Historical and Literary Criticism
It’s History, Failures, and Answer
New Testament 2
Lecture 5

The Rise of Source Criticism
•	In the same year that the US declared its independence (___________) J.J. Griesbach wrote:

•	A Synopsis of the Gospels of Matthew, ________________, and Luke.
A New Approach to Gospel Study is Born
•	He placed the texts of Matthew, Mark and Luke in parallel columns for ease of study
•	The Gospel of _____________was only incidentally included
•	Thus arose a new term = ________________Gospel
•	and a new approach to studying the first three gospels
•	Griesbach was not attempting to create a new approach to gospel studies
•	He accepted ________________view that Mark abbreviated Matthew, adding the modification that Mark also made use of Luke.
The Primary Theory
•	The idea is that Mark was the ____________of the Gospels written
•	and that both Matthew and Luke used Mark as their primary source
•	This is called the “_______________Hypothesis” or the “________________of Mark”
H. J. Holtzman
•	in 1863 added another source that was dubbed “________”
•	this is from the German ______________which means ______________
•	It comprises some 230 or so verses that Matthew and Luke have in common
•	Thus, the Markan Hypothesis became known as the “two-source” hypothesis
•	the 2 sources are _______________and “__________”
The Swirl
•	various theories are developed concerning the content of “Q”
•	other theories centered around whether Mark was the ________________Mark
•	(as many as ________Marks were suggested by some)
•	others questioned which of the _______Marks did Matthew use and did Luke use?
The Synoptic Problem
•	this is an issue that just seems it will not go away.
•	Many NT scholars assume that ___________is the first Gospel written
•	all the problems that involved how the first three Gospels are related to one another were collectively called, “the ________________________________” by scholars
On-Going Discussions
•	1924 - B. H. ___________________The Four Gospels: A Study in Origins
•	proposed a ________________document hypothesis
•	Mark
•	Q
•	________ (material unique to Luke)
•	_________ (material unique to Matthew)
•	These four sources produced our ______canonical Gospels

The Rise of ________________Criticism
•	a new approach to Gospel studies arose before Streeter’s book appeared
•	this was called “______________________” or “form history”
•	the interest was more than just the final ________________stage of the Gospel tradition
•	They sought to go behind the written, literary stage to the ____________stage
•	They felt you began with the written and go backwards by breaking the materials into isolated, independent units (called________________________)
The Pericopae
•	sought to identified the unit by its form and
•	tried to locate the original life setting or
•	_______________________________.
•	For the form critic the vast majority of the sitz im leben was the early church and not the life of Christ
•	For the form critic the gospels were not like classical literary works, but like folk tales 
•	The Gospel writers were just recording the short pithy stories or sayings that circulated __________________among the early Christians  
Form Criticism
•	saw the writers of the Gospels as not real writers, but ___________________of the traditions that had been adapted to their own communities.
•	Supporters of this position
•	Martin Dibelius, Die Formgeschicte des Evangeliums (1919)
•	He found the source of information to come from the early church’s sermons, paradigms, tales, legends, and exhortations.
•	Rudolf_____________________, The History of the Synoptic Tradition  (1921)
•	Bultmann sought to ______________________the gospel materials of those items that the early church had added to the historical Jesus
The Rise of _________________Criticism
•	both Jesus and the Gospels almost disappeared under Form Criticism
•	Yet, how could one give account for the fact that the Gospels were a unity and had a sense of purpose to them?
•	Someone had to have produced them.
•	Abstractions such as communities do not write books
•	The focus shifted to _____________________(compilers, editors, or writers)
•	This focus on redactors came to be known as ______________________or REDACTION CRITICISM
The Beginnings of Redaction Criticism
•	actually began with the students of Bultmann
•	Gunther _____________________set the pace with his work on Matthew
•	Hans Conzelmann’ Theology of Luke, followed in __________
•	Willi Marxsen’s Mark the Evangelist came out in ____________
What did they accomplish?
•	They added another sitz im leben
•	the first was the _________of Jesus
•	the second the __________period of the early church
•	the third was the ___________________and his circumstances

How is Redaction Criticism Different?
1.___________________ verses __________________
•	 Form criticism say the Evangelists as __________________of tradition
•	redaction criticism sees them as ________________in their own right

2. ______________units verses ______________Units
•	Form criticism was concerned with ____________units of _______________
•	and how they came into existence
•	redaction criticism is concerned with ________________units, up to the Gospels themselves

3. __________________________ of the Author
•	Form criticism, with its interest for the smaller units, never did justice to the _________________of the Gospel writers
•	redaction criticism is concerned with the _________________intent of the writers
4.__________ Sitz im Leben or___________?
•	Form criticism is concerned with only _________Sitz im leben (the _____________church)
•	redaction criticism is concerned with all _____________sitz im lebens of the Gospel material
The Problem with Redaction Criticism
•	It did not go far enough to establish itself as the overarching method to solve all of the basic problems of Gospel research
•	It had a lack of clear __________________
•	and a ___________________focus 
The Current Situation
•	No ____________________theory is in vogue at the present moment
•	But there are some current _______________to be aware
1. Keep Them _________________Group
•	some scholars acknowledge that the above methodologies have limitations, but
•	believe that these may eventually _______reach an answer to the background of the Gospels productions
2. _______________________
•	this is part of a larger strategy called “_________________criticism”
•	the essence of this methodology is:
•	“there underlies all expression and ________________a structure in our minds, “deep structure,” which determines courses that our thoughts and expressions take.”
•	So, to understand the deep structure, then any piece of literature may be understood.
•	Yet, when it reaches the Gospel studies, it was so ____________________that it is not very productive
_____________________Criticism
•	this is another __________________approach
•	it has been around for about a century
•	it was eclipsed for awhile by the more radical criticisms,  but is now receiving more attention
•	It sees the Biblical text as a literary product with a multitude of complexities
•	the focus is on literary____________, structure, order of events, dramatic________________, 
•	the intended impact on the reader and other such matters
•	less emphasis on_____________________, theological ideas, and historical backgrounds
Others just to mention a few
•	1.___________________ -response theories
•	not so much a focus on what happened then, but what is it doing to me now as I read it?
•	2. _____________________________
•	views such that the text loses all objective meaning and becomes whatever the reader takes it to mean.
•	3. ________________________________ - weak because of the subjectively placing of sociological terms on the material of the Bible
The Current Position of the _____________________Problem
•	the dominant position in __________________NT theology is
•	1. That ______________was the first gospel written
•	both Matthew and _________________used this Mark and 
•	another source _________
Modern _____________________to the Markan Priority
•	Dom John Chapman, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, in 1937
•	B. C. Butler, The Originality of St. Matthew in 1951
•	W. R.____________________, The Synoptic Problem: A Critical Analysis, 1964
•	Others who hold to this position include:
•	E. Linnemann, Is There a Synoptic Problem: Rethinking the Literary Dependence Theory,, 1992
A Concluding Remark
•	all of these theories reveal that some scholars would prefer to leave _________out of the production of the NT totally
•	and perhaps a desire on their part to simply treat the Bible as another work of____________________.