As someone who teaches Hebrew Bible, I find this whole thread pretty depressing.

It's full of people rolling their eyes at archaeological scholarship and creating bad-faith caricatures of biblical scholars' explanations.

The exodus event did not happen, at least in any way close to how it's described in the Pentateuchal sources. If you're not willing to follow the evidence and look for the facts, why are you in grad school?

In addition, the historical veracity (or lack thereof) of the exodus event has nothing to do with what it means to the communities that read this literature. It can still be a moving narrative even if it's not a strict recounting of "what really happened."

And if you ask me, it's spiritual malfeasance to serve in a position of congregational leadership while teaching people to ground their faith claims in the supposed historical accuracy of biblical texts.

You are just setting people up for failure.

I've never felt "called" to do anything in particular, but I am really passionate about helping students unlearn this sort of thing because I had to unlearn it myself.

You don't get any external historical verification of the Hebrew Bible's narratives until around the time of King Omri of Israel, and even then it's pretty spotty for centuries.

I'm here to help people deal with this fact, but if you won't listen, then seminary's not for you.