The Hebrew Bible’s self-critical historiography influenced Christians but not later Jews

Evidence

It had a very promising beginning. The historical books of the Hebrew Bible set a magnificent example of historiography at its best—frank, honest, self-critical, showing even the greatest national and religious heroes with all their faults and all their sins and no attempt at concealment. In this, the historical books of the Hebrew Bible served as a model for much of early Chris­ tian historiography and to a lesser extent for Muslim historiography—but not, oddly enough, for Jewish historiography, which, within the community, virtually came to an end some time after the return from Babylon and did not resume until comparatively modern times. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 336

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies that ‘Jewish historiography’ as a continuous tradition ended after the Babylonian return, a key chronological anchor for the whole chapter.