Higher Criticism

Definition and Meaning

Higher criticism is an approach to biblical study that uses historical and literary methods to investigate who wrote each book of the Bible, when and where it was written, what sources were used, and how it was edited. Textual criticism (lower criticism) compares manuscripts to recover the original text. Higher criticism then asks by what process the text so established came into being. "Higher" does not denote a superior level of scholarship; rather, it indicates the "next stage" after textual criticism. Today the term is used almost synonymously with "historical criticism," and it encompasses source criticism, form criticism, redaction criticism, and related approaches.

Historical Background

The term is generally said to have gained currency through its use by the German scholar Johann Gottfried Eichhorn in the late eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, Julius Wellhausen systematized the "documentary hypothesis," which holds that the Pentateuch was compiled from several documents (commonly designated J, E, D, and P). In New Testament studies, research on the Synoptic Problem flourished.

Such research called into question traditional views such as the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. Conservative theology, which upholds biblical inerrancy, therefore regarded higher criticism as a leading current of liberal theology and opposed it. The fundamentalist movement in the United States in the early twentieth century also gained strength in part as a reaction against higher criticism.

In the Korean Church

Higher criticism was a major point of controversy in the history of Korean Presbyterianism. In the 1930s, a statement denying the Mosaic authorship of Genesis became an issue at the Presbyterian General Assembly. In the late 1940s, the controversy intensified when theological students submitted a petition to the General Assembly concerning the view of Scripture held by Kim Chai-choon of Chosun Theological Seminary. Park Hyung-ryong and other conservatives opposed him on the grounds of biblical inerrancy, while Kim and his supporters argued that freedom of scholarly inquiry and faith could coexist. This conflict formed the background to the split that produced the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea in 1953 (see Schisms in Korean Presbyterianism).

Denominations continue to differ in their attitudes today. Seminaries affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea and the Korean Methodist Church teach historical-critical methods relatively broadly as tools for biblical interpretation. The Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap) also tends to accept them, though critically. Reformed denominations such as the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapdong) and the Kosin Presbyterian Church in Korea, along with many evangelical denominations, reject the starting point of higher criticism, which does not presuppose the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. These denominations generally affirm the historicity of the Bible and traditional views of authorship. Even among conservatives, however, many hold that studying the historical background and literary forms of the Bible is itself necessary.