Rigors of Biblical Criticism

Evidence ID: BIB-EV02

Evidence: Rigors of Biblical Criticism

Summary: It is a well-established fact that the New Testament has been rigorously scrutinized by hundreds of biblical scholars throughout the ages. Methodologies known as criticisms, have been applied to reconstruct the original autographs of the New Testament. In recent centuries, historical and textual criticisms have formed the foundation of all biblical literary inquiries. Application of these methodologies have produced a high-fidelity reproductions of the original autographs.

Description: With 24,000 New Testament manuscripts, how can anyone accurately recover the text of the original autographs?

Readers of the New Testament can be assured that the original texts have been recovers with pinpoint accuracy. This is because hundreds of biblical scholars have applied methodologies know as criticisms to these ancient manuscripts to authenticate and accurately reconstruct the precise words of the original authors.

Today, biblical scholars largely use historical and textual criticisms to authenticate and reconstruct biblical texts.

Types of Biblical Criticism

New Testament manuscripts are examined using all forms of biblical criticism [REF-CRT01]. The major types of biblical criticism are:

For a more detailed description of each type of biblical criticism consult Encyclopedia Britannica [REF-CRT02].

Application of Historical Criticism

Historical criticism was first developed during the 18th century by German theologians Heinrich Paulus, Rudolf Bultmann and others.

Historical criticism, also known as higher criticism, has to do with the determination of a text's genuineness. This type of biblical criticism is concerned with the nature of the manuscript as a whole. This includes the date of the manuscript, its literary style, its structure, its historicity and ultimately authorship [REF-GEI03].

Manuscript dating is performed using two approaches, paleography and mass spectrometer radiocarbon dating. Together these approaches are used to accurately date biblical texts.

Paleographers assist biblical critics with precisely dating papyri by examining handwriting and comparing manuscripts to other manuscripts of a known date. Fortunately, biblical critics and paleographers have a large number of ancient manuscripts at their disposal, many of which have been found within the last century.

Application of Textual Criticism

Textual criticism was first developed during the 18th and 19th centuries by both German and English theologians. Textual criticism fast became the foundation among scholars of all biblical literary inquiries ever since.

Textual criticism, also known as lower criticism, has to do with the evaluation of a text in an effort to reconstruct the autograph [REF-GRE01]. This type of biblical criticism is concerned with the content of the text itself. This includes the wording, grammatical form, syntax, spelling, punctuation, etc. The historicity of the text is also authenticated during the process of Textual Criticism.

Textual critics study variations across all manuscripts to decide whether the differences represent unintentional orthographic errors (e.g. misspellings, words inadvertently omitted, punctuation errors, minor word transpositions) or intentional changes involving grammar smoothing or various word/phrase changes. From the variations of manuscripts, a reconstruction of the original autograph is produced.

Conclusion

It is a well-established fact that the New Testament has been rigorously scrutinized by hundreds of biblical scholars throughout the ages. Their formal training and meticulous attention to detail has ensured that the New Testament texts we revere today are an accurate reconstruction of the original autographs.

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