of J, c. 400 BCE.
Mosaic authorship is the Judeo-Christian tradition that the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, were dictated by God to Moses. The tradition probably began with the legalistic code of the Book of Deuteronomy and was then gradually extended until Moses, as the central character, came to be regarded not just as the mediator of law but as author of both laws and narrative.
Moses by José de Ribera (1638)
Light and Colour (Goethe's Theory) – The Morning after the Deluge – Moses Writing the Book of Genesis, an 1843 painting by J. M. W. Turner. It illustrates Turner's belief in God's omnipotence as it is He who creates the flood, allows Noah to survive, and inspires Moses to write the Book of Genesis.
