Editing Old Testament (section)

=== Recent scholarship ===
In 2007, a historian of ancient Judaism [[Lester L. Grabbe]] explained that earlier biblical scholars such as [[Julius Wellhausen]] (1844–1918) could be described as 'maximalist', accepting biblical text unless it has been disproven. Continuing in this tradition, both "the 'substantial historicity' of the patriarchs" and "the unified conquest of the land" were widely accepted in the United States until about the 1970s. Contrarily, Grabbe says that those in his field now "are all minimalists{{snd}}at least, when it comes to the patriarchal period and the settlement. ... [V]ery few are willing to operate [as maximalists]."<ref name="GRABBE p.">{{cite book|last=Grabbe|first=Lester L.|title=Understanding the History of Ancient Israel|date=2007-10-25|publisher=British Academy|isbn=978-0-19-726401-0|pages=57–58|chapter=Some Recent Issues in the Study of the History of Israel|doi=10.5871/bacad/9780197264010.003.0005}}</ref>

In 2022, archaeologist [[Avraham Faust]] summarized recent scholarship arguing that while early histories of Israel were heavily based on biblical accounts, their reliability has been increasingly questioned over time. He continued that key debates have focused on the historicity of the [[Patriarchs]], the [[The Exodus|Exodus]], the Israelite conquest, and the [[United Monarchy]], with archaeological evidence often challenging these narratives. He concluded that while the minimalist school of the 1990s dismissed the Bible’s historical value, mainstream scholarship has balanced skepticism with evidence, recognizing that some biblical traditions align with archaeological findings, particularly from the [[9th century BC]] onward.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Ancient Israelite World |last=Faust |first=Avraham |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-000-77324-8 |page=78-79 |editor-last=Keimer |editor-first=Kyle H. |chapter=Between the Biblical Story and History: Writing an Archaeological History of Ancient Israel |editor-last2=Pierce |editor-first2=George A. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4beREAAAQBAJ&pg=PA78}}</ref>