You wrote: "Among Jews, only the ultra-Orthodox still adhere to the belief that all of Torah was dictated by God on Mt. Sinai/Horeb..."

I'm tempted to ask if more progressive Jews believe any of it.

At any rate, Art Hilgart's excellent article, which you cited from The Equisite Corpse website, gives a good synopsis of the J thread through the Old Testament, and how absurd it all really is.

Hilgart's final comments sum it all up pretty well, and I hope you won't mind that I include them here.

Speaking of J, who he identifies as female, Mr. Hilgart concludes:

"Her book, therefore, may have been intended as a justification for Hebrew domination of Palestine, much as many Americans ascribe divine intention to the birth of our nation, the decimation of the native Americans, and the institution of slavery. We are used to the claim of practically every army that God is on its side. The Book of J raises the suspicion that God may have been invented for just that purpose.



"The modern forms of the great religions present quite a different God, one with more complex relationships with individuals, one who has established elaborate moral injunctions. Some of these, like most of the familiar Ten Commandments, are no more than political rules for maintaining order within a community. Others, like the Sermon on the Mount, carry a humanistic call for universal brotherhood. The study of the development of these successor religions reveals accretions, each of which can be explained by historical or political context. As we peel back any one of these onions, layer by layer, we come to the core, The Book of J. There, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, we find only a pompous windbag offering gift certificates that must be redeemed at the recipients' expense."



Thanks Fox, for your insightful post.

sp