“It is impossible for men to judge the inner motives of any superior acquaintance.”William Foxwell AlbrightIn a still valid survey of one hundred years of biblical research, Herbert F. Hahn offers the following status quaestionis:Interpretation of the Bible in the present day has reached a point of crisis. A seeming return to the age-old emphasis on the doctrinal content of Scripture and its essential unity throughout the sacred books—a return to traditionalism which nevertheless denies that it is a step backward—has dominated recent discussion of biblical interpretation.… The crisis grows out of a loss of confidence in the historical approach on the part of many who formerly favored it.