c. 10th–6th century BCE

The Yahwist

The name scholars give the boldest narrative strand in the Torah: earthy, ironic, fond of family quarrel, and willing to let God walk in a garden at the cool of the day.

Turned origin myth into novelistic scene—dialogue, motive, and the suddenness of moral knowledge.

Primary works

Narrative scripture · c. 10th–6th c. BCE

Genesis

The Yahwist

From creation and expulsion to flood, promise, and the crooked family that becomes a people. Blessing is a contested inheritance; the first stories of the West are already about exile and return.

Origin epic