biblical criticism

• liberal theology = an attempt to show the relevance of religious ideas to modern life; sought to rationalise faith in a way that was compatible to science
• biblical criticism = studying the Bible using a range of different approaches to come to a fuller understanding

  • liberal biblical criticism treats the Bible as a text that is subject to analysis just like any other piece of writing
• 3 key features of biblical criticism:

  • examines the original languages in which scripture was written, to make sure that the translation reflects the meaning the authors intended
  • looks at the form of each piece of writing (e.g. letter) in order to find the context in which it should be understood
  • examines the background to each passage of scripture - including commonly held views of the day + things the writer assumed the reader would know + thus did not explain
• Karl Barth = challenge to liberal biblical criticism

  • argued the Christian message in the Bible is not a development of Enlightenment values
  • it is wrong to say that human reason can be used to judge scripture - in fact, scripture is the judge of human reason
  • his approach agrees with that taken by conservative Evangelicals
• fundamentalist + literalist challenge to liberal biblical criticism:

  • claimed that everyone should be able to understand + interpret scripture, because God's word was clear + straighforward
  • it was wrong to study 'critically' because that would undermine the straightforward meaning