The very first riddle of the book is a riddle. This could be done to make the reader believe that the words "Scripture" might be redundant to use where the words "Old Testament" are present. The book has been divided into several parts. Part I contains a very lengthy and helpful discussion of Old Testament history. There is an introduction and a presentation on views on the canonization process. In this way, the reader does not know exactly what awaits him. The author tried something completely different between parts two through five. There is a clear break with previous methods of writing instructions. This book is one of the most important books ever written on theology. The scholarship is very dazzling and gives a very balanced presentation of all the major issues that arise in biblical studies. There is also a certain breadth of vision that has taken American research far too seriously. The introduction is quite classic in its central theme, presented with great erudition and passion. The introduction describes the function and form of the Hebrew Bible as playing an important role in the sacred scriptures of Israel. The important question for Childs is how to understand what the nature of the Old Testament is. This is in comparison to the authority of the community and also to the community that helped shape and preserve it. The relationships that existed between the growing biblical writings and parts of Israel were completely dialectical, it was the word that gave content and form to the community. It is for Childs that the canonical question is much more important than the latest dogmatic decisions that help December... middle of paper ......a representation of the four hypothetical sources: • Jawist who describes God as Yahweh. This includes most parts of Genesis, parts of Exodus, and Numbers. • Elohist: This describes God as Elohim. • Deuteronomy: This is a very different source that is associated with Deuteronomy on its own. • Priestly: this has within it fold the writings that are scattered from Gen 1 throughout the announcement of the death of Moses. Moses is considered the author of the Pentateuch. This has led proponents of the JEDP theory to ask the question: what role did Moses play? Some suggest that his role was much less, since the majority of the Pentateuch was written after his death. On the other hand, it has been argued that Moses developed the core of the Pentateuch, or in other words, the basis upon which all other documents would follow..