Theme of the Pentateuch (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies, 10)

The Theme of the Pentateuch looks at the Pentateuch in its final shape rather then in its sources. Cline prefers to let the sources play a minor role while he asks what the theme of the whole Pentateuch is about. He treats the Pentateuch as a complete literary work. Cline agrees with other scholars that the material from which the Pentateuch was written came from different periods, he even coincides to the possibly of an oral stage. But he admits not being a devotee of the hypothesis, and feels it's not important in any case, and reminds the reader several times that the Documentary Hypothesis is only hypothetical. His interests lie in the final form of the Pentateuch, in what theme that form is trying to sustain. The approach of Clines does not differ too much from canonical criticism methods used by B.S. Childs and J.A. Sanders. Cline acknowledges the encouragement he personally received from Childs while writing this paper. However, B.S. Childs and J.A. Sanders primarily deal with texts that are later then the Pentateuch. As Torah, it had little competition in sacred writings, it had already combined the major competing beliefs when it was composed. It was by the Second Temple Period and later that Israel had several writing from which to select, and the canonical models work better with these texts. Cline does not believe redactors (or believing communities) had necessarily intended to reshape (or select) the texts to present their kerygma via a theme. Cline argues that the theme may have developed "beyond the conscious intentions of the redactors." The combination of sources may have resulted "perhaps unintentionally" in new theological insights. Cline appears to have taken an almost fideistic position here; he makes little reasonable effort to explain why the theme originally developed.