Biblical Criticism Essay

Biblical criticism is crucial not only to the interpretation of the Bible, but also for doing mission. Our approach to the Bible and understanding of biblical principles impact our service to communities. Dalit hermeneutics, for example, empowers mission efforts related to social issues. However, our approach to the Bible and our service to community transformation seem to be a monologic effort. Historical and literary approaches tend to seek a single message in biblical texts. In mission activities, there is a tension between local churches and para-church organizations and as a result each claims for its legitimacy and pursues a single agenda. A strong tendency to seek a single unified message in biblical texts undermines the vast diversity

The Historical and Literary Approaches

Historical criticism or historical-critical method may be defined as an analytical study of anoriginal historic context of a text. It strives to derive an original meaning of a text that the original author(s) intended to convey to the original audience(s). I. H. Marshall defines historical approach as a study that aims to convey historical information in order to determine what actually happened and is described or alluded to in a particular text. The three main categories of historical approaches are source criticism, form criticism, redaction criticism. Thus historical approach examineshistorical development of biblical textsby studying various sources used in the making of texts, the ways in which those sources were modified prior to writing of those texts, and the process of selection, abbreviation, and expansion of later editors. Literary approach, on the other hand,may be defined as a literary study of biblical texts supposing that everything in a narrative world comes together to create a context of a meaning. It intends to find a meaning of a text in a literary context of a text. Under literary approaches there are narrative criticism, rhetorical criticism, structuralism, and reader-response