222 B a ruch J. Schwartz
century. Still it needs to be admitted that merely explaining the possible re-
dactional logic of the fi nal text does not rule out the preexistence of literary
sources, nor does the possibility that oral tradition preexisted the sources
themselves: many critics before and since have maintained the source the-
ory while at the same time admitting the obvious — that the sources have a
literary and oral prehistory.
Th e more signifi cant drawback of Cassuto’s approach to the Pentateuch
is the refusal to consider seriously the connection between events in Israel’s
history and the development of its religion as refl ected in its sacred litera-
ture — its law codes in particular. Th ough Cassuto mentions in passing that
the harmonistic method he applies to the narratives is equally valid in the
law codes, nowhere is this demonstrated, and it is doubtful that it could
be. No attempt is made to address such central issues as the connection
between the Josianic reform and the Deuteronomic law code or between
the Priestly law and any period in Israel’s history. Th us, Cassuto’s work cre-
ated the appearance of having contended with the Documentary Hypoth-
esis, while in actual fact it simply redefi ned the agenda as confi ned to the
weakest and least signifi cant points and ignored the real historical focus of
Higher Criticism.
Virtually all of the scholars whose work has been considered so far were
in some measure infl uenced by Jewish religious sensitivity. While they lived
and worked in the scholarly milieu, there remains something of a confes-
sional element in their writings, and their objection to the critical study of
the Pentateuch does not seem to have been motivated exclusively by schol-
arly considerations. Th is is only to be expected. Ultimately, full entry into
Pentateuchal studies as defi ned by the scholarly approach is possible only
for scholars who can thoroughly divorce themselves from the theological
challenge. By the early part of the twentieth century, Jewish scholars of
a new type began to appear on the scene. In the wake of Emancipation,
Enlightenment, and secularism, religious belief and the traditional way of
life had ceased to be the sole defi ning characteristics of Judaism. Judaism
came now to be seen primarily as a peoplehood, the furtherance of whose
national aims — its cultural rebirth as an ethnic group and ultimately its
restored political sovereignty in its historical land — rather than the pres-
ervation of its religious integrity, occupied its most productive minds. Par-
ticularly in the growing community of Jews in Eretz-Yisrael but throughout
much of the culturally nationalistic diasporic Jewish community, the study
of the Jewish past, especially insofar as its ancient historical connection
with its homeland and the antiquity, uniqueness, and spiritually advanced