Editing Tower of Babel (section)

=== Authorship ===
Jewish and Christian tradition attributes the composition of the whole [[Pentateuch]], which includes the story of the Tower of Babel, to [[Moses]]. Modern biblical scholarship rejects Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch but is divided on the question of its authorship. Many scholars subscribe to some form of the [[documentary hypothesis]], which argues that the Pentateuch is composed of multiple "sources" that were later merged. Scholars who favor this hypothesis, such as [[Richard Elliot Friedman]], tend to see Genesis 11:1–9 as being composed by the [[Jahwist|J or Jahwist/Yahwist source]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Richard Elliot |title=Who Wrote the Bible? |date=1997 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-06-063035-3 |page=247}}</ref>

[[Michael Coogan]] suggests that the intentional word play regarding the city of Babel, and the noise of the people's "babbling" is found in the Hebrew words as easily as in English, is considered typical of the Yahwist source.{{r|coogan|page1=51}} [[John Van Seters]], who has put forth substantial modifications to the hypothesis, suggests that these verses are part of what he calls a "Pre-Yahwistic stage".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Van Seters |first1=John |title=Abraham in History and Tradition |date=1975 |publisher=Echo Point Books & Media |isbn=978-1-62654-006-4 |page=313}}</ref> Other scholars reject the documentary hypothesis altogether. The "[[Biblical minimalism|minimalist]]" scholars tend to see the books of Genesis through 2 Kings as written by a single, anonymous author during the [[Hellenistic period#Judea|Hellenistic period]].