[4]:21,22 Newer forms of biblical criticism are primarily literary: no longer focused on the historical, they attend to the text as it exists now. These three approaches have three different emphases. [154]:167 Stephen D. Moore has written that "as a term, narrative criticism originated within biblical studies", but its method was borrowed from narratology. [4]:20 Karl Barth (18861968), Rudolf Bultmann (18841976), and others moved away from concern over the historical Jesus and concentrated instead on the kerygma: the message of the New Testament. But Fr. [32]:4952 The fragmentary theory was a later understanding of Wellhausen produced by form criticism. [14]:222 Other Bible scholars outside the Gttingen school, such as Heinrich Julius Holtzmann (18321910), also used biblical criticism. [168]:136,137,141, Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Catholic theology avoided biblical criticism because of its reliance on rationalism, preferring instead to engage in traditional exegesis, based on the works of the Church Fathers. [78] The impact of variants on the reliability of a single text is usually tested by comparing it to a manuscript whose reliability has been long established. [77] Variants are not evenly distributed throughout any set of texts. [175] The cole Biblique and the Revue Biblique were shut down and Lagrange was called back to France in 1912. [187]:215 According to Aly Elrefaei, the strongest refutation of Wellhausen's Documentary theory came from Yehezkel Kaufmann in 1937. Tannehill. [13]:43[15] Semler argued for an end to all doctrinal assumptions, giving historical criticism its nonsectarian character. Understanding and evaluating modern critical approaches to the study of the Old Testament can be a very real problem for any theological student; however, for the evangelical student, committed to the belief that the Bible is the Word of God, the problems raised are manifold. [36]:90 Notable exceptions to this included Richard Simon, Ignaz von Dllinger and the Bollandist. The Absurdity of "Higher Criticism" of the Gospels as Illustrated in a Novel. [45]:10, The Old Quest was not considered closed until Albert Schweitzer (18751965) wrote Von Reimarus zu Wrede which was published in English as The Quest of the Historical Jesus in 1910. [22]:298 Conservative Protestant scholars have continued the tradition of contributing to critical scholarship. [124]:296298, Form critics assumed the early Church was heavily influenced by the Hellenistic culture that surrounded first-century Palestine, but in the 1970s, Sanders, as well as Gerd Theissen, sparked new rounds of studies that included anthropological and sociological perspectives, reestablishing Judaism as the predominant influence on Jesus, Paul, and the New Testament. [76], The exact number of variants is disputed, but the more texts survive, the more likely there will be variants of some kind. Viviano says: "While source criticism has always had its detractors, the past few decades have witnessed an escalation in the level of dissatisfaction". 8 Practical criticism. [191]:11 Feminist theology has since responded to globalization, making itself less specifically Western, thereby moving beyond its original narrative "as a movement defined by the USA". [143]:3, By 1974, the two methodologies being used in literary criticism were rhetorical analysis and structuralism. ", "Truth or Meaning: Ricoeur versus Frei on Biblical Narrative". According to Spinoza: "All these details, the manner of narration, the testimony, and the context of the whole story lead to the plain conclusion that these books were written by another, and not by Moses in person". [14]:201,118 He distinguished between "inward" and "outward" religion: for some people, their religion is their highest inner purpose, while for others, religion is a more exterior practice a tool to accomplish other purposes more important to the individual, such as political or economic goals. [186]:83 The growing anti-semitism in Germany of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the perception that higher criticism was an entirely Protestant Christian pursuit, and the sense that many Bible critics were not impartial academics but were proponents of supersessionism, prompted Schechter to describe "Higher Criticism as Higher Anti-semitism". Methods of biblical scholarship are rapidly changing, but one can safely predict that viewing the biblical texts as literature and using the critical methods commonly applied to non-biblical literature will obtain a prominent place in academic study of the Bible. It has often been used in attempts to categorize the supposed sources within the Torah or Books of Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy . Mid-twentieth century scholars of oral tradition objected to the "book mentality" of source criticism, saying the idea that ancients had "cut and pasted" from their sources reflects the modern world more than the ancient one. The rise of redaction criticism closed this debate by bringing about a greater emphasis on diversity. [55]:9,149 For example, the majority of the Dead Sea texts are closely related to the Masoretic Text that the Christian Old Testament is based upon, while other texts bear a closer resemblance to the Septuagint (the ancient Greek version of the Hebrew texts) and still others are closer to the Samaritan Pentateuch. [4]:21,22, One legacy of biblical criticism in American culture is the American fundamentalist movement of the 1920s and 1930s. Expository Expository commentaries are typically written by pastors and expository Bible teachers who teach verse by verse through the Bible. Fiorenza says, "Christian male theologians have formulated theological concepts in terms of their own cultural experience, insisting on male language relating to God, and on a symbolic universe in which women do not appear Feminist scholars insist that religious texts and traditions must be reinterpreted so that women and other "non-persons" can achieve full citizenship in religion and society". [44], In 1896, Martin Khler (18351912) wrote The So-called Historical Jesus and the Historic Biblical Christ. Lower criticism is an attempt to find the original wording of the text since we no longer have the original writings. [4]:82, Many insights in understanding the Bible that began in the nineteenth century continue to be discussed in the twenty-first; in some areas of study, such as linguistic tools, scholars merely appropriate earlier work, while in others they "continue to suppose they can produce something new and better". Biblical scholar B.H. Streeter used this insight to refine and expand the two-source theory into a four-source theory in 1925. What is the most controversial Bible verse? [37]:2 African-American biblical criticism is based on liberation theology and black theology, and looks for what is potentially liberating in the texts. Redaction criticism later developed as a derivative of both source and form criticism. [122]:16,17 Susan Niditch concluded from her orality studies that: "no longer are many scholars convinced that the most seemingly oral-traditional or formulaic pieces are earliest in date". [72]:47 It is one of the largest areas of biblical criticism in terms of the sheer amount of information it addresses. Many like Roy A. Harrisville believe biblical criticism was created by those hostile to the Bible. [161], the traditional sacrality of the Bible is at once simple and symbolic, individual and communal, practical and paradoxical. [11]:214, Communications scholar James A. Herrick (b. Textual methods emphasize on the text itself. Since 1966 the United Bible Societies have published four editions of the Greek New Testament designed for translators and students. It then charts the writer's thought progression from one unit to the next, and finally, assembles the data in an attempt to explain the author's intentions behind the piece. In reality, biblical criticism or various critical approaches to the Bible are not about attacking the Bible but rather relate to the careful, academic study of it. [25]:888 It began with the publication of Hermann Samuel Reimarus's work after his death. Why is archetypal criticism used? [199], New historicism emerged as traditional historical biblical criticism changed. Further, it is not at all clear whether the difference was made by the evangelist, who could have used the already changed story when writing a gospel. No conclusive evidence has yet been produced to settle the question of genre, and without genre, no adequate parallels can be found, and without parallels "it must be considered to what extent the principles of literary criticism are applicable". [32]:38, One can see the Supplementary hypothesis as yet another evolution of Wellhausen's theory that solidified in the 1970s. Textual criticism examines biblical manuscripts and their content to identify what the original text probably said. [52] As a major proponent of form criticism, Bultmann "set the agenda for a subsequent generation of leading NT [New Testament] scholars". Historical-biblical criticism includes a wide range of approaches and questions within four major methodologies: textual, source, form, and literary criticism. The Jesuit Augustin Bea (18811968) had played a vital part in its publication. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [142][143]:34 Hans Frei proposed that "biblical narratives should be evaluated on their own terms" rather than by taking them apart in the manner we evaluate philosophy or historicity. In societies where the "lay person" often has a passionate relationship with the Bible, it has been controversial to examine the book through historical types of literary criticism.Even though, as religious experts explain, historical criticism is used in seminaries, it is not popular in non-academic environments, where many people . "[162]:151,153 This created an "intellectual crisis" in American Christianity of the early twentieth century which led to a backlash against the critical approach. It is an umbrella term covering various techniques used mainly by mainline and liberal Christian . Omissions? [149]:6 Sonja K. Foss discusses ten different methods of rhetorical criticism in her book Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice saying that each method will produce different insights. Higher criticism, whether biblical, classical . There were also other problems such as Deuteronomy 31:9 which references Moses in the third person. "Lower" or textual criticism addressed critical issues . history [96]:136138, Mark is the shortest of the four gospels with only 661 verses, but 600 of those verses are in Matthew and 350 of them are in Luke. It critiqued the quest's methodology, with a reminder of the limits of historical inquiry, saying it is impossible to separate the historical Jesus from the Jesus of faith, since Jesus is only known through documents about him as Christ the Messiah. [152]:5, As a form of literary criticism, narrative criticism approaches scripture as story. Source criticism attempts to determine the various sources, oral or written, that were used to write a particular book. It could no longer be a Catholic Bible or a Lutheran Bible but had to be divested of its scriptural character within specific confessional hermeneutics. [73] The New Testament has been preserved in more manuscripts than any other ancient work, having over 5,800 complete or fragmented Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin manuscripts and 9,300 manuscripts in various other ancient languages including Syriac, Slavic, Gothic, Ethiopic, Coptic and Armenian texts. [117]:158, Form criticism began in the early twentieth century when theologian Karl Ludwig Schmidt observed that Mark's Gospel is composed of short units. Most scholars believe the German Enlightenment (c.1650 c.1800) led to the creation of biblical criticism, although some assert that its roots reach back to the Reformation. [158][156]:9 Soulen adds that biblical criticism's "leading practitioners have set standards of industry, acumen, and insight that remain pace-setting today. [2]:33 So much biblical criticism has been done as history, and not theology, that it is sometimes called the "historical-critical method" or historical-biblical criticism (or sometimes higher criticism) instead of just biblical criticism. Psychological Criticism Contents: An overview of psychological biblical criticism with a focus on psychoanalytic approach; various psychoanalytic theories utilized in such approach, and a critique of its tasks, presuppositions, and reading strategies. Don Richardson writes that Wellhausen's theory was, in part, a derivative of an anthropological theory popular in the nineteenth century known as Tylor's theory. This quest for the historical Jesus began in biblical criticism's earliest stages, and has remained an interest within biblical criticism, on and off, for over 200 years. 4. [45]:10, In the early twentieth century, biblical criticism was shaped by two main factors and the clash between them. There is some consensus among twenty-first century textual critics that the various locations traditionally assigned to the text types are incorrect and misleading. JEDP are initials representing the four hypothetical sources as follows: J awist (or Yahwist, from Yahweh) - describes God as Yahweh, starting in Gen 2:4, it includes much of Genesis and parts of Exodus and Numbers. By then, it became necessary to acknowledge that "the upshot of the first two quests was to reveal the frustrating limitations of the historical study of any ancient person". [32]:38,39 Alexander Geddes and Johann Vater proposed that some of these fragments were quite ancient, perhaps from the time of Moses, and were brought together only at a later time. [4]:21, Around the midcentury point the denominational composition of biblical critics began to change. It attempts to discover and evaluate the rhetorical devices, language, and methods of communication used within the texts by focusing on the use of "repetition, parallelism, strophic structure, motifs, climax, chiasm and numerous other literary devices". Historical-biblical criticism includes a wide range of approaches and questions within four major methodologies: textual, source, form, and literary criticism. Biblical studies is the study of the Bible. [29][30][31], In addition to overseeing the publication of Reimarus's work, Lessing made contributions of his own, arguing that the proper study of biblical texts requires knowing the context in which they were written. [55]:241,149[56] This has raised the question of whether or not there is such a thing as an "original text". [93][94]:1 The French physician Jean Astruc presumed in 1753 that Moses had written the book of Genesis (the first book of the Pentateuch) using ancient documents; he attempted to identify these original sources and to separate them again. This sets it apart from earlier, pre-critical methods; from the anti-critical methods of those who oppose criticism-based study; from later post-critical orientation, and from the many different types of criticism which biblical criticism transformed into in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Hermeneutics and Bible Study Methods: A study of principles or sound interpretation and application of the Bible, including analysis of presuppositions, general rules and specialized principles for the various biblical genre and phenomena and the development of an exegetical method. [22]:298 A similar view was later advocated by the Primitive Methodist biblical scholar A. S. Peake (18651929). [4]:204 A variant is simply any variation between two texts. Biblical criticism, in particular higher criticism, covers a variety of methods used since the Enlightenment in the early 18th century as scholars began to apply to biblical documents the same methods and perspectives which had already been applied to other literary and philosophical texts. Biblical scholar Hermann Gunkel's system covers the following categories: Hymns: Many of the psalms are simple hymns or songs of praise. [140]:335,336 In the New Testament, redaction critics attempt to discern the original author/evangelist's theology by focusing and relying upon the differences between the gospels, yet it is unclear whether every difference has theological meaning, how much meaning, or whether any given difference is a stylistic or even an accidental change. HIGHER CRITICISM is a term applied to a type of biblical studies that emerged in mostly German academic circles in the late eighteenth century, blossomed in English-speaking academies during the nineteenth, and faded out in the early twentieth. Funk explains that, when it is used properly, the. Johann Salomo Semler (17251791) had attempted in his work to navigate between divine revelation and extreme rationalism by supporting the view that revelation was "divine disclosure of the truth perceived through the depth of human experience". The Old Testament (the Hebrew Bible), and the New Testament, as distinct bodies of literature, each raise their own problems of interpretation - the two are therefore generally studied separately. [25]:698,699, In 1953, Ernst Ksemann (19061998), gave a famous lecture before the Old Marburgers, his former colleagues at the University of Marburg, where he had studied under Bultmann. There are also approximately a million direct New Testament quotations in the collected writings of the Church Fathers of the first four centuries. [113]:8587 In 1838, the religious philosopher Christian Hermann Weisse developed a theory about this. Thus, we may say that the Bible itself may help to retrieve the notion of a sacred text. The rapid development of philology in the 19th century together with archaeological discoveries of the 20th century revolutionized biblical criticism. Newer methods brought about by the globalization of biblical studies and by concerns with the 'world in front of the text' - like new historicism, feminist criticism, postcolonial/liberationist criticism, and rhetorical criticism - are well represented in the series. This "leads naturally to a second indictment against biblical criticism: that it is the preserve of a small coterie of people in the rich Western world, trying to legislate for how the vast mass of humanity ought to read the Bible. While taking a stand against discrimination in society, Semler also wrote theology that was strongly negative toward the Jews and Judaism. Higher criticism: the study of the sources and literary methods employed by the biblical authors. It became both longer and shorter, both more and less detailed, and both more and less Semitic". [165][166]:4 Some fundamentalists believed liberal critics had invented an entirely new religion "completely at odds with the Christian faith". [201]:74 Biblical scholar A. K. M. Adam says postmodernism has three general features: 1) it denies any privileged starting point for truth; 2) it is critical of theories that attempt to explain the "totality of reality;" and 3) it attempts to show that all ideals are grounded in ideological, economic or political self-interest. [91], Latin scholar Albert C. Clark challenged Griesbach's view of shorter texts in 1914. Eichhorn, who applied the method to his study of the Pentateuch. [98]:4[102]:36[note 4], Problems and criticisms of the Documentary hypothesis have been brought on by literary analysts who point out the error of judging ancient Eastern writings as if they were the products of western European Protestants; and by advances in anthropology that undermined Wellhausen's assumptions about how cultures develop; and also by various archaeological findings showing the cultural environment of the early Hebrews was more advanced than Wellhausen thought. [47]:1318 In 1974, the theologian Hans Frei published The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative, which became a landmark work leading to the development of post-critical interpretation. Daniel J. Harrington defines biblical criticism as "the effort at using scientific criteria (historical and literary) and human reason to understand and explain, as objectively as possible, the meaning intended by the biblical writers. These he listed in an attachment called Syllabus Errorum ("Syllabus of Errors"), which, among other things, condemned rationalistic interpretations of the Bible. By the end of the nineteenth century, these principles were recognized by Ernst Troeltsch in an essay, Historical and Dogmatic Method in Theology, where he described three principles of biblical criticism: methodological doubt (a way of searching for certainty by doubting everything); analogy (the idea that we understand the past by relating it to our present); and mutual inter-dependence (every event is related to events that proceeded it). [154]:166 Sharon Betsworth says Robert Alter's work is what adapted New Criticism to the Bible. [173]:301. Diagram showing the authors and editors of the Pentateuch (Torah) according to the. [169], The Church showed strong opposition to biblical criticism during that period. The amendment has a basis in the text, which is believed to be corrupted, but is nevertheless a matter of personal judgment. It is important to understand the meaning of these terms in relation to the exegetical process. [45]:10 Bultmann had claimed that, since the gospel writers wrote theology, their writings could not be considered history, but Ksemann reasoned that one does not necessarily preclude the other. Fundamentalism began, at least partly, as a response to the biblical criticism of nineteenth century liberalism. [51] Bultmann claimed myths are "true" anthropologically and existentially but not cosmologically. This qualitative analysis involves three primary dimensions: (1) analyzing the act of criticism and what it does; (2) analyzing what goes on within the rhetoric being analyzed and what is created by that rhetoric; and (3) understanding the processes involved in all of it. Charting the variants in the New Testament shows it is 62.9 percent variant-free. Most forms of biblical criticism are relevant to many other bodies of literature. Biblical criticism is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible. [96]:208[119] One example is Basil Christopher Butler's challenge to the legitimacy of two-source theory, arguing it contains a Lachmann fallacy[120]:110 that says the two-source theory loses cohesion when it is acknowledged that no source can be established for Mark. It does not mean the same thing as a complaint or disapproval. G. E. Lessing (17291781) claimed to have discovered copies of Reimarus's writings in the library at Wolfenbttel when he was the librarian there. [143]:374,410, New Testament scholar Donald Guthrie highlights a flaw in the literary critical approach to the Gospels: the genre of the Gospels has not been fully determined. [53][54]:443, The discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls at Qumran in 1948 renewed interest in archaeology's potential contributions to biblical studies, but it also posed challenges to biblical criticism. [68] In this stronghold of support for Bultmann, Ksemann claimed "Bultmann's skepticism about what could be known about the historical Jesus had been too extreme". Wellhausen argued that P had been composed during the exile of the 6th century BCE, under the influence of Ezekiel. Meaning, an approach to theological knowledge (found primarily in the Bible) that involves arranging the data into well-ordered categories and . [9]:204,217,210. to the Bible), (3) developing sensitivity to the various types of literature present in the Bible (another application of literary criticism), (4) considering the "what" and the "how" of canon, and (5) cultivating a robust sense of curiosity with regard to the biblical text. For purposes of discussion, these individual methods are separated here and the Bible is addressed as a whole, but this is an artificial approach that is used only for the purpose of description, and is not how biblical criticism is actually practiced. [127]:42,70[note 7] For example, the period of the twentieth century dominated by form criticism is marked by Bultmann's extreme skepticism concerning what can be known about the historical Jesus and his sayings. As John Niles indicates, the "older idea of 'an ideal folk communityan undifferentiated company of rustics, each of whom contributes equally to the process of oral tradition,' is no longer tenable". In any case, the form critics did not derive the laws from or apply the laws to the Gospels systematically, nor did they carry out a systematic investigation of changes in the post-canonical literature. [14]:117 117,149150,188191, George Ricker Berry says the term "higher criticism", which is sometimes used as an alternate name for historical criticism, was first used by Eichhorn in his three-volume work Einleitung ins Alte Testament (Introduction to the Old Testament) published between 1780 and 1783.