An Essay by Philip R. Davies

[Minimalist]

One of the foremost Minimalist scholars, Davies discusses the role of bible stories. Certain to piss off Fundies but, then again, what doesn't.

http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/moore1357926.shtml

the majority of biblical historians now accept that the story of Israel’s origins in Genesis–Joshua is not history (and that includes even the twelve-tribe “nation” called “Israel,” as distinct from the kingdom of that name).


This situation—if partially anticipated by earlier critical studies on the patriarchal and conquest “traditions”—arose directly from the work of Israeli archaeologists from 1968 onwards which identified the prehistory of Judah and Israel in Iron age hill-farming populations, contradicting the biblical stories. The so-called “minimalists” did not invent the data or the conclusions, but rather took the obvious step of asking what the implied fictionality of these stories meant for understanding how, why, and when they were created.