IS IT RECORDED?
I. What is Higher Criticism?
Definition:
1. Synonym for historical criticism
2. Stresses the human authorship of the Bible
3. Seeks to discover the message that the original human author
intended to communicate through the text to his original readers
(authorial intent)
B. Distinctions
1. This is different from textual/lower criticism
2. Lower seeks to discover what the original text of the Bible was,
higher seeks to understand what the text of the Bible originally
meant..
3. Lower precedes higher in the Interpretive Journey
1. Understanding the text in their town
1. The first step in the critical study of the Bible is to establish the text of the
Biblical document
2. It is only when this is reached that the application of higher criticism
continues by the interpreter seeking to answer a number of introductory
questions.
3. This is followed by philological study (study that seeks to determine the
meaning of the text by investigating vocabulary, morphology, and syntax).
1. This includes
a. Literary criticism
b. Source criticism
c. Form criticism
d. Redaction criticism
e. Traditional criticism
4. Questions it asks
1. Is it authentic?
2. Does it have integrity?
3. When was it written? Circulated?
4. What was the occasion? Purpose?
II. How did it Develop?
A. Scholiasts of the Antiochian school (Theodore and John Chrysostom)
B. This was interrupted by allegorical schools
C. It was restarted during the Renaissance and commitment to recursus ad
fontes (see Erasmus)
D. Protestant reformers emphasized sola Scriptura
E. Descartes threw presuppositions a curve ball
F. Scientific and philosophical study became guided by observation
G. Antisupernatural ensued (Spinoza & Hume)
H. Text became something to be dissected not interpreted.
III. Should Higher Criticism be applied to the Bible?
A. Most evangelical biblical scholars today recognize that the most common
mode of inspiration was a special form of divine providence in which God
utilized many different circumstances to shape the mind and thought of
the human authors of Scripture, so that they wrote exactly what God
intended.
IV. Not so Fast
A. Recently, several scholars have called for the abandonment of historical
criticism and have argued instead for things like "traditional Christian
biblical commentary" which recognized the following
1. Scripture is "a wholly authoritative and truth worthy guide to
faith and morals."
2. It affirms that God is the principal author of the Bible
3. It recognizes that one cannot always determine the meaning
of a given passage by discovering what the human author had
in mind.
V. Where has Higher Criticism Gone Wrong?
A. Antisupernaturalism (methodoligical naturalism)
B. Burden of Proof
1. Extreme skeptics hold such a relentless commitment to
methodological doubt that, short of time travel, they will not
be convinced.
2. Moderate skeptics are willing to entertain the possible
historicity of biblical accounts if they pass the scrutiny of
certain criteria
1. Multiple independent attestation
2. Palestinian language
3. Palestinian environment
4. Double dissimilarity
5. Coherence
