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regarded). Néldeke then showed that J and E had existed independently, and had been united later into JE, before their union with P and D. Graf (+1869), Kuenen (+1891), and Wellhausen have especially contributed to the final solution of this problem, showing that the earliest documents of the Hexateuch are the prophetic ones J and E, resembling in certain features the early prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, and that 5 comes next, belonging to the reign of Josiah, and P, the ead priestly document containing most of the
Tosaic legislation (Lv and related parts of Ex and Nu), comes last in the exilic or post-exilic period (for details see above, and art. HEXATEUCH). Thus the conception of the order of the development of Israel’s religion has been revolutionized: the com- pleted Levitical code coming at the end instead of the beginning of the period extending from Moses to Ezra.
Conclusions, departing almost as widely from previous Jewish and Christian views, have been reached within this same period concerning other books of the OT. The Bk. of Isaiah has been resolved into an anthology of prophecies of various dates (for history of this criticism see article IsAIAH, IV.), that of Daniel placed in the Mac- cabean period, Jg and 1 and 2 S shown to be compilations of narratives not always harmonious with each other (see articles on all these books). The conception of the Canon also has very much changed. The post-Reformation view was essenti- ally that of Josephus: each book written by a recognized inspired man, and all collected by Ezra or at his time (c. Apion. i. 8). For modern view see above, and article OT CANON.
The conception of the OT history has also been revolutionized. Until the period of modern criti- cism, the narratives of the OT had generally been received as records of real history. But according to the new view they contain myths and legends, and give a partially erroneous conception of the growth of Israel’s religion, whose beginnings are not found in direct Divine communications to primitive mankind and the patriarchs, but in the common primitive religion of the Semitic peoples, whence by revelation through Moses and the prophets, the legal or ecclesiastical stage, represented in the middle books of the Penta- teuch, was reached about the time of Ezra. The OT thus can no longer be regarded as an infal- lible or, indeed, entirely trustworthy guide in science and history. In these particulars it re- flects the limitations of its times. (Historical criticism showing the errors of the OT narratives has kept pace with the higher criticism and formed a part of it. Among noteworthy contributors to this were de Wette and Colenso (+ 1883), and in constructive work Kittel, Stade, and Wellhausen).
A similar limitation appears also in the moral and religious teachings of the OT. (A certain limi- tation is recognized in the NT, and has always been more or less clearly discerned in the Christian Church. Criticism emphasizes a Pauline conception also in making prophetic religion antecedent to the Law). The new science of OT theology, giving a historical exhibition of the development of the religion contained in the OT, has also arisen, being first clearly presented in 1789 by Gabler (t 1826), and carried Ewart by G. L. Bauer (+ 1806); de Wette (+ 1849); von Colin (+1833); Vatke (+ 1882), who in a neglected work (1835) put the Prophets and the Law in their true relation, thus anticipat- ing more recent results; Ewald ( 1875), Schultz, Smend, and others.
These critical conclusions were controverted from the first by Carpzov (+ 1767), Michaelis (t 1791), Hiivernick (+ 1845), Hengstenberg (t+ 1869), Keil (t 1888), and others in Germany, and they received
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little favour in Great Britain and America until within recent years (especially through the influ- ence of A. B. Davidson, W. R. Smith (#1894), S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs).
iv. THE PERMANENT RELIGIOUS VALUE OF THE OT resides in the simplicity of its revelation and the freshness of its expression of primary and universal religious truths and experiences. (1)God is revealed not as a philosophical abstraction but as a concrete Personality, transcendent and yet thoroughly approachable and ready to enter into the closest a a and communion with men, and in loving care, compassion, and forgiveness meeting their deepest religious wants and needs. The OT introduces God ‘the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth,’ directly into human life. (2) Man in his true experiential relation to God is likewise described in the careers of the patriarchs and other heroes and worthies of Israel, and in the history of Israel itself. Sin is portrayed, and also return and obedience. Moral precepts and laws of conduct are abundantly given, es eciall in reference to national and social life. (3) The O is also a book of hope, containing the triumphant note of redemption which is truly fulfilled in and through Christ, and the NT believer always finds Christ and His gospel organically and potentially enshrined in the OT. Modern criticism ἔπ not im- paired these permanent elements. Their authority, which is that of truth, still remains, and the OT has been transmuted from a mechanical record of doctrines and of forced Divine manifestations into a book of genuine historic life, an epic of salva- tion, showing the living process of God’s revelation through Israel.