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Written by H. Grady Davis
Written by H. Grady Davis

biblical literature

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Written by H. Grady Davis
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Tradition criticism

Tradition criticism takes up where literary criticism leaves off; it goes behind the written sources to trace the development of oral tradition, where there is reason to believe that this preceded the earliest documentary stages, and attempts to trace the development of the tradition, phase by phase, from its primary life setting to its literary presentation. The development of the tradition might cover a lengthy period, as in the Old Testament narratives of the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and the judges, such as Deborah and Samuel, many of which were originally attached to particular sanctuaries. The recognition of the life setting of each successive phase is necessary to the interpretation of the material received and delivered by one generation after another.

In the New Testament too, special attention has been paid to the oral stage of the Gospel tradition, though here the preliterary period is measured in decades, not (as in the Old Testament) in generations and centuries. Not only the record of the ministry of Jesus but the development of Christian theology in the short preliterary stage has formed the subject matter of this study.

Form criticism

Form criticism has become one of the most valuable tools for the reconstruction of the preliterary tradition. This discipline classifies the literary material according to the principal “forms”—such as legal, poetic, and other forms—represented in its contents, and examines these in order to discover how they were handed down and what their successive life settings were until they assumed their present shape and position. In their various ways laws, narratives, psalms, and prophecies are amenable to this approach. By this means some scholars have undertaken to recover the ipsissima verba (“very own words”) of Jesus by removing the accretions attached to them in the course of transmission. The exegetical task assumes a threefold shape as scholars work back from (1) interpretation of the present Gospels through (2) interpretation of the tradition lying behind them to (3) reconstruction of the proclamation of Jesus.

Scholars are not left completely to speculation as they attempt to reconstruct the stages by which the Gospel tradition attained its final form: here and there in the New Testament letters, and in some of the speeches included in Acts (which convey the general sense of what was said and should not be regarded as the author’s free creations), there are fragments and outlines of the story of Jesus and of his teaching. Sometimes the characteristic terminology of tradition (“I received . . . I delivered”) is used when such fragments are introduced, a decade or so before the composition of the earliest Gospel (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:23; 15:3).

Other types of exegetical critical techniques

Redaction criticism

Redaction criticism concentrates on the end product, studying the way in which the final authors or editors used the traditional material that they received and the special purpose that each had in view in incorporating this material into his literary composition. It has led of late to important conclusions about the respective outlooks and aims of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Historical criticism

Historical criticism places the documents in their historical setting and promotes their interpretation in the light of their contemporary environment. This is necessary for their understanding, whether they are historical in character or belong to another literary genre. If they are historical in character, it is important to establish how faithfully they reflect their dramatic date—the date of the events they record (as distinct from the date of final composition). This test has been applied with singularly positive results to Luke–Acts, especially in relation to Roman law and institutions; and in general the biblical outline of events from the middle Bronze Age (c. 21st–c. mid-16th century bc) to the 1st century ad fits remarkably well into its Near Eastern context as recovered by archaeological research.

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