form criticism
noun
a method of textual analysis, applied especially to the Bible, in which the origin and history of certain passages are traced by isolating their literary forms, as miracle story, saying, or apothegm, on the assumption that they were fixed by oral tradition prior to compilation in written form.
RELATED CONTENT
What Are The Three Places That Form The Bermuda Triangle?In March 1918, a U.S. Navy ship with a crew of 309 departed Barbados and was never seen again. Did the ship capsize? Is there a supernatural explanation? The area in which the ship disappeared is the infamous Bermuda Triangle. Also known as the Devil’s Triangle, it is a heavily traveled shipping lane in the Atlantic Ocean where ships and planes have been known to …
Nearby words
forlorn hope, forlì, form, form an opinion, form class, form criticism, form drag, form factor, form genus, form letter, form stop
Origin of form criticism
First recorded in 1925–30
Related forms
form-crit·i·cal [fawrm-krit-i-kuh l] /ˈfɔrmˌkrɪt ɪ kəl/, adjectiveDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
British Dictionary definitions for form criticism
form criticism
noun
literary criticism concerned esp with analysing the Bible in terms of the literary forms used, such as proverbs, songs, or stories, and relating them to their historical forms and background
Derived Forms
form critic, nounform critical, adjectiveCollins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012