Modern Critical Patriarchal Scholarship

Most critical scholarship of the Patriarchs in the last century and a half has taken the stance that they are mythical/fictional characters created in the early to middle first millennium BC. The funny thing is that the difference between a faith-based critical scholar and a non-faith-based critical scholar is not that one thinks the Patriarchs were real people and the other doesn't, but that one believes there is a historical reality behind the fictional stories and the other doesn't. It is then the task of faith-based critical scholarship to uncover the real underlying history through various methods. Those who believe the Patriarchs as they appear in the OT are adequate representations of real people are referred to as “non-critical” and are summarily dismissed by the vast majority. As I continue my studies of the Patriarchal Age, I will present various arguments and evidences related to the respective sides as well as my own conclusions and opinions.