Below is a fictional conversation heard in a bus station by a guy named Harvey Strickland,
Last week I was reading in the bus station, waiting for the 428 to Milwaukee. When a young Mediterranean man asked to bum a quarter. I was feeling generous so I passes him a coin. Now the phone booth was near my seat. So I could not help but hear his side of the conversation. This is what I heard:
Hey, Jesus, it's you boy Fay! yea.. I know been while. I thought I would give you a call and see if you were in town. Oh, still out.. Cool cool...Yea, Jesus so when you coming back? You don't know? your dad knows.. Right.. Ok.... Yea... Communication can be hard between a father and Son. You should really try to go fishing with him or something....
Sooooooo, what ya been up too? Reading? You blue-collar boy getting some learn'en. Reading, Exodus.. Like from the bible.. Good stuff.. Wait.... Did you say you think Moses wrote it? Yea, I know the ESV Study Bible says he is the author but that's not totally true. If you got a minute I can explain. Cool! Well buckle up, Jesus, cause I am about to take you to school... Ha ha!! ......... Hu!? Yes! Two years at the university! They had a religion department!!! The teacher was a PhD! I think he was Unitarian..or something.. His name is John Gutierrez... YOU don't KNOW HIM! What's that got to do with anything? Jesus! You can get all high and mighty sometimes.... It you will just listen you may learn something...You see, Actually, there were a series of redactors, working with the J.E.D.P. sources. It is called the documentary hypothesis.
Why are you chuckling? This is serious theology. Really! Ok, well, I am sorry, Jesus, if your "perfect" reading of the Torah has lead you to such a "conviction".
You see when you were in Torah school they did not know about the various groups that make up what is now known as the Documentary Hypothesis.
Yea, H-y-pothesis, the scholars who hold this view are humble enough to call it a hypothesis. They have intellectual virtue. Yes, they do call their approach "Higher" criticism. I thought you did not know this stuff?
Not sure, I will have to look into that, I don't know if "Higher" refers to their intellectual virtue? I'm getting off track... Oh yea, redactors..
Well, the Pentateuch, including Exodus was compiled from various “sources”. The sources are labeled J, E, ... D, and .... P. The different sources were woven “into the Pentateuch” over time most hold the sources were compiled into the current form in Babylon. The redactor wove together the earliest sources (JE) with the D source (JED) and finally the P source into JED.
Well, kinda, I mean it tells stories but not one big story through the whole testament. It is more like a jigsaw puzzle of an abstract painting. Have I read it? The whole thing? Not all of it, but I read the books of people who Have. ..... Enough about me, where was I..
J stands for Yahwist. This source is identified by its use of the term YHWH for God. E stands for Elohimist. This source came after J. They were all about God and morality. D stands for Deuteronomist. Right, they loved Deuteronomy. Some hold this source is the book that was found in the reign of King Josiah (2 Kings 22-23). P stands for Priestly. This source is associated with the concerns of maintaining the priesthood and the worship practices of the people.
Right, The rituals, worship and various religious and ceremonial laws written in exodus were added 400 years later in Babylon. No, it does not undermine the authority of scripture. It just means that it did not happen like the text says it did. No, No, No, that does not mean the text is fake or even untrue. The Moses you read is nothing more than an authors construct but It's spiritually true! Yea.. Oh.. Well .. I need to Go my bus is pulling up... Ok..... Got a go...you too.. you'll be praying for me... Ok? .. Sure... Later.. ..
Harvey Strickland: The young man hung up the phone wondered aimlessly around the station then sat slouching in a chair. Across from him no more than four feet away was the phone booth. It seemed even air laid heavy on him. He sat still pondering as if held by a resolute sadness. Then with god like determination he walked way and got on the 473 to Los Angeles. Not looking back once. With each step his stoic demeanor gave way to the rush of self mastery. He held his head high like one sure of all the answers even the unknown questions. The whole time, muttering to himself.. "I know I'm right...why can't he just listen ."
Back at where he began, propped up against the back of the booth was a slightly used bible. The young man left it after he hung up the phone. He did not need it, any more. The cover was tattered like caught in a battle, top edge bent back frayed and weathered, the bottom half ripped clean off exposing an inscription:
To Fay Roh, from your Friend, Jesus... Don't drowned out a yes with a world of "knows".. Remember I am just a phone call away...
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Aim:
1.) use a story to teach the documentary hypothesis with an obvious bias.
2.) allude to the process of pharaohs heart being hardened until God gave him over to the process (Rom 1).
3.) Show the danger of intellectual ideas that demand claims to authority.
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