The first puzzle in the book is a puzzle. This could be done to trick the reader into thinking that the words “Scripture” might be redundant to use where the words “Old Testament” occur. The book has been divided into many parts. The first part contains a very long and very useful discussion of the history of the Old Testament. There is an introduction and presentation of opinions on the canonization process. In this the reader does not get to know exactly what is coming his way. The author tried something completely different between parts two to five. There is a clear break from previous ways of writing instructions. This book is one of the most important books ever written on theology. The scholarship is truly amazing and offers a very balanced presentation of all the major issues present in biblical studies. There is also a certain breadth of vision that has taken American scholarship too seriously. The introduction is quite classic in its central theme, something that has been presented with a lot of erudition and passion. The introduction describes the function and form of the Hebrew Bible as having an important role in the sacred scriptures of Israel. The important question for Childs is how we come to understand what the nature of the Old Testament is. This is in comparison to the authority of the community and also the community that helped shape it and also preserve it. The relationship that existed between the growing biblical writings and parts of Israel was entirely dialectical, it was the word that had given content and shape to the community. It is for Childs that the canonical question is much more important than the latest dogmatic decisions that help to dec...... middle of paper ......a representation of the four hypothetical sources:• Jawist describing the God as Yahweh. This includes most parts of Genesis, some parts of Exodus, and Numbers.• Elohistic: Describes the God as Elohim.• Deuteronomy: This is a very different source that is associated exclusively with Deuteronomy.• Priestly: Has its internal folds those writings that are scattered from Gen 1 through the notice of the death of Moses. Moses is considered the author of the Pentateuch. This has led supporters of the JEDP theory to the question: what role did Moses play? Some suggest that his role was much smaller, as most of the Pentateuch was written after his death. On the other hand, it has been argued that Moses developed the core of the Pentateuch, or in other words, the basis from which all the rest of the material would follow..