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Abstract
The use of divine designations to delineate sources in the Torah is often recognized as a foundational marker of the Documentary Hypothesis. Recently, source-critical scholars advocate for caution in using divine designations to argue for which ancient author might be responsible for a particular text. In this study, I catalogue all occurrences of divine designations including the divine name Yahweh and designations like ʾĕlōhîm, ʾēl, and epithets. I categorize these according to the most likely documentary source attribution and analyze their use in each source. This exhaustive presentation allows patterns of usage to emerge – not just which author uses which designations, but a pattern of when they use them that contributes to a better understanding of the theology of each author and increased confidence in identifying texts with certain authors. In chapter 1, I consider the history of the use of divine designations in source-critical scholarship. From Jean Astruc’s divisions to contemporary interpretations of the Documentary Hypothesis, these designations have always been an important piece of the source-critical puzzle. In chapters 2 through 5, I break down the use of divine designations by the authors of the J source, the E source, the P source, and the D source. In chapter 6, I consider passages like Genesis 14 and 15, the Song of the Sea, and the Covenant Code. These passages have often defied attempts to assign them to a particular source, and so I consider them in their own right and compare them with evidence from sources in which scholars are more confident. In the conclusion, I present the findings of my analysis and make some suggestions regarding fruitful ground for further research.