RPH CH1 L3

historical critique

historical critique

this was required to understand the underlying circumstances that lead to the formation of early writings

2 main goals of historical critique

1. a certain that texts original meaning within its historical context and its literal sense or "sensus literary historicus"

2. reconstructing the historical context in which the author and the text audience lived.

external criticism and internal critique

two categories into which historical criticism is divided

historical criticism

emerged during the 17th century particularly within the context of the Protestant Reformation and gained significant prominence in the 19th and 20th centuries. its early stages, relied on philosophical and theological interpretations due to the limited availability of historical investigation. over time, has evolved and diversified giving rise to various methodologies utilized today. methodologies includes source criticism, form criticism, reduction criticism, tradition criticism, canonical criticism

external criticism and internal criticism

two distinct components of historical criticism

external criticism

focuses on determining factual aspects involves assessing the authenticity of the material by investigating its origin, authorship, and sources of information place a crucial role in establishing the authenticity of a source

internal criticism or higher criticism

evaluating the reliability of the testimonies and assessing the likelihood of their truthfulness delves into the substance and significance of the testimonies rather than focusing solely on their external form ​

diplomatic critique and paleographical criticism

two basic techniques for determining authenticity

paleographical criticism

writing, script, and language of the source are studied while taking its period and place of creation into account objective, to a certain whether the content is an altered and accurately reflects the author's original intentions

internal criticism

focuses on assessing the historical accuracy of the facts presented in a document is essential to subject the facts within the document to scrutiny before drawing any conclusions.

1. credibility of the sources

2. author's knowledge

3. prevailing influences during the time of writing or carefully examined.

factors in evaluating the value of facts in internal criticism

examine handwriting, signatures seals, letterheads, and watermarks to establish connections

historians way to identify the possible author of a document

Isographies

are biographical dictionaries providing examples of handwriting as these resource remains limited

Mabillon in 17th century

who systematized the techniques like paleography and diplomatics

Sigillographers

seals have been their specialized study

fraudulent documents

often identified by "anachronistic references" to events such as mentioning occurrences that are either too early, too late, or two distant in time.

cases where a document is found in its expected location like within a families archives or a governmental bureaus records.

creates a presumption of its authenticity referred by legal experts