They also say that the differences, repetition, and apparent contradictions within the five books of the Pentateuch can be explained by the literary style of the ancient Near Eastern narratives. They argue that there is no evidence of the existence of those four sources. Many modern scholars abandoned the Documentary Hypothesis and affirmed Moses’s authorship of the Pentateuch.

Source P: The priestly texts, especially in Leviticus.

Source D: This is essentially the book of Deuteronomy.

The proponents of this theory believe these texts were written before the events in Exodus, so people didn’t know God’s revealed name yet (Exodus 3:15).

Source E: The texts that refer to God as Elohim (the more generic word “God”).Source J: The texts that refer to God by His covenant name (Yahweh, translated as “The LORD” in all caps in most English Bibles).Some scholars who don’t agree with the authorship of Moses developed a theory they called “The Documentary Hypothesis.” Based on the analysis of the biblical text, they identified four different sources that, according to them, were used by one later editor to compile the five books that we know today. This tradition is so strong that many writers use the expressions “the Law of Moses” or “the books of Moses” when referring to the Pentateuch. This is considered the strongest evidence in favor of the Mosaic authorship. Internal evidence, especially from the New Testament, also affirm Moses’s authorship of Genesis (Acts 15:1) and the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Canon of Scripture), usually referred to as the books of the Law (Luke 16:29, 24:27 John 1:45 2 Corinthians 3:15). For example, the creation of the world, Noah’s ark, the tower of Babel, and God sending Abram (later renamed Abraham) to Canaan - all these well-known Bible stories happened centuries before Moses’s lifetime. He may have used other sources (including oral tradition) to write or compile this book since the events happened a long time before he was born. Jewish and Christian Tradition assigns the authorship of the book of Genesis to Moses. There is no information about the author in the book itself. It is also the first one in the first major division of the Hebrew Bible, called the “Torah.” Genesis is the first book in the list of the books of the Bible in chronological sequence. Note that this list is based on the Protestant Bible, so it doesn’t include the Deuterocanonical books. It will help you learn more about God’s Word. You will learn about theories concerning the authorship of each book and when they were written. How about boosting your Bible study by getting to know more about the books of the Holy Bible? Here you will find a suggested chronological order of the different books of the Bible, based on the estimates of scholars.

Timeline of bible books infographic