background image
Barrick, The Authorship of Deuteronomy 34
ETS Annual Meeting, November 14-16, 2001
17
indicate, "the question of Mosaic authorship is a timely one and is, at bottom, a
theological one."
83
We are left with these ultimate questions: (1) Was Moses truly as great a prophet
as the Scriptures make him out to be--great enough to have been granted revelation
concerning a few select events following his death? (2) Are there any viable options for
understanding verses 6 and 10 in a way that would preserve Mosaic authorship? The
answer to the first is a resounding "Yes." The second question deserves greater attention
in the years ahead.
Where is the boundary of evangelicalism? It allows for adherents to Mosaic
authorship of the total Torah while at the same time having room for a frank and open
debate over passages that would seem to present evidence contrary to Mosaic authorship
for every word and phrase. It appears, unfortunately, that the current boundary has been
drawn so as to exclude Mosaic authorship of the totality of the Pentateuch--as though it
were the soul-mate of a "flat earth" theology/science.
83
Duane L. Christensen and Marcel Narucki, "The Mosaic Authorship of the Pentateuch," Journal of the
Evangelical Theological Society 32/4 (Dec 1989): 466. These two scholars, however, opt to view
Deuteronomy as the product of "God himself, at work through a long chain of poet-prophets" (471).