Julius Wellhausen = (1844 -

Julius Wellhausen=20

I. =20 Biography

II. =20 Philosophy

=20 A. =20 Higher Criticism

=20 B. =20 Rationalism, Evolution & Liberalism

=20 C. = The=20 Documentary Hypothesis

III. =20 Conclusion

=20 Biography. Julius = Wellhausen=20 was born in 1844 in Westphalia, Germany. After his undergraduate studies = Wellhausen attended seminary. His ability to think theologically earned = him a=20 position at a seminary after graduation. During his ten year tenure, = year by=20 year, step by step he moved away from the idea that the Old and New = Testaments=20 came to man by divine inspiration. In turn, he developed a method of=20 interpreting the OT which was later called higher criticism.

Higher Criticism. Higher = criticism is=20 concerned with studying the literary type, the content, and it=92s = conformity with=20 the social customs of the times. Some of this research sheds additional = light on=20 the text and is helpful. However, these higher critical methods = eventually=20 became negative higher = critical=20 methods. Negative higher criticism assumes that the evolutionary history = developed by modern philosophical science is basically correct. Upon = this=20 assumption, the Bible becomes subject to this pre-established = evolutionary=20 history. In short, the Bible is twisted to fit the evolutionary model. = These=20 non-biblical presuppositions become the final criterion for the = critic=92s=20 evaluation of the Bible. The ultimate result is that the living Word is = reduced=20 to a mere human drama, a dead book. Thus, negative higher criticism is=20 unacceptable to the conservative student of Scripture who accepts the = Biblical=20 text as the final criterion for life and practice, regardless of the = conclusions=20 of modern scientific and philosophic speculation.

=20 Rationalism, Evolution, = and=20 Religious Liberalism. Two factors played a role in the development = of=20 Wellhausen=92s philosophy. First, rationalism. Rationalism = supposed that=20 man=92s finite reason was an adequate final reference point for = knowledge. German=20 rationalism had been on the rise for many years after the Enlightenment = in=20 Europe and Wellhausen adopted this rationalistic framework of thought = applying=20 it to the interpretation of the Bible. Second, Darwin=92s evolution. Darwin=92s Origin of Species in 1859 = advanced=20 Wellhausen=92s rationalistic tendencies by providing an evolutionary = framework to=20 interpret reality and harness rationalism. Because Wellhausen was a = Christian=20 and had influence at the Seminary level, rationalism eventually crept = into=20 orthodox Christianity, resulting in what is commonly called Religious Liberalism. = Darwin=92s=20 framework of evolution deeply influenced other Christian scholars as = well,=20 causing them to deny the biblical doctrines of Creation, the Fall, the = Flood,=20 the Noahic Covenant, the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection and any other=20 supernatural events because they didn=92t fit the uniformitarian premise = of=20 naturalism. Everything in the Bible was re-interpreted in a way that=20 =91supposedly=92 correlated with the scientific data.

The Documentary Hypothesis. = The product=20 of Religious Liberalism was = Wellhausen=92s Documentary Hypothesis. This work interpreted the = Scriptures=20 compilation from a strictly naturalistic framework. The Documentary = Hypothesis=20 challenged the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch and the date of = writing by=20 placing it much later. Below is a summary of Wellhausen=92s = conclusions:

=20 Genesis=20 2:4b-4:26 is attributed to J; 1:1-2:4a belongs to = P

=20 Genesis 5:29, J; 5:1-28 and 30-32, P

=20 Genesis 6:1-8, J; 6:9-22, P

=20 Genesis 7:1-5; 7, 10, 12, 16b, 17b, 22a-23a; 8:2b-3a, 6-12, 13b, = 20-22;=20 9:18-27, J

=20 Numbers 15:1b, JE; 14:3-4, J; 14:8, 9, 11-25, JE; 14:1a, 2, 5-7, = 10,=20 26-30, 33-38, P

Deuteronomy = 34:1b-6, E;=20 32:48-52, P; 34:1a-7, 12, P

Deuteronomy 7:6, = 8-9, 11,=20 13-16a, 17a, 18-21, 23b-24, 8:1-2a, 3b-5, 13a, 14-19, 9:1-17, 28-29,=20 P

Code: J =3D Jahveh, a man who lived = around=20 900BC; E =3D Elohist, = lived around=20 750BC; JE =3D = Jahveh/Elohist, an=20 editor who added to prior resources; D =3D most of Deuteronomy, = the law found=20 by Josiah in 621BC; H =3D = Holiness=20 Code in Lev. 17-26 around 600BC; P =3D=20 Priestly Code, priests during the exile around 400BC.[1]

Of = course,=20 Wellhausen=92s conclusions can only be drawn by denying the authority of = the Bible=20 and it=92s claim that Moses was the sole author of the Pentateuch. Since = Wellhausen assumes the evolutionary premise is true he subsequently = concludes=20 that pre-historic peoples were polytheists and later historic peoples = evolved=20 into higher, loftier monotheists, such as the case of Israel. From his=20 perspective he doubted whether Moses could even read or write, thus, = denying his=20 authorship of the Torah from square one. By subjective methods of = interpretation=20 Wellhausen deconstructed the text and proposed unnamed authors.

Wellhausen=92s=20 presuppositions have led to the downfall of orthodox Christianity. Most=20 Christians and certainly all non-Christians assume that the Bible is a = mere=20 human book and that finite limited man is the seat of true rationality. = The=20 supernatural accounts in the Bible were written by superstitious = observers and=20 must be interpreted in some naturalistic way. And all this is based on = what?=20 Limited observations by finite fallible men of current scientific = laws.

Conclusion. Let=92s face it, = Wellhausen=92s=20 rationalism resulted in a religious liberalism that has destroyed the = Church=92s=20 faith in God=92s words. We ask as Satan once asked Eve, =93Has God = said?=94 Has God=20 really said this or is it just compilations of human writings? Is it = just a=20 human book? Wellhausen so destroyed the authority and surety of God=92s = word that=20 there are few left who believe that God has said it once for all. Few = follow the=20 maxim that God=92s word is = the sole=20 authority in every area of life and every area of life equally. = Most,=20 even within Christianity, are enslaved by the universally-embraced = origin myth=20 of evolution.