Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION -- 1. The Argument -- 2. The Scope of the Study -- 3. Philosophical Issues and Assumptions in the Practice of History -- a. The Characteristics of Historical Knowledge -- b. The Meaning of History -- 4. Writer's Assumptions -- Chapter 2 HISTORIOGRAPHY IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY GERMANY -- 1. Historicism -- 2. The Character of the Historical Tradition -- a. Historicism's Foundation in Vico -- b. Herder's Contribution -- c. The Influence of Humboldt -- d. Ranke's Historical Principles -- 3. The Generation of Liberal Historians -- 4. Historiography Distinct from Philosophy and Natural Science -- a. The Positivist Challenge -- b. Understanding and Explanation -- c. The Ethical Role of the Historian -- 5. The Ethical Nature of the State -- 6. The Last of the Literary Historians -- 7. The Move to Specialization -- 8. Conclusion -- Chapter 3 JULIUS WELLHAUSEN AND THE PROLEGOMENA TO THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL -- 1. Wellhausen the Man -- 2. Wellhausen the Historian -- 3. Influences and Assumptions -- a. Empiricism and Idealism -- b. Historicism -- c. Romanticism, Culture, and Nation -- d. The "Total View" -- 4. Persistent Criticisms -- a. Wellhausen and Hegel -- b. Wellhausen and Darwin -- c. Anti-Semitism -- 5. Wellhausen's Liberalism -- 6. The Idea of the Nation -- 7. The Search for Historical Truth -- 8. Method -- a. Sources -- b. Style and Language -- c. Tradition and Culture -- 9. Conclusion -- Chapter 4 HISTORIOGRAPHY IN GERMANY AND THE UNITED STATES TO WORLD WAR II -- 1. Part One: Germany -- 2. Karl Lamprecht and the Challenge to Tradition -- 3. History as a Scientific Discipline -- a. Empirical Reality and Subjective Understanding -- 4. The Conflict of Values -- a. Rational Human Behavior -- b. Science and Culture -- c. The Crisis of Historicism -- 5. Troeltsch and Religious Relativism.

a. The History of Religions -- b. The Effects of World War I -- 6. The Failed Political System and the Diversity of Interests -- a. The Conflict with the German Spirit -- 7. The Challenges to Classical Historicism -- 8. Part Two: The United States -- 9. The German University as Model -- a. The Problem of Scientific Objectivity -- b. Ranke in the United States -- c. Science, Facts, and Impartial Observation -- 10. Professionalization of the Discipline -- a. Authority and High Culture -- b. A New Audience -- c. Professional Standards and the Pressure for Orthodoxy -- d. National Unity -- 11. The Advent of Social History -- a. Material Interests -- 12. The New History, Reform, and Progress -- a. Conflict and Discontinuity -- b. The Problem of Presentism -- c. Relativism and Progress -- 13. The Challenges of World War I -- a. Objectivity, Knowledge, and Relativism -- b. Everyman as Historian -- 14. The Passing of "Scientific" History -- 15. The Noble Dream -- 16. Conservatives and Relativists -- 17. Conclusion -- Chapter 5 BIBLICAL HISTORY AT MID-CENTURY: JOHN BRIGHT AND MARTIN NOTH -- 1. Three Approaches to the Bible as a Historical Source -- 2. Part One: Martin Noth -- 3. Assumptions and Approach -- a. The Limitations of Sources -- b. The Subject of History -- c. Israel's Identity Found in History -- d. The Traditions -- e. The Value of Artifacts -- f. Standards for Using the Biblical Traditions -- g. The Period for Study -- 4. The Traditio-Historical Approach -- a. Cultic Themes Shaping the Form of the Pentateuch -- b. The Contributions of Form Criticism -- c. Scholarly Influences on Noth -- 5. The Historical Compositions -- 6. Traditio-Historical Criticism of the Pentateuch -- a. Tales of the Pentateuch -- 7. Reliability -- 8. Conclusion -- 9. Part Two: John Bright -- 10. Assumptions -- a. Israel Unique in History -- 11. Sources.

a. Israel's Traditions -- b. Regional Culture -- c. Scope of Study -- d. The Use of Archaeology -- e. Reaction to Liberal Theology -- 12. Method -- 13. Theology Based in History -- a. Material Culture -- b. Evaluation of the Text -- c. Use of Evidence -- 14. Criticism of Alt and Noth -- 15. Conclusion -- Chapter 6 HISTORIOGRAPHY AND CONTROVERSY IN THE RECENT PAST -- 1. The New Scientific History -- a. Marxist History -- b. The Annales -- c. American Historians at the Close of World War II -- d. History as Social Science -- e. American Cliometricians -- 2. Critical History in Germany -- 3. Decline of Social Science -- 4. Universalism or Particularism -- 5. Professionalism and Public History -- 6. The Postmodern Challenge -- 7. The Linguistic Turn: The Historian as Rhetorician -- 8. The Modes of Historiography -- 9. Relativism and Objectivity Again -- 10. The Task of the Historian -- 11. Conclusion -- Chapter 7 WRITING ISRAEL'S HISTORY TODAY -- 1. The Argument -- 2. Historiography of Ancient Israel -- 3. The Challenge to Genesis -- a. Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives -- b. The Abraham Tradition -- c. The Use of Traditions -- d. The Origins of Ancient Israel -- 4. New Methodology -- 5. The New Archaeology -- a. The Present Situation -- b. The Search for Ancient Israel -- 6. "Maximalism" and "Minimalism" -- a. The Debate -- b. The Development of the Debate -- c. Escalation of the Debate: The Inscription from Tel Dan -- d. Charges of Ideology -- e. "Maximalists" and "Minimalists" Face to Face -- f. "Minimalism," Ideology, and Anti-Semitism -- 7. Academic Historiography -- a. Scientific History -- b. Dissent from the Scientific Model -- 8. Biblical History and History -- 9. Conclusion -- Chapter 8 CONCLUSION -- 1. Wellhausen -- 2. Mid-Century -- 3. History in the Present -- 4. The History of Ancient Israel.

5. The Scope of This Study and Future Research -- Bibliography -- Index of Authors -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- V -- W.