David Carr's latest book, The Formation of the Hebrew Bible: A New Reconstruction is a scholarly book, but one that is still accessible to non-specialists who have had either a good survey course at the graduate or undergraduate level or have read a few solid introductory books to have a view of the landscape of biblical studies. All ancient languages are accompanied with translation, and modern non-English languages appear only in bibliographical footnotes.
The book is divided into 3 parts which are further sub-divided into 17 chapters. The first four chapters build on Carr's previous work (Writing on the Tablet of the Heart) in arguing that the collection of text we have in the Hebrew Bible reached their present form through continual use in educational contexts which emphasized the memorization and performance of the tradition. The written text was an aid to memory and oral performance and was in turn influenced by it.
One of Carr's most important points in these early chapters is arguing for the presence of what he calls "memory variants" these are textual variants which derive from the copying of a text from memory (as opposed to graphic or aural errors by scribes). This concept of "Memory Variant" fits the data which others have pointed out (esp. S. Talmon on "Synonymous Variants"), where conceptually similar or synonymous variants occur in parallel passages or early witnesses of a given part of the text. While one may question many of Carr's proposed memory errors, he leaves room for other explanations, usually saying that these represent the types of variation which occur from writers working from memory. If one accepts his argument, the idea that early scribes often worked from memory is a massive shift for most compositional theories (which is why Carr devotes much of the opening 5th of his book to it), and throws a wrench into most quests for "original readings" or an "original text," as it draws a line behind which one cannot cross.
These opening chapters also draw upon studies of the Gilgamesh epic, Chronicles, the Temple Scroll, and variant editions of biblical books preserved in the Greek versions in illustrating not only possible "memory variants" but also the kinds of variation which occurred which we can observe with some degree of certainty and examine empirically. The upshot of all this is to sketch both the types, degree, and frequency of textual alterations as well as to set limits on one's ability to reconstruct stages pre-dating the extant evidence.
Parts Two and Three are more closely related to each other than they are to chapter one, although they do build upon it. The central goal of the majority of the book is to establish a "profile" for a given period, i.e. a collection of common denominators among books known or suspected to derive from a certain time period (Persian, Neo-Babylonian, etc.) and in turn date portions of other texts which share those same concerns.
Carr begins his broad survey in the Hasmonean period where his "profile" is strongest: variants between the Masoretic Text (MT) and the Vorlage of the Septuagint (LXX) as well as clearly Hasmonean material (e.g., 1 Maccabees). Each chapter then works progressively backwards peeling off the stages or layers in attempt to get back as early as possible (and to make a claim for the limits of how far back one can go). Carr claims to model his profiling method on Wellhausen's use of Chronicles--establishing what was distinctive to Chr and then isolating it and what lies beneath (p148). The Hasmonean "profile" is primarily manuscript evidence; the Persian period looks at the importance of "rebuilding" and the importance of Torah vis-à-vis its centrality in the Hellenistic period; the Neo-Babylonian "profile" draws on studies of Post-Traumatic stress disorder to examine Lamentation literature (Ps, Lam, Isa 63-64), the need to create history and form identity, and elements like the attribution of Davidic ideology to others (i.e., Cyrus); the Neo-Assyrian "profile" draws on Neo-Assyrian royal motifs (and their inversion) in Gen 11, some Royal Psalms, Hosea & Deuteronomy, Isa-Micah-Amos, etc. Chapter 11 provides a summary of part 2.
The third and final division of the book begins with a sweeping survey and assessment of archaeological evidence for the 10th century BCE with a large focus on the debates surrounding Finkelstein's "low chronology." Carr's position is that there are strong reasons to posit a monarchy (perhaps some degree of a "united monarchy") in the 10th century. With the possibility of an early monarchy opened up, Carr locates a handful of Royal Psalms (esp. 2, 21, 45, 72, and 110) in this period. In chapter 14 he goes on to also locate much of Proverbs in the Solomonic period. This is another of his more controversial claims, but he makes a strong case for it using evidence and arguments such as the fact that the book contains no late linguistic features, has not been influenced by the Torah or P/D theology as have much of the later works (and thus likely predates them), and shows clear borrowings from other Ancient Near Eastern cultures (esp. Egypt, probably via Phoenicia). Non-polemical borrowing of ANE material, Carr argues was most necessary in the early monarchy before the advent of a national tradition, and diachronically one sees only polemical use or inversion of foreign material later in time. Thus the lack of resistance points to an earlier date, accompanied by the genre of "wisdom" itself which was primarily material used to educate the scribal class (see Writing on the Tablet of the Heart).
Carr makes a fair number of controversial claims in the final chapters. Along with Proverbs, he also dates Song of Songs very early. This claim is not quite as convincing as for Proverbs because he has to deal with the linguistic issues, but his synthesis of critiques of linguistic dating and his points about types of material to which linguistic dating can be legitimately applied are compelling. Much weaker (as he admits) is Qohelet which fits his profile (in many ways) for early material. Also in his category of possibly early monarchic texts are the Covenant Code (Exod 20:22-23:33) and the Yahwistic primeval history (Gen 2-10).
I have not been able to do justice here in this short space to vast amounts of data and arguments in this book. The book oscillates between broad sweeps and focused discussions of highly technical minutiae, likely reflecting the reuse of much of Carr's earlier studies, for example his forays into Pent/Hex/Enneateuch composition (Pre-P Gen + Pre-D Moses story + Deut-Josh later combined with Sam-Kgs and even later combined with Judges) or arguments for the dating of Lamentations.
The most valuable contributions of this book seem (to this reviewer at least) to be the arguments for "memory variants," and the attempt to date by "profile." Carr addresses numerous criteria relevant to each book, text, and time-period; provides an excellent bibliography which engages and critiques recent and past scholarship from North America, Europe, and Israel; and gives the reader not a few tantalizing suggestions to contemplate (whether one agrees with all or not). All in all, this book is highly successful in furthering the discussion with new ideas and insights while not seeking to dominate or have the last word. The price even makes it affordable on a grad-student budget (well, almost).
Perhaps my only complaint is the sheer length and breadth of the volume makes it unwieldy as a reference. Having more of the various criteria and elements of each profile in charts or lists of some kind would add clarity to the argument as well as making the book much more useful as a reference.
