Rolf Rendtorff subjects, but was notable chiefly for his 1977 book, "Das überlieferungsgeschichtliche Problem des Pentateuch" ("The Problem of the Transmission of the Pentateuch"). The book was a study of the question of Pentateuchal origins (the question of how the first five books of the bible – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Book of Numbers and Deuteronomy – came to be written), and appeared at the same time as two other important books, John Van Seters' "Abraham in History and Tradition" (1975), and Hans Heinrich Schmid's "Der sogenannte Jahwist" ("The So-called Yahwist") (1976). The three studies, appearing almost together, inaugurated a heated discussion in
August Dillmann ihrer politischen Wirksamkeit" (1868). In 1869 appeared his commentary on "Hiob", (4th edition 1891) which stamped him as one of the foremost Old Testament exegetes. His renown as a theologian was mainly founded on the series of commentaries, based on those of August Wilhelm Knobel's "Die Genesis" (Leipzig, 1875); "Die Bücher Exodus und Leviticus", 1880; "Die Bücher Numeri, Deuteronomium und Josua", with a dissertation on the origin of the Hexateuch, 1886; "Der Prophet Jesaja", 1890. In 1877 he published the "Ascension of Isaiah" in Ethiopian and Latin. He was also a contributor to Daniel Schenkel's "Bibellexikon", Brockhaus's "Conversationslexikon", and Johann