30 Jesus, Prophet of Islam
supposed to have come.' This leads on to ' an interest in
the formation of traditions'. The problem then appears
so complicated that nobody knows where they are
anymore.
The multiplicity of sources brings with it numerous
disagreements and repetitions. Father de Vaux gives
examples of this overlapping of traditions in the case of
the Flood, the kidnapping of Joseph, his adventures in
Egypt, disagreement of names relating to the same char
acter, and differing descriptions of important events.
Thus the Pentateuch is shown to be formed from vari
ous traditions brought together more or less skilfully
by its authors. The latter sometirnesjuxtaposed their
compilations and sometimes adapted the stories for the
sake of synthesis. They allowed improbabilities and
disagreements to appear in the texts, however, which
has led modemmanto the objectivestudy of the sources.
As far as textual criticism is concemed, the Pentateuch
provides what is probably the most obvious example of
adaptations made by the hand of man. These were made
at different times in the history of the Jewish people,
taken from oral traditions and texts handed down from
preceding generations. It was begun in the Tenth or
Ninth century BC with the Yahvisttradition which took
the story from its very beginnings. The latter sketches
Israel's own particular destiny to 'fit it back into God's
Grand Design for humanity' (Father de Vaux). It was
concluded in the Sixth century BC with the Sacerdotal
tradition that is meticulousin its precise mention of dates
and genealogies. 9Thus, continues Dr Bucaille:For Genesis alone, the division of the Book into three
sources has been firrnly established: Father de Vaux in
the commentary to his translation lists for each source
the passages in the present text of Genesis that rely on
them. On the evidence of these data it is possible to pin
point the contribution made by the various sources to
any one of the chapters. For example, in the case of thehttp://www.islamicbulletin.com