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The prophets’ fall and rise. The German Bible scholar Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918; shown here)—best remembered for fully developing the theory that the Torah was composed of four different authorial strands known as J (for Yahwist; Jahwist in German), E (Elohist), P (Priestly Code) and D (Deuteronomist)—portrayed the prophets as leaders of the true, original Israelite religion. Wellhausen condemned the law found in the Torah as a late, degraded addition to Israelite religion that suppressed the intellectual and religious freedom of the prophetic period.