Two Basic Types Of Criticism

TWO BASIC TYPES OF CRITICISM
There are two basic kinds of criticism in use among Biblical scholars today. They ought to be distinguished from the outset.

1. Higher Criticism: Higher Criticism looks to the outside factors of the book. It asks such questions as... Who wrote the book? Where was the book written? When was the book written?

What outside factors influenced the writing of the book?

Why was the book written?

These questions are not in themselves bad. In fact, we usually deal with these question whenever we set out to study a book of the Bible. However, many who have become involved in Higher Criticism have become geared to attacking the Bible as to its authenticity and trustworthiness. The father of this type of Higher Criticism is Julius Wellhausen (1878). He formulated and popularized a theory called the Documentary Hypothesis. Wellhausen taught that the books of the Pentateuch were not written by Moses, but rather came about through the efforts of four separate sources. This became known as the JEDP Theory, after the four supposed sources.

J - Stands for a document written in 850 B.C. It is called this because of its extensive use of the work “Jehovah” when speaking of God.

E - This is said to use “Elohim” for God and is said to have been written in 750 B.C.

D - Stands for the book of Deuteronomy. It is said to be the scroll of the Law which Hilkaiah, the priest, found in the Temple during the reign of Josiah.

P - This is said to be a Priestly Document written in 450 B.C. It is the one which contains all of the genealogies and lists, as well as the regulations concerning the sacrifices.

According to Wellhausen, the Bible is not the inspired Word of God, but rather contains mistakes and flaws all throughout. He saw the Bible as the product of natural evolutionary processes.

Lower Criticism. This is also referred to as “Textual Criticism” because it deals with the original text of the Scriptures. Its objective is to determine as closely as possible what the original text said on the basis of a study of the existing copies. The study of Textual Criticism is not new. The early church father Origen wrote a book on the Old Testament text called the Hexapla in 250 A.D. However, discoveries of manuscripts in recent years have added a great new impetus to the science of Textual Criticism.