In the current conversation regarding the composition of the Pentateuch, there is mounting evidence of post-exilic redaction, which runs contrary to the conclusions of scholarship from the previous century. Many scholars today hold that the present form of the Pentateuch emerged in the post-exilic period, when Israel was under Persian and Hellenistic rule. The post-exilic community undertook the arduous task of gathering their literary and cultural heritage, which included ancient texts in combination with ex novo additions. The eventual result was the first five books of their scriptures in the present form. These post-exilic redactions, posterior to the Priestly contributions, are the focus of this volume.

Contributors: Reinhard Achenbach, Rainer Albertz, Joseph Blenkinsopp, David M. Carr, Jan C. Gertz, Federico Giuntoli, Bernard S. Jackson, Matthias Kockert, Christoph Levin, Bernard M. Levinson, Christophe Nihan, Eckart Otto, Alexander Rofe, Thomas Romer, Konrad Schmid, Ludwig Schmidt, Hans-Christoph Schmitt