Minor prophets

Academic debates

In the recent Oxford Handbook of the Minor Prophets, Jason Radine summarizes the ongoing "Persian Turn" in Minor Prophets scholarship. It refers to a scholarly trend towards dating much of the biblical composition and editing of the Minor Prophets to the Persian period (539–323 BCE). This trend is rooted in earlier scholarly theories, such as the Graf-Wellhausen Hypothesis, which suggested that elements of the Pentateuch, particularly the "Priestly" writings, originated during the Persian era. Additionally, Spinoza’s 17th-century argument that Ezra authored large portions of the Hebrew Bible influenced this perspective.