“The experience of this demoralizing crisis [of the Babylonian exile], which appeared to negate all the central elements that Yahweh had ordained for Israel's well-being, could easily have meant the end of Israel's religion. Remarkably, it provoked instead an almost explosive flowering of theological literature during the exilic period.” ExileOld TestamentHebrew Scriptures Author:Rainer Albertz, Israel In Exile: The History and Literature of the Sixth Century B.C.E. (p. 139)