- Rolf Rendtorff
Rolf Rendtorff (born
10 March 1925 ) is Emeritus Professor of Old Testament at theUniversity of Heidelberg . He has written frequently on the Jewish scriptures. He is notable chiefly for his conribution to the debate over the origins of thePentateuch (the first five books of theOld Testament .Biography
Rendtorff was born at
Preetz ,Holstein ,Germany . He studied theology 1945-50 at the universities of Kiel, Göttingen and Heidelberg. He undertook his doctoral studies underGerhard von Rad , 1950-53.Major achievements
Rendtorff has published many works on Old Testament subjects, but is notable chiefly for his 1977 book, "Das überlieferungsgeschichtliche Problem des Pentateuch" ("The Problem of the Transmission of the Pentateuch"). The book was a study of the question of Pentateuchal origins (the question of how the first five books of the bible -
Genesis ,Exodus ,Leviticus ,Numbers andDeuteronomy - came to be written), and appeared at the same time time as two other important books,John Van Seters ' "Abraham in History and Tradition " (1975), andHans Heinrich Schmid 's "Der sogenannte Jahwist" ("The So-called Yahwist ", (1976). The three studies, appearing almost together, inaugurated a heated discussion in scholarly circles on the validity of the then-dominant consensus on Pentateuchal origins, theDocumentary Hypothesis . [ [http://pharisienlibere.wordpress.com/2007/09/15/le-livre-de-j/ Benoit Montfort, review of Harold Bloom's "The Book of J", in "Le Pharisien Libéré", Sept, 15, 2007)] ]Notes
External links
*worldcat id|id=lccn-n50-51078
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.