NT 3.1 interpreting the text/scripture

bible criticism

a scholarly examination of the bible to gain a deeper understanding and make it more meaningful. bibles are thought to have been written through oral tradition which were afterwards written down.

source criticism.

attempts to find original source of the material in the text. treats the bible as a historical, not a biography. assumes shorter existing pieces of writing were brought together by the author and its possible to work back to the original source. asks: where did the author get the info? what previous documents of oral tradition contributed to this.

doesn’t treat the bible as inerrant, it looks for mistakes to indicate the bible may have come from different sources.

Source criticism strengths

-explores how people living long after Jesus could use earlier sources that seem to read like eye witness accounts.

-offers a view which doesn’t depend on guidance of the Holy Spirit and leaves few questions unanswered.

-explains similarities in the gospels by saying writers shared the same resources.

source criticism weaknesses

-fundamentalist christians date the gospels to 60CE so their eye witness accounts wouldn’t need sources.

-could be seen as undermining religious faith by saying the bible is inerrant. in their view it’s the product of eye witnesses.

-the bible becomes just another book sp how could it be relevant/important.

form

identifies types of writing in the text and historical context of when it was written gospels are made up of paragraphs of different forms strung together. they were all separate in the oral period; they got fixed in place by the author. form critics try to unpick these forms and reconstruct what they originally meant and how they have been adapted to fit the needs of the early church. they link each unit to ‘sitz en laben” to explain how it could be adapted to fit the needs od the early church.

dibleus forms

(things form critics look for) P T L M E

-paradigms: short sayings which are brief, forceful and meaningful.

-tales: good stories such as miracles.

-legends: narratives where the point was to set an example for others to follow.

-myths: where human and spiritual life interact

-exhortions: wise teachings/sayings.

form strengths

-highlights oral tradition. closer to the actual words of Jesus and helps to separate true words of historical Jesus from fiction.

-shows what the author himself deemed an important event

-shows the needs of the early church =more important than historical accuracy.

-Bultmann when gospels are demythologised meanings for today can be revealed.

form weaknesses

-casts doubts if we can reconstruct a historical Jesus from the gospels.

-presents the gospels as passages of fiction ot exaggerated.

-gives the bible little relevance for today.

-interpretations can be subjective and make the bible less influential.

redaction criticism.

aims to identify how the author shaped meanings for their own purpose. the writer is seen as an editor in the creation of the text. focuses on what writers chose to leave in the gospel, take out or change to reveal their purpose. focuses on the whole book and attempts to work out how the material has been adapted to fit the authors understanding of Jesus . Wrede- messianic secret. mark (redactor) wanted to keep his identity a secret to present his as the messiah.

redaction strengths

-shows the gospel as a planned and sophisticated piece of writing

-you can establish the authors theology by examining how they use the sources.

-encourages careful reading of the gospel

-can give a fuller picture of the gospel as it can offer an explanation of the differences.

redaction weaknesses

-relies on Q and 4 source hypothesis which are widely rejected and flawed.

-how reliable are the texts if the importance is placed on the authors interpretation. they could’ve deleted material to fit their narrative.

-gives the sense that the gospels are just pieces of journalism with bias.

narrative criticism.

the gospels are seen as narratives with carefully constructed plots and characterisations. structure, plot, characters and setting are examined and how the author used them all to create an individual piece of writing. the author writes to get a response off the reader. it doesn’t matter where the text comes from, what matters is what the reader finds in the text.

the synoptic problem solutions.

greisbach

-each writer wrote independently; they used the same apostlyistic witness (a diisciple)

-they write independently of each other but used oral tradition from eyewitness accounts which slightly changed over time

-the writers were explaining the same historical events so their stories will be the same.

-they were inspired to write in the same way by the Holy Spirit

-all writers used a common source

the photo gospel hypothesis.

there is a lost gospel that the other gospels used.

-Q source: believed both matthew and Luke used to write their gospels. explains their similarities.

q source strengths

-accepted by the majority of bible scholars

-the discovery of the gospel of Thomas wasn't discovered until 1945 so its likely there’s more unfounded gospels

-ockhams razor.

-explains similarities

q source weaknesses

-lack of evidence q source exists

-fundamentalist disagree, seems atheist to male the bible look flawed as ir suggests it was written by people with no link to Jesus

-just a theory.

-no need for a photo gospel if things were written straight away with independent eye witnesses of Jesus life.

two source hypothesis

2 strengths

2 weaknesses

4 source

4 strengths

4 weaknesses