SOURCE: “From Analysis to Synthesis: The Interpretation of Genesis 1-11,” Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 97, No. 1, March, 1978, pp. 23-39.

In the following essay, Anderson argues that while scholars have often examined the source materials of Genesis, and how these materials were formulated into the final version of Genesis, a new critical approach examines Genesis as a synthesized whole. Anderson follows this approach in examining the flood story in Genesis.

The vitality of biblical scholarship is shown by a disposition to test and challenge working hypotheses, even those that are supported by a broad consensus. Today there are new signals that call for advance, like the rustling of leaves in the tops of the balsam trees, to cite a biblical figure of speech (2 Sam 5:24).¹ The purpose of this essay is to reexamine some old-fashioned views that have constituted the critical orthodoxy of the twentieth century and to look toward...