During the 19th century
various German scholars presented widely differing
theories regarding the origins of the first five
books of the Bible. None of these theories gained
complete ascendancy until 1878, when a particular theory — strikingly
different from most of the views previously held — was advanced
by Julius Wellhausen.
Though more than a century has passed during which no new evidence for the theory has been discovered, it is still being taught today in almost the identical form in which Wellhausen presented it.