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Line 45: − − It therefore is entirely germane to the discussion of the Documentary Hypothesis to state that its central idea about monotheism has been repeatedly and effectively refuted by anthropologists and missionaries who have taken great pains to learn the language, customs, and folklore of so-called "primitive" people in various parts of the world. See the [[Monotheism]] article for several instances indicating that monotheism was remembered, by various cultures in various parts of the world, as the original religion of their ancestors. These instances are well documented and are not the result of prior missionary contacts. They are consistent with the traditional view of Judaism and Christianity that the first books of the Bible are a revelation of God to man, and that God revealed Himself to mankind at the very beginning as the one God whom alone should be worshipped. They are not consistent with the anti-supernatural presuppositions of the Documentary Hypothesis.
→The Documentary Hypothesis and the findings of anthropology: unsourced
==The Documentary Hypothesis and the findings of anthropology==
==The Documentary Hypothesis and the findings of anthropology==
The truth or falsity of the Documentary Hypothesis can also be tested by determining whether the religion of primitive societies is in keeping with the idea, central to the Hypothesis ever since the time of Hupfield, that monotheism is a late development that necessarily must be preceded by a period of spiritism and polytheism in which men develop their ideas of the supernatural, and that furthermore this idea of one God is wholly derived from such a development, not from any revelation of this truth from God to man. The 19th-century milieu in which this evolutionary viewpoint was developed was largely ignorant of the nature of primitive cultures throughout the world. Such knowledge as was available was generally interpreted as showing the superiority of the western or European-based cultures and peoples to the cultures of other, more "primitive" peoples of the earth. Even the monotheism of the Bible, declared so powerfully in its first sentence (Gen. 1:1), was declared to be a late development by assigning all such monotheistic statements to a late date of composition. Such late-dating of all monotheistic texts was not based on verifiable evidence, but on the idea that it had to be so in order to fit the theories of the scholars. It affords another example of the circular reasoning present throughout the works of Wellhausen and his followers, as criticized by Archer and by many others: no "early" texts supporting monotheism are found by these writers because they had already classified all texts that contradicted their theory as late.
The truth or falsity of the Documentary Hypothesis can also be tested by determining whether the religion of primitive societies is in keeping with the idea, central to the Hypothesis ever since the time of Hupfield, that monotheism is a late development that necessarily must be preceded by a period of spiritism and polytheism in which men develop their ideas of the supernatural, and that furthermore this idea of one God is wholly derived from such a development, not from any revelation of this truth from God to man. The 19th-century milieu in which this evolutionary viewpoint was developed was largely ignorant of the nature of primitive cultures throughout the world. Such knowledge as was available was generally interpreted as showing the superiority of the western or European-based cultures and peoples to the cultures of other, more "primitive" peoples of the earth. Even the monotheism of the Bible, declared so powerfully in its first sentence (Gen. 1:1), was declared to be a late development by assigning all such monotheistic statements to a late date of composition. Such late-dating of all monotheistic texts was not based on verifiable evidence, but on the idea that it had to be so in order to fit the theories of the scholars. It affords another example of the circular reasoning present throughout the works of Wellhausen and his followers, as criticized by Archer and by many others: no "early" texts supporting monotheism are found by these writers because they had already classified all texts that contradicted their theory as late.
==See also==
==See also==