higher criticism

American  

noun

1. the study of the Bible having as its object the establishment of such facts as authorship and date of composition, as well as determination of a basis for exegesis.

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higher criticism British  

noun

1. the use of scientific techniques of literary criticism to establish the sources of the books of the Bible Compare lower criticism

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Etymology

Origin of higher criticism

First recorded in 1830–40

Example Sentences

Advocates range from hard-line Fundamentalists and moderate Evangelicals, who all along have deemed the Gospels historically trustworthy, to moderate liberals who use higher criticism but have become skeptical about skepticism.

From Time Magazine Archive

In Indiana, an optional literature course presents the Bible in the light of 19th century "higher criticism," but few schools have adopted it.

From Time Magazine Archive

Rejecting the higher criticism that reduced the Bible to human wish fulfillment, Barth proclaimed the objective authority of Scripture.

From Time Magazine Archive

He declares his absolute acceptance of all four gospels as authentic and of equal value, despising the words and theology of the higher criticism.

From Time Magazine Archive

Shaftesbury hated Catholic Emancipation, Free Trade, life peerages, the higher criticism, the Oxford movement, everything which during his lifetime tended to free the individual from the control of selfish interests and monopolies.

From A Short History of English Liberalism by Blease, Walter Lyon