From God to Us Revised and Expanded: How We Got Our Bible by Norman L. Geisler

Author:Norman L. Geisler
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Christian
ISBN: 9780802428820
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 2012-08-01T00:00:00+00:00

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The Development of Textual Criticism

Once all the manuscripts and other evidence bearing witness to the text of the Scriptures have been gathered, the student of textual criticism becomes the heir to a great tradition. He has at his disposal much of the material used to determine the true reading of the biblical text. This chapter is concerned with the historical development of the science of textual criticism.

higher and lower CritiCism distinguished

Much confusion and controversy has arisen over the matter of “higher” (historical) and “lower” (textual) criticism of the Bible. Some of this controversy has resulted from a misunderstanding of the term criticism as it is applied to the Scriptures. In its grammatical sense the term refers merely to the exercise of judgment. When applied to the Bible it is used in the sense of exercising judgment about the Bible itself. But there are two basic types of criticism, and two basic attitudes toward each type. The titles ascribed to these two types of criticism have nothing at all to do with their importance, as the following discussion will illustrate.

Higher (Historical) Criticism

When scholarly judgment is applied to thegenuinenessof the biblical text, it is classified as higher or historical criticism. The subject matter of this type of scholarly judgment concerns such matters as the date of the text, its literary

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style and structure, its historicity, and its authorship. As a result, higher criticism is not actually an integral part of a general introduction to the Bible. Instead, higher criticism is the very essence of special introduction. The result of higher critical study by the heirs to the destructive theology of the late eighteenth century has been a kind of destructive criticism.

The Old Testament. The late date ascribed to Old Testament documents led some scholars to attribute its supernatural elements to legend or myth. This resulted in the denial of the historicity and genuineness of much of the Old Testament by skeptical scholars. In an attempt at mediation between traditionalism and skepticism, Julius Wellhausen and his followers developed the documentary theory, which proposed to date the Old Testament books in a less supernaturalistic manner. As a result they developed the JEDP Theory of the Old Testament.

This theory was based largely on the argument that Israel had no writing prior to the monarchy, and that an Elohist (E) Code and a Yahwist or Jehovahist ( J) Code were based on two oral traditions about God (“E” using the name Elohim and “J” using Jehovah [Yahweh]). To these were added the Deuteronomic (D) Code (documents ascribed to the time of Josiah) and the so-called Priestly (P) documents associated with postexilic Judaism. These views were not palatable to orthodox scholars and a wave of opposition arose. This opposition emerged only after a considerable period of time, and the scholarly world largely followed the theory of Wellhausen, W. Robertson Smith, and Samuel R. Driver. When opposition finally raised its voice against this “destructive criticism,” it was generally written off as an insignificant minority and ignored. Among the opposition were such proponents of “constructive criticism” as William Henry Green, A.

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