Higher Criticism

Paper Summary:

This paper begins by explaining the term 'higher criticism', which is a method of interpreting the Old Testament through the application of scientific and historical principles much as one would interpret secular works, and then explains why this type of interpretation does not work with the Bible.

From the Paper:

"A great deal of controversy currently exists regarding the idea of higher criticism related to the texts of the Old Testament. "Higher Criticism" related to the Pentateuch can be defined as the "skeptical crusade against the Bible, particularly the first five books of the Old Testament" which tends to reduce the Old Testament to the lower level of a "purely human book" (Anderson, 43). Proponents of this criticism traditionally have attacked the Pentateuch for a variety of reasons; some based their criticisms on the assumption that the Mosaic Era was barbarous in nature (Anderson, 43). This assumption however has since been founded as baseless and false, due largely to the ignorance of such critics (Anderson, 44). Anderson argues that critics know nothing of the true typology of Scripture and are thus generally ignorant of the language in which Christian doctrine is taught (Anderson, 258)."

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