For much of the history of both Judaism and Christianity, the Pentateuch—first five books of the Bible—was understood to be the unified work of a single inspired author: Moses. Yet the standard view in modern biblical scholarship contends that the Pentateuch is a composite text made up of fragments from diverse and even discrepant sources that originated centuries after the events it purports to describe. In Murmuring against Moses, John Bergsma and Jeffrey Morrow provide a critical narrative of the emergence of modern Pentateuchal studies and challenge the scholarly consensus by highlighting the weaknesses of the modern paradigms and mustering an array of new evidence for the Pentateuch’s antiquity. By shedding light on the past history of research and the present developments in the field, Bergsma and Morrow give fresh voice to a growing scholarly dissatisfaction with standard critical approaches and make an important contribution toward charting a more promising future for Pentateuchal studies.
Request a Copy
Request an exam/desk copy for college or graduate-level classroom use or a review copy for a journal.
Submit RequestAbout the Authors
JEFFREY L. MORROW is professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville and director of the St. Paul Studies Center at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He has written widely on the Catholic Modernist crisis and the history of modern biblical scholarship and is the author or co-author of more than a dozen books, including Modern Biblical Criticism as a Tool of Statecraft and Alfred Loisy and Modern Biblical Studies.
John Bergsma is professor of Theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville and a Senior Fellow at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. Twice voted Faculty of the Year by graduating classes at Franciscan University, he is a popular teacher whose love of scripture inspires his students.
Bergsma earned Master of Divinity and Master of Theology degrees and served as a Protestant pastor for four years before converting to Catholicism in 2001 while working on his doctorate in theology at the University of Notre Dame. He specialized in Old Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls, graduating with high honors in 2004. His articles, some coauthored with Scott Hahn, have appeared in the Journal of Biblical Literature and other academic and popular periodicals. A frequent speaker at conferences and parishes, Dr. Bergsma has appeared as a guest on Franciscan University Presents, EWTN’s The Journey Home, and Relevant Radio’s Drew Mariani Show. He and his wife Dawn live with their eight children in Steubenville, Ohio.
