Martin Noth
| Martin Noth | |
|---|---|
| Born |
3 August 1902 Dresden |
| Died | 30 May 1968 (aged 65) Negev, Israel |
| Nationality | German |
| Education | Erlangen, |
| Occupation | Taught at Bonn, Göttingen, Tübingen, Hamburg, and University of Basel |
| Notable work | "The Deuteronomistic History" |
| Theological work | |
| Language | German |
| Main interests | Pre-Exilic history of the Hebrews |
| Notable ideas | Traditional-historical approach to biblical studies |
Martin Noth (3 August 1902 – 30 May 1968) was a German scholar of the Hebrew Bible who specialized in the pre-Exilic history of the Hebrews. With Gerhard von Rad he pioneered the traditional-historical approach to biblical studies, emphasising the role of oral traditions in the formation of the biblical texts.
Noth was born in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony. He studied at the universities of Erlangen, , and Leipzig and taught at Greifswald and Königsberg.
From 1939-41 and 1943–45, Noth served as a German soldier during World War II. After the war he taught at Bonn, Göttingen, Tübingen, Hamburg, and University of Basel. He died during an expedition in the Negev, Israel.
Noth first attracted widespread attention with "Das System der zwölf Stämme Israels" (“The Scheme of the Twelve Tribes of Israel”, 1930), positing that the Twelve Tribes of Israel did not exist prior to the covenant assembly at Shechem described in the book of Joshua.
"A History of Pentateuchal Traditions," (1948, English translation 1972) set out a new model for the composition of the Pentateuch, or Torah. Noth supplemented the dominant model of the time, the documentary hypothesis, seeing the Pentateuch as composed of blocks of traditional material accreted round some key historical experiences. He identified these experiences as "Guidance out of Egypt," "Guidance into the Arable Land," "Promise to the Patriarchs," "Guidance in the Wilderness" and "Revelation at Sinai," the details of the narrative serving to fill out the thematic outline. Later, Robert Polzin showed that some of his main conclusions were consistent with arbitrary or inconsistent use of the rules that he proposed.
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