Reversals of New Testament Criticism

For nearly two centuries the science of Biblical criticism has played an increasingly important part in the thinking of Protestant Christianity. Influenced by the uninhibited attacks of the Encyclopedists of the French Revolution and by the rationalists of the “Enlightenment, ” the scholars of the Church felt compelled to study the Scriptures more carefully in order to answer the questions that had been raised concerning their truthfulness and authenticity. The resulting examination of the written text evoked numerous theories, widely promulgated and vigorously argued, concerning its authorship, composition, and reliability. Tradition was thrown to the winds as legendary and consequently unreliable; the deductions of critical study were regarded as “assured results. ” Some of these results have proved to be of permanent value; others have been long since discarded in favor of other theories. Many scholars who digressed from traditional belief honestly admitted that their theories were only provisional, and that new evidence would doubtless bring new conclusions. Others changed their minds when the evidence confronting them did not support their conjectures. Some, however, have clung to a negative criticism as tenaciously as their forbears did to inherited tradition. As a matter of fact, Biblical criticism is a paradox. If all of the books of the Bible contained