form criticism

noun

1. 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.

form criticism

noun

1. 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, noun
• form critical, adjective

Other Words From

• form-crit·i·cal [fawrm, -krit-i-k, uh, l], adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of form criticism¹

First recorded in 1925–30