Why Friedman's J,E,P,D theory is defunct!
The Documentary Hypothesis was first made popular by a German scholar Julius Wellhausen in the writing 'Prolegomena to the History of Israel' written in 1878, and published in English in 1885. It was later debunked as unscientific work that was based on no evidence whatsoever, other than one individuals imagination.
Umberto Cassuto published the book; 'the Documentary Hypothesis and the Composition of the Pentateuch' in Hebrew in 1941 and later translated into English in 1961. Cassuto was a famous Italian - Israeli biblical scholar that demonstrated that variations in divine names such as Elohim and YHVH (Yahavah) were actually stylistic and context emphasis instead of different authors. He demonstrated that linguistic changes, repetitions, and obvious duplicates are standard features of early Hebrew narrative and literary art, and are no valid evidence of cut and paste jobs by later writers.
Rolf Rendtorff, a German scholar at Heidelberg University, sparked the major European divergence from the Documentary Hypothesis when he published his book 'The Problem of the Process of transmission in the Pentateuch' in 1977, which was later published into English in 1990. In his book, Rendtorff argued that the J,E,P,D source documents are an illusion, instead of parallel books woven together by an editor.
R.N. Whybray published the book 'The Making of the Pentateuch: a Methodological Study' in 1987; the same year that Friedman published his book. Whybray systematically broke down the entire premise of the Documentary Hypothesis by demonstrating that the criteria used by source critics, such as differences in style, duplicates, and theological differences are subjective and logically flawed. He argued that imagining an army of invisible redactors was absurd! He showed that the text is far better explained as the work of a single historical author editing earlier writings written by scribes.
Now we come to Richard Elliott Friedman, who published the book; 'Who Wrote the Bible?' in 1987. Friedman is culturally Jewish and earned a Master of Hebrew Letters (M.H.L.) from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1971. However, in his published work and academic career, he operates strictly as a secular/historical-critical scholar rather than as an observant religious spokesperson or traditional theologian. He also holds a B.A. University of Miami 1968, a Th.M. Harvard University (Master of Theology in Hebrew Bible) 1974, and a Th.D. Harvard University (Hebrew Bible and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations) 1978.
So, what would be the motive for a well known, extremely well educated Jewish scholar to pull up, and revive a 100 year old unconfirmed theory that had absolutely not one physical evidence to support it as anything more than one man's imagination; while some real life famous scholars had already debunked that theory.
In his introduction and throughout the book, Friedman openly frames his investigation as a 3,000 year old mystery, and places himself as the detective that pieced everything together to identify the mystery writers behind the biblical text.
Trade publisher Harper & Row, and later Simon & Schuster used that same angle to sell it to the general public. Instead of marketing it as a intellectual academic textbook, they promoted it as an accessible fast past investigation for everyday readers.
Turning a dense 19th century German textual criticism into a fast paced detective story allowed him to sell hundreds of thousands of copies to the general public, generating long term royalties, magazine features, and popular media commentary. Therefore an extremely conservative estimate is that through royalties Friedman pulled in roughly a quarter million dollars within the first decade, and by now has most likely surpassed the one million dollar mark, as well as gained high prestige in the scholar world. And he accomplished all of this by using a 100 year old debunked intellectual theory, and adding a little, and polishing it up and presenting it as a conclusive scientific fact written in the style of a detective novel. The public media exposure along with book sales led to the required introductory reading in university classrooms across America, and cemented his name as a household term across campuses for decades.
Erhard Blum was a student of Rendtorff and in 1984 he published the book 'Die Komposition der Vätergeschichte, and in 1990' Studien zur Komposition des Pentateuch. (So far never published in English)
Blum's work proved that the (E) source never existed as a stand alone document. He showed that what critics label as (E) or (J) are actually successive layers of Deuteronomistic and Priestly expansions added to a foundational text over time. His work cemented the shift in European Universities away from Friedman's four document (J,E.P,D) system.
If you were to walk into a biblical studies seminar at Heidelberg, Gottingen,Oxford, Zurich, or Lausanne today, Friedman's classic four document model (J, E. P, D) would be treated as a historical relic from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Europeans teach 'The Supplementary Hypothesis: An original core text existed and was incrementally edited, expanded, and layered by later Scribes over generations. Friedman's (J,E,P,D) theory is a very small minority among international Academia.
In Conclusion:
Friedman formed a hypothesis conclusion, and then created imaginary premises to prove his conclusion. Not one single fragment, scroll, or manuscript piece has ever been discovered that contain or indicate the J, E, P, or D documents.They do not exist in the archeology records, nor have they ever been found in the dead sea scrolls, or any near eastern archive.
The entire (J. E, P, D) four document theory is nothing more than a speculative house of cards that has no more factual weight than a conspiracy theory, because it cannot be tested, verified, or replicated against physical manuscripts.Once you eliminate his imaginary documents and his invisible redactors, his whole academic house of cards collapses, leaving the actual text, and the real history of scribal manipulation.
In other words Friedman provided the world with an extremely well written novel, and passed it off to the world as an authentic non-fiction detective story!
The End!