A great part of the reason
for the acceptance of WellhausenÕs theory was
his skillful presentation of a particular idea of the
development of Israelite religion. This idea, however, has now been almost
universally
discarded. Few scholars today hold
to a theory of Hebrew religious
development even close to that upon which
Wellhausen based his idea for the sources of the
Pentateuch. Yet his method of dividing sources and his
view of their dates are still be presented as
established fact.