Biblical maximalism

Biblical maximalism is the movement in Biblical scholarship that, as opposed to Biblical minimalism, affirms the historicity of central Biblical narratives, such as those pertaining to the United Monarchy, and the historical authenticity of ancient Israel as a whole.[1] Due to differences between the Bible and 19th- and 20th-century archaeological findings, there exists discordance between the two parties of biblical exegetists: the biblical maximalists argue that prior to Judaism's Babylonian Captivity (the period that spanned the 6th-century B.C.), the Bible serves an accurate historical source and should influence the conclusions drawn from archaeological studies; whereas biblical minimalists assert that the Bible must be read as fiction, unless proven otherwise by archaeological findings, and ought not be considered in secular studies.[2][3]

The debate between the two parties revolves, predominantly, around one major issue in the sphere of Biblical interpretation: the existence, or nonexistence, of the united kingdom of Solomon and David.[2] Minimalists argue that this kingdom must have been different than the one presented in the Biblical texts—1 Kings and 2 Samuel, for example—as the current archaeological evidence does not indicate that a state organization of the kind once existed. Maximalists hold that the objects needed to prove the existence of such an organized state are present but not yet uncovered.[4]

Because of their disagreements, minimalist-maximalist relations have been characterized by inflamed rhetoric and frequent personal attacks. And as political agendas and nationalist sentiments become ever more entangled in this discourse, a placation seems ever less likely in the 21st-century than in those preceding it.[5]