"This slim volume delivers exactly what it promises: an explanation of the dizzying history of pentateuchal source criticism that is both accessible and expertly crafted. With characteristic clarity and wit, Joel Baden highlights the evidence to which source critics respond and, crucially, the intellectual and cultural conditions that have influenced their work. Anyone seeking to understand the Pentateuch will benefit from this insightful book." --Jeffrey Stackert, professor of Hebrew Bible, University of Chicago Divinity School "Joel Baden has done it again! With great clarity and a surprisingly light touch, he reviews three centuries' worth of scholarship on the composition of the Pentateuch, laying out not only the theses of the most significant biblical critics but the reasoning behind their work and, no less crucially, the cultural presumptions and religious values that motivate them. He provides an accessible roadmap to what at first seems a bewildering variety of theories, and he guides readers, I think quite fairly, to evaluating them. Scholars, students, and lay readers alike will benefit greatly from Baden's expertise--and his expert pedagogy." --Benjamin D. Sommer, professor of Bible and ancient Semitic languages, The Jewish Theological Seminary.