J is the oldest of the five authors (J,
E,
D,
P, and
R) of the
Pentateuch or
Torah, the first five books of the
Bible, theorized by Biblical scholars. S/he may have lived between 950 and 750 BC, though this dating is in dispute. J is short for
Jahwe, the
German spelling of
Jehovah or
Yahweh. J consistently refers to
God by the name Yahweh, while other authors use different words.
The writings of J in the Bible are considered by many to be more engaging, interesting, humorous, and human than the work of the other authors. J is the author of the second creation story in
Genesis (
Genesis 2:4-25) and the famous poetic image of God strolling around in the
Garden of Eden in "the cool of the day" (
Genesis 3:8). Some also credit J with the story of the warrior woman
Deborah in the book of
Judges and other parts of later books.
Conservative literary scholar
Harold Bloom injected J into the mainstream consciousness with his controversial bestselling work
The Book of J (
1991), which theorized that J was female.