The long and complex history of reception and interpretation of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament through the ages, described in the HBOT Project, is in the penultimate part volume three pursued to the nineteenth century's special situation with its new methods and problems. Due to an increased historical knowledge in many fields and an expanding cultural context, the phenomenon of history became the object of an as yet unsurpassed fascination; history was the new key concept partly in form of a historicism. With regard to biblical studies in general and the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in particular a decisive historical-critical approach came into focus, which generated tension between this new method and the traditional scriptural interpretation of the Church and in turn also relatively severe controversies between opposing fronts.