What is
right in the one case is fair in the other too; a little logic
unfortunately is almost unavoidable.
Not everything that I have brought forward in the history of the
cultus and the tradition, is a proof of the hypothesis; there is
much that serves merely to explain phenomena at the basis of the
hypothesis, and cannot be used as proving it. This is a matter
of course. My procedure has intentionally differed from that of
Graf in this respect. He brought forward his arguments somewhat
unconnectedly, not seeking to change the general view which prevailed
of the history of Israel. For this reason he made no impression
on the majority of those who study these subjects; they did not see
into the root of the matter, they could still regard the system
as unshaken, and the numerous attacks on details of it as
unimportant. I differ from Graf chiefly in this, that I always
go back to the centralisation of the cultus, and deduce from it the
particular divergences. My whole position is contained in my
first chapter: there I have placed in a clear light that which is
of such importance for Israelite history, namely, the part taken
by the prophetical party in the great metamorphosis of the
worship, which by no means came about of itself.
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