Abstract
Advances in literary methods and archaeology have led to the questioning of the traditional construction of biblical chronology and historiography. Maximalists assume that we simply have to trust the biblical narrative. Scientifically, this position is untenable. For minimalists, it all begins in the Achaemenid era, around 400 BC, or even later in the Hellenistic period. They argue that the Bible is a purely ideological construct, and that the earliest manuscripts date from precisely this period. But the material and traditions on which the Hebrew Bible is based predate the Persian era.
