Julius Wellhausen

“In the oldest time, the prophets were the spiritual leaders of the people; they were the men who brought the word of God to the people.”

“Jahveh was not the God of Israel in the beginning, but became so.”

“The Mosaic law is not the starting-point for the history of ancient Israel, but for the history of Judaism.”

“History, which has a memory for facts, is blind to the problems.”

“The law is the last and not the first thing in the history of Israel.”

“The cultus is not the creation of the Mosaic Law; on the contrary, the Mosaic Law is the product of the cultus.”

“For the Old Testament, we may say, is a book that has not been understood.”

“It is a singular thing that the Jewish people, who are so proud of their law, should have so completely forgotten its history.”

“The historical and the prophetical books of the Old Testament have been correctly estimated as historical sources.”