Following Albright's death, his interpretation of the Patriarchal age came under increasing criticism: such dissatisfaction marked its culmination with the publication of
The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives by
Thomas L. Thompson and
Abraham in History and Tradition by
John van Seters. Thompson, a literary scholar, argued on the lack of compelling evidence that the patriarchs lived in the 2nd millennium BCE, and noted how certain biblical texts reflected first millennium conditions and concerns, while Van Seters examined the patriarchal stories and argued that their names, social milieu, and messages strongly suggested that they were
Iron Age creations. Van Seter and Thompson's works were a
paradigm shift in biblical scholarship and archaeology, which gradually led scholars to no longer consider the patriarchal narratives as historical. Some conservative scholars attempted to defend the Patriarchal narratives in the following years,, such as according to
John Bright "We can assert with full confidence that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were actual historical individuals." These positions have not found acceptance among scholars. By the beginning of the 21st century, archaeologists had given up hope of recovering any context that would make
Abraham,
Isaac or
Jacob credible historical figures. ==See also==