2/1/05 Higher and Lower Critisism

Hi, My name is Ashley Eaton and the question I’ve been requested to respond to is “Explain the meaning and significance of higher and lower criticism. Through my three points my goal is to make clear higher and lower criticism. These area’s are:



· Higher Criticism

· Lower Criticism

· What is their significance

Higher Criticism

Higher criticism is defined in the dictionary as "the study of the sources and literary methods employed by the biblical authors.” To expand on this definition I will add that higher criticism is the study of the literary structure of the various books of the Bible, although this is predominately in the Old Testament.

Higher criticism arose during the 19th century mainly due to European Rationalism. It does quite often take the general secular approach by questioning such things as the origin and the composition of the text, and questions like when it originated, also the location of origin, how, why, who authored it, who was it written to, and what where the circumstances in which it was being produced, which influences must be factored as having part in its production, which original oral or written sources might have been used in the process of it being written, and the message of the text in its original language, also taking into account the meaning of the words and the way in which the words where arranged to for meaningful expression. As you can clearly see the principles of higher criticism are predominately based on reason and not on revelation and are also quite speculative by nature.

Higher criticism’s goal is to interpret the Holy Scriptures completely free of confessional and dogmatic theology. Higher criticism seeks to apply the principles of the scientific and historical method which is applied to secular works. It is mainly dependant on internal studies and the evidences found in those studies, however any additional evidence from linguists, and archeological finds will also quickly be incorporated. Questions concerned with the authenticity and likely chronological order as concerned with the text, also the identity and. In recent years Higher Criticism has become increasingly abandoned for other methodology’s, some of which include narrative criticism or canonical criticism, and so as a result the term itself has largely fallen into disuse.

The protestant reformers rejected both the church traditions of the Roman Catholics but also their allegorical interpretations. They held to the scriptures as being the only source for direction. Martin Luther, John Calvin and other leaders of the Protestant Reformation strongly held to their belief in the literal interpretation of the Bible. Luther wrote, "The Holy Ghost is the all-simplest writer that is in heaven or earth; therefore his words can have no more than one simplest sense, which we call the scriptural or literal meaning.”







Lower Criticism

Lower criticism is defined as "the discipline and study of the actual wording" of the Bible; a quest for textual purity and understanding.

Lower Criticism which is also known as Textual Criticism, will, as a general rule, ask questions which have to do with the preservation and transmission of each biblical text, including in which manuscript the given text is found, the setting, the date, and their relationship with each other ,and so determining what the most reliable form of the text is. In this sense Lower and Textual Criticism are virtually synonymous.

Lower Criticism’s purpose is to establish conclusions as to the original wording or form of the biblical text as written in the autographs, in as much as it is possible. When dealing with ancient manuscripts such as the ones found in the old testament there is difficultly understanding what an author actually wrote. The study of lower criticism, especially when in relation to the Bible, is what attends primarily to the particular words of the document being studied, it explores their meaning and attempts to off an accurate version of the text.

Lower criticism (or Textual criticism)is the branch of literary criticism which is concerned with the identification and removal of errors found within copies of the original text. These errors and, or alterations were made by the ancient scribes who had to copy them by hand. Given a copy of the manuscript, several or many copies, but not the original document, the textual critics will try to reconstruct the original document (the archetype or autograph) as close to being accurate as possible. The exact same process can be used to reconstruct intermediate editions of a document’s transcription. . The textual critic’s ultimate goal in his work is the production of a "critical edition" containing the text which is the most closely approximating the original, to the point it is just a hair away from being exactly the same as the primary text.



What is their significance

These two forms of criticism I have explained today are meaningful because through them we are able to determine certain things. With higher criticism scholar’s are able to know about the surrounding, the meaning and the historical context behind a certain passage of scripture, and through Lower Criticism one can discover the exact word of the scriptures and you are able to remove any flaws and errors which ended up in the text over time.

Lower Criticism is called such not because it is not as important or significant when compared to Higher Criticism but in fact because it is the discipline and study of the actual wording of the scriptures In the Endeavour to determine what a text originally said before it was altered either by means of human error or deliberate intent. As opposed to higher criticism which as I have explained is the study of sources and literary methods which were utilized by the actual biblical authors.

Why is Higher Criticism commonly identified with unbelief in the popular mind with attacks upon the Bible and the Supernaturally inspired words contained in Bible? On the surface higher criticism seems to be searching out the facts surrounding the scripture it needs seemingly every piece of evidence in order to see if it’s true. Higher Criticism requires a faith in the supernatural as the pursuit truth. The study of it immediately demands the ability of a scholar and the simplicity of believing God with the heart of a child. For without Faith no one can explain the messages found within the Bible, and without scholarly knowledge none can investigate historical origins.

In Conclusion

Today I hope that I have achieved my goal of explaining higher and lower criticism. Through my three points:

· Higher Criticism

· Lower Criticism

· What is their significance

Through higher and lower criticism we are able to know the background behind specific passages of scripture and remove errors from them. Thank you.