On Biblical Minimalism in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies

Abstract

The maximalist/minimalist debates of the 1990s reflect a positive moment of epistemological and methodological discussions within the field of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament historical studies, in spite of some concerned voices viewing such debates as reflecting a crisis in the writing of ancient Israelite history. These debates actually allowed for rethinking the traditional ways in which the history of ´ancient Israel´ was being produced, the status of the Hebrew Bible as a historical source, and they even opened up the possibility of addressing a new and wider historiographical genre in the field: the history of ancient Palestine, as a more critical historiographical horizon overcoming the limitations of the traditional focus on ´ancient Israel´. This paper considers, in a first place, the relevance of the so-called minimalist positions for a critical historiography of ancient Israel/Palestine, and in a second place, building on such elaboration, the prospects for writing histories of the region beyond issues of historicity related to ancient textual traditions.