The Nature of Biblical Criticism

The Nature of Biblical Criticism

Author: John Barton

Publisher: Presbyterian Publishing Corp

Published: 2007-01-01

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 066422587X

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Biblical criticism faces increasing hostility on two fronts: from biblical conservatives, who claim it is inherently positivistic and religiously skeptical, and from postmodernists, who see it as driven by the falsities of objectivity and neutrality. In this magisterial overview of the key factors and developments in biblical studies, John Barton demonstrates that these evaluations of biblical criticism fail to do justice to the work that has been done by critical scholars over many generations. Traditional biblical criticism has had as its central concern a semantic interest: a desire to establish the "plain sense" of the biblical text, which in itself requires sensitivity to many literary aspects of texts. Therefore, he argues, biblical criticism already includes many of the methodological approaches now being recommended as alternatives to it and, further, the agenda of biblical studies is far less fragmented than often thought.


Modern Biblical Criticism as a Tool of Statecraft (1700-1900)

Modern Biblical Criticism as a Tool of Statecraft (1700-1900)

Author: Scott Hahn

Publisher: Emmaus Academic

Published: 2020-04-27

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 1949013669

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Modern biblical scholarship is often presented as analogous to the hard and natural sciences; its histories present the developmental stages as quasi-scientific discoveries. That image of Bible scholars as neutral scientists in pursuit of truth has persisted for too long. Modern Biblical Criticism as a Tool of Statecraft (1700-1900) by Scott W. Hahn and Jeffrey L. Morrow examines the lesser known history of the development of modern biblical scholarship in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This volume seeks partially to fulfill Pope Benedict XVI’s request for a thorough critique of modern biblical criticism by exploring the eighteenth and nineteenth century roots of modern biblical scholarship, situating those scholarly developments in their historical, philosophical, theological, and political contexts. Picking up where Scott W. Hahn and Benjamin Wiker’s Politicizing the Bible: The Roots of Historical Criticism and the Secularization of Scripture 1300-1700 left off, Hahn and Morrow show how biblical scholarship continued along a secularizing trajectory as it found a home in the newly developing Enlightenment universities, where it received government funding. Modern Biblical Criticism as a Tool of Statecraft (1700-1900) makes clear why the discipline of modern biblical studies is often so hostile to religious and faith commitments today.


The Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, and Historical Criticism

The Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, and Historical Criticism

Author: Jon Douglas Levenson

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press

Published: 1993-01-01

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 9780664254070

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Writing from a Jewish perspective, Jon Levenson reviews many often neglected theoretical questions. He focuses on the relationship between two interpretive communities--the community of scholars who are committed to the historical-critical method of biblical interpretation and the community responsible for the canonization and preservation of the Bible.


The Critical Meaning of the Bible

The Critical Meaning of the Bible

Author: Raymond Edward Brown

Publisher: Paulist Press

Published: 1981

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 9780809124060

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The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul, discerning the thoughts of the heart. So proclaims te Epistle to the Hebrews. Yet for many persons the biblical Word of God is less a sharp sword than a crutch, supporting rather than piercing them. Interpreted as they have "always" heard it, scripture tells them exactly what they want to hear. Modern critical investigation of the Bible can change that radically, for now Christians and the churches are being told that the biblical authors did not always mean what they were thought to have meant when read through the spectacles of later interests. Because of its approach, some Protestants and Catholics believe the new biblical criticism is impious. Raymond Brown, a Catholic priest who is Auburn Professor of Biblical Studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, argues strongly to the contrary. Critically interpreted, the Bible is all the more critical to Christians and the Church. The challenge of the scriptures is unleashed, "piercing to the division of soul, discerning the thoughts of the heart." - Back cover.


Alfred Loisy and Modern Biblical Studies

Alfred Loisy and Modern Biblical Studies

Author: Jeffrey L. Morrow

Publisher: Catholic University of America Press

Published: 2018-11-21

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0813231213

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The French Catholic priest and biblical scholar Alfred Loisy (1857-1940) was at the heart of the Roman Catholic Modernist crisis in the early part of the twentieth century. He saw much of his work as an attempt to bring John Henry Newman’s notion of development of doctrine into the realm of Catholic biblical studies, and thereby transform Catholic theology. This volume situates Loisy’s better known works on the New Testament and theology in the context of his lesser known work in Assyriology and Old Testament studies. His early training in Assyriology taught Loisy a comparative historical approach to studying ancient texts, in addition to providing him the requisite training in ancient Near Eastern languages and literature. Loisy built upon this Assyriological foundation with his historical critical work in biblical studies, first in the Old Testament. In his biblical scholarship, Loisy combined the then current trends of historical biblical criticism with his more comparative approach. Prior to his excommunication in 1908, Loisy attempted in his more popular writings to defend the inclusion of historical biblical criticism in the repertoire of Catholic biblical interpretation. He saw this as an important step in reforming Catholic theology. The Modernist crisis set the stage for the major debates that would occur in the Catholic theological world for more than a century. The controversy over Modernism became one important conflict that helped pave the way for the Second Vatican Council. The issues raised during Loisy’s time, remain contested today. Examining how Loisy approached biblical studies helps readers better understand his overall work, and the place it played in the pivotal intellectual turmoil of his day.


Biblical Criticism in Early Modern Europe

Biblical Criticism in Early Modern Europe

Author: Grantley McDonald

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2016-07-27

Total Pages: 403

ISBN-13: 1316790789

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Medieval western theologians considered the Johannine comma (1 John 5:7-8) the clearest biblical evidence for the Trinity. When Erasmus failed to find the comma in the Greek manuscripts he used for his New Testament edition, he omitted it. Accused of promoting Antitrinitarian heresy, Erasmus included the comma in his third edition (1522) after seeing it in a Greek codex from England, even though he suspected the manuscript's authenticity. The resulting disputes, involving leading theologians, philologists and controversialists such as Luther, Calvin, Sozzini, Milton, Newton, Bentley, Gibbon and Porson, touched not simply on philological questions, but also on matters of doctrine, morality, social order, and toleration. While the spuriousness of the Johannine comma was established by 1900, it has again assumed iconic status in recent attempts to defend biblical inerrancy amongst the Christian Right. A social history of the Johannine comma thus provides significant insights into the recent culture wars.


What is Postmodern Biblical Criticism?

What is Postmodern Biblical Criticism?

Author: Andrew Keith Malcolm Adam

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 100

ISBN-13: 9781451403398

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A.K.M. Adam offers plain-language explanations and examples of the related critic assumptions that are now called 'postmodernism.' Included are deconstruction, ideological criticism, postmodern feminism, 'transgressive' postmodernism, and others.


I Am Put Here for the Defense of the Gospel

I Am Put Here for the Defense of the Gospel

Author: Terry L. Miethe

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2016-04-19

Total Pages: 612

ISBN-13: 1498221866

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Dr. Norman L. Geisler has been called the "father of evangelical Christian philosophy." He has written more than one hundred books and taught at universities and top seminaries for some fifty-six years. He was the first president of the Evangelical Philosophical Society and the founder and first president of the International Society of Christian Apologetics. He has spoken or debated in more than two dozen countries and held pastoral/pulpit ministries in four states. Many view him as a cross between Thomas Aquinas and Billy Graham. No one has done more to communicate the modern challenges of the Faith to the "average" Christian, to the church, and to the academy. This volume offers creative and constructive essays from twenty-three contributors, all notable in their own right, who preserve and propagate Dr. Geisler's ideas and express appreciation for his influence. Those who know him best say he is "true, faithful, and blessed by God!"