Editing Martin Noth

{{Short description|German scholar (1902–1968)}}
{{Infobox theologian
| honorific_prefix   =
| name               = Martin Noth
| honorific_suffix   =
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| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1902|08|03|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Dresden]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1968|05|30|1902|08|03|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Negev]], [[Israel]]
| region             =
| nationality        = German
| education          = [[University of Erlangen-Nuremberg|Erlangen]], [[University of Rostock|Rostock]], [[Leipzig University|Leipzig]]
| occupation         = Taught at [[University of Bonn|Bonn]], [[University of Göttingen|Göttingen]], [[University of Tübingen|Tübingen]], [[University of Hamburg|Hamburg]], and [[University of Basel]]
| period             = 
| notable_works      = ''The Deuteronomistic History''
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| language           = German
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| main_interests     = Pre-Exilic history of the Hebrews
| notable_ideas      = Traditional-historical approach to biblical studies
| website            = 
}}
'''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 and promoted the hypothesis that the Israelite tribes in the immediate period after the settlement in [[Canaan]] were organised as a group of twelve tribes  arranged around a central sanctuary on the lines of the later Greek and Italian [[Amphictyonic league|amphictyonies]].<ref>Mayes, A. D. H. (1973), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/23040468.pdf The question of the Israelite amphictyony], ''Hermathena'', No. 116 (Winter 1973), pp. 53-65, accessed 15 May 2021</ref> With [[Gerhard von Rad]] he pioneered the traditional-historical approach to [[biblical studies]], emphasising the role of [[oral tradition]]s in the formation of the biblical texts.

==Life==
{{More citations needed|section|date=November 2022}}
Noth was born in [[Dresden]], [[Kingdom of Saxony]]. He studied at the universities of [[University of Erlangen-Nuremberg|Erlangen]], [[University of Rostock|Rostock]],<ref>See entry of [http://purl.uni-rostock.de/matrikel/200017554 Martin Noth] in [[Rostock Matrikelportal]]</ref> and [[University of Leipzig|Leipzig]] and taught at [[University of Greifswald|Greifswald]] and [[University of Königsberg|Königsberg]].

From 1939 to 1941 and 1943–45, Noth served as a German soldier during [[World War II]]. After the war he taught at [[University of Bonn|Bonn]], [[University of Göttingen|Göttingen]], [[University of Tübingen|Tübingen]], [[University of Hamburg|Hamburg]], and [[University of Basel]]. He died during an expedition in the [[Negev]], [[Israel]].

==Influence==
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  [[Torah|Pentateuch, or Torah]]. Noth supplemented<ref name="Oxford">Cross, F. L., ed. ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Polzin |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Polzin |title=Martin Noth's A History of Pentateuchal Traditions |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |issue=221 |pages=113–120 |publisher=The American Schools of Oriental Research  |url=http://www.jcu.edu/BIBLE/200/Readings/Polzin_NothHistoryPentateuchalTraditions.pdf |year=1976 |doi=10.2307/1356091 |jstor=1356091 |s2cid=53451334 |access-date=2009-07-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601220715/http://www.jcu.edu/BIBLE/200/Readings/Polzin_NothHistoryPentateuchalTraditions.pdf |archive-date=2010-06-01}}</ref>

Even more revolutionary and influential, and quite reorienting the emphasis of modern scholarship, was ''The Deuteronomistic History''. In this work, Noth argued that the earlier theory of several [[Deuteronomist]] redactions of the books from [[Book of Joshua|Joshua]] to [[Books of Kings|Kings]] did not explain the facts, and instead proposed that they formed a unified "Deuteronomic history",<ref name=judaica>{{cite encyclopedia |contribution=Noth, Martin |contribution-url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0015_0_14927.html |via=[[Jewish Virtual Library]] |access-date=17 April 2015 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia Judaica]] |date=2008 |author=Michael V. Fox}}</ref> the product of a single author working in the late 7th century.

Noth also published commentaries on all the five books of the Pentateuch: [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]], [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]], [[Leviticus]], [[book of Numbers|Numbers]], and [[Deuteronomy]]. Noth considered that the book of Deuteronomy was more closely related to the following books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings (''The Deuteronomistic History'').<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.crivoice.org/hexateuch.html|title=Hexateuch, Tetrateuch, and the Deuteronomic History|website=www.crivoice.org}}</ref> This theory is widely accepted today, and provides the framework for current research on the historical books of the Old Testament.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hill|first=Andrew E.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/309916553|title=A survey of the Old Testament|date=2009|others=John H. Walton|isbn=978-0-310-28095-8|edition=3rd|location=Grand Rapids, Mich.|oclc=309916553}}</ref>

==Works==
===Books===
* {{cite book|author1-last=Noth |author1-first=Martin |title=Überlieferungsgeschichtliche Studien: Die sammelnden und bearbeitenden Geschichtswerke im Alten Testament |location=Tübingen |publisher=M. Niemeyer |date=1957 |oclc=6106170 }}
* {{cite book|author1-last=Noth |author1-first=Martin |author1-mask=3 |title=History of Israel: Biblical History |location=London |publisher=Adam & Charles Black |date=1958 |oclc=750923003 }} - translation of ''Geschichte Israels''
* {{cite book|author1-last=Noth |author1-first=Martin |author1-mask=3 |title=Exodus: a commentary |series=Old Testament Library |location=London |publisher=SCM Press |date=1959 |oclc=913482441 }} - translation of ''Das Zzweite Buch Mose : Exodus''
* {{cite book|author1-last=Noth |author1-first=Martin |author1-mask=3 |title=Leviticus: a commentary |series=Old Testament Library |location=London |publisher=SCM Press |date=1962 |oclc=923331089 }} - translation of ''Das Dritte Buch Mose: Leviticus''
* {{cite book|author1-last=Noth |author1-first=Martin |author1-mask=3 |title=Numbers: a commentary |series=Old Testament Library |location=London |publisher=SCM Press |date=1968 |isbn=9780334011569 |oclc=925325336 }} - translation of ''Das Vierte Buch Mose : Numeri''
* {{cite book|author1-last=Noth |author1-first=Martin |author1-mask=3 |title=A History of Pentateuchal Traditions |location=Englewood Cliffs, NJ |publisher=Prentice-Hall |date=1972 |isbn=9780133912357 |oclc=215462 }}
* {{cite book|author1-last=Noth |author1-first=Martin |author1-mask=3 |title=The Deuteronomistic History |series=Journal for the study of the Old Testament, Supplement series |volume=15 |location=Sheffield, UK |publisher=University of Sheffield, Dept. of Biblical Studies |date=1981 |isbn=9780905774251 |oclc=7642739 }} - translation of ''Überlieferungsgeschichtliche Studien''

===Articles===
* {{cite journal|author1-last=Noth |author1-first=Martin |author1-mask=3 |title=Die Wege der Pharaonenheere in Palästina und Syrien. Untersuchungen zu den hieroglyphischen Listen palästinischer und syrischer Städte. III. Der Aufbau der Palästinaliste Thutmoses III |journal=Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins|volume=61 |date=1938 |pages=26–65 }}
* {{cite book|author1-last=Noth |author1-first=Martin |author1-mask=3 |chapter=The Background of Judges 17-18 |editor1-last=Anderson |editor1-first=Bernhard W. |editor1-link=Bernhard W. Anderson |editor2-last=Harrelson |editor2-first=Walter J. |editor2-link=Walter J. Harrelson |title=Israel's Prophetic Heritage: essays in honor of James Muilenburg |url=https://archive.org/details/israelsprophetic00ande |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Harper |date=1962 |oclc=5717754 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/israelsprophetic00ande/page/68 68]–85 }}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Martin Noth}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100601220715/http://www.jcu.edu/BIBLE/200/Readings/Polzin_NothHistoryPentateuchalTraditions.pdf Review of Noth's ''A History of Pentateuchal Traditions'', Robert Polzin, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 221, (Feb., 1976), pp.&nbsp;113–120]
<!-- *[http://www.hope.edu/academic/religion/bandstra/RTOT/PART1/PT1_TBD.HTM Pentateuch Source Analysis]: developments from Noth's approach
*[http://www.hope.edu/bandstra/RTOT/PART2/PT2_1A.HTM Noth and the "Deuteronomistic history"] -->
*Bruce C Birch, ''Methodology in writing Israel's early history: Martin Noth and John Bright''
*Steven L. McKenzie, ''The History of Israel's Traditions: The Heritage of Martin Noth'' (JSOT Supplement)(1996) {{ISBN|1-85075-499-3}}
*C. H. de Geus, ''The Tribes of Israel: An Investigation into Some of the Presuppositions of Martin Noth's Amphictyony Hypothesis'' (Studia Semitica Neerlandica) (1976) {{ISBN|90-232-1337-8}}
*[http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/5335_5625.pdf Steven L. McKenzie, review of ''Martin Noth—aus der Sicht der heutigen Forschung'' (Udo Rüterswörden (ed.), 2004)]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Noth, Martin}}
[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:1968 deaths]]
[[Category:German biblical scholars]]
[[Category:Old Testament scholars]]
[[Category:Documentary hypothesis]]
[[Category:German Lutheran theologians]]
[[Category:20th-century German Protestant theologians]]
[[Category:German military personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Writers from Dresden]]
[[Category:People from the Kingdom of Saxony]]
[[Category:University of Erlangen-Nuremberg alumni]]
[[Category:University of Rostock alumni]]
[[Category:Leipzig University alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Greifswald]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Königsberg]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Bonn]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Göttingen]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Tübingen]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Hamburg]]
[[Category:20th-century German writers]]
[[Category:German male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Lutheran biblical scholars]]
[[Category:20th-century Lutherans]]