Pentateuch and Torah

Scroll of TorahPentateuch

The biblical books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The term is from the Greek for "five" and "book." The Pentateuch is traditionally called the Five Books of Moses. The Hebrew term Torah is also used to indicate the Pentateuch. It recounts the history of ancient Israel from Creation to the death of Moses in Moab just before the entrance of the Hebrew people into the promised land under Joshua. The traditional view has been that is was written by Moses at the command of God. After the Enlightenment, a Documentary Theory was developed by scholars that the Pentateuch consists of four different documents concerning Israel's early life. According to this theory, the four documents were gradually combined over a period of several centuries to reach the Pentateuch's present form around 400 B.C. The documents were termed the Yahwist epic, the Elohist epic, the Priestly Writing, and Deuteronomy. In more recent years this Documentary Theory has been challenged by various scholars, but no one view has proved itself sufficiently convincing to replace it.
Perhaps no part of the OT is more important for both Jews and Christians than the Pentateuch, or Torah, as it is frequently called. A portion of it is always read in the regular liturgy of the Synagogue. For Christians it provides the foundation of many basic theological understandings, such as Creation.

- http://archive.episcopalchurch.org/109399_15011_ENG_HTM.htm

Torah

A Hebrew noun coming from the verb "to teach." It has the basic meaning of teaching or instruction, but it is usually translated law. Although in the OT it can refer to teaching, it most commonly indicates that which comes from God. It first seems to have been used for a single commandment (e.g., Ex 13:9). Gradually it was extended to larger collections, such as the Book of Deuteronomy (e.g., Dt. 1:5). Finally, in the period of the Second Temple it was extended to the entire Pentateuch (Ps. 119). The Torah came to be the most important part of the biblical canon for the Jews. In Jewish tradition the term usually refers to the Pentateuch. In the NT the expression "the law and the prophets" almost certainly refers to the first two sections of the Hebrew Scriptures, i.e., the Torah/Pentateuch and the prophets. At times Paul means the Pentateuch when he refers to the law (Greek, nomos), e.g., Rom 2:15. However, the term has a number of other meanings for him, depending on its context.

http://archive.episcopalchurch.org/109399_15487_ENG_HTM.htm