Literary Criticism and Theology of P - Christus Rex

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E. CORTESE
been behind them, for a century, a strong polemic between Christian and Jewish
scholars about the importance of the Law. Jews defending the Law, sometimes
accused the western exegetes of anti-Semitism 57 . There is, of course, the
danger of the older Protestant radicalism in interpreting the OT and NT data
about the human corruption and the original sin, which usually is not acceptable
to Judaism.
Diverging theses about this question, however, came closer and closer in
the last decades. On the one side the Jews became more and more conscious
of the necessity of the grace of God, expressed already by the divine election,
which they incline to call “covenant”. On the other side the incapacity of
fulfilling the law and the covenant is seen by the Protestants less radically
than in the past. In spite of the fact that some divergences remain among the
Christian Theologians, especially in the interpretation of the Paul’s message
on the law and grace 58 , we could affirm that there are today better premises
for a more profitable discussion and confrontation.
2. The specific problem: P-H. Coming back to our proper question, we try
now to solve it, by affirming that P and H are not to be separated, that the law
at Sinai is not suppressed, and that the berît has been simply translated into H.
The importance of the law, as set at Sinai already by Pg, is demonstrated
simply by the ‘edût in the ark. P changes only the dtr formula ’arôn berît into
its ’arôn ha‘edût. Later redactions of P develop this line adding Lev 1-7, on
the sacrifices, and 11-15, the so called Purity Code. The first group of Law
comes from the priestly professional da‘at, or ceremonial norms, which the
priests have to know in practicing their job. Its insertion at Sinai transforms
such professional knowledge of the laws for the Israelites. This has its
theological importance. It is a way of teaching the people that there are special
(cultic) forms in respecting the first commandments, which concern our
relation with God. The concern for the Holy, so important in Pg and in Ps 59 , is
a moral issue of fundamental importance, also because moral sanctity springs
57. See the accusations of J.D. Levenson, The Hebrew Bible, the OT and Historical
Criticism. Jews and Christians in Biblical Studies, Louisville (Kent.) 1993, against Eichrodt,
Noth and von Rad (pp. 15-25): von Rad would have been a nazist, because of his hostility
to the Law. But such exaggerations of Levenson forget that the issue of our Christian
exegesis is fundamentally that of showing the incapacity of men to respect the Law and the
Covenant with the mere human forces and without the grace of the Lord. According to this
view it is not only the Jews who are condemned, but also the gentiles: all men.
58. See the progress in the solutions which come closer to common in J.D.G. Dunn (Ed.),
Paul and the mosaic Law (WUNT 89), Tübingen 1996.
59. See my “La sfera del sacro attorno alla Gloria di Jahweh in P”, in Quaerere Deum. Atti
della XXV Settimana Biblica (ABI), Brescia 1980, 45-55.