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
The Manga Bible: From Genesis to Revelation they also use free interpretation. Even though many of the important stories from the Bible are included, there are also some that would be expected, but are left out. For example, the building of the Tower of Babel and the whole Book of Esther are missing, In the Old and the New Testament only about half of the books are used as a source for "The Manga Bible". Many of the books that are left out would give only little to the development of the narrative, such as the Leviticus or books from the second part of the Old Testament,