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Higher
Criticism is the academic study that tries to determine who wrote the
various books of the Bible and when each part was written. It
began at the end of the 18th century and became fashionable in the mid
19th century. Many of today's concerns about the divinity of the
Bible are direct outgrows of Higher Criticism. It has questioned
the Bible's historic accuracy and concluded that at least some parts
were neither written by the stated authors nor at the times the Bible
claims. Some of its more extreme contributors maintain that the
Bible is of human origin with no divine contribution.
A Faith Based View of Higher Criticism reviews
the history of Higher Criticism's development and details its preference
for a natural explanation of the text, showing in the process that such
a preference ignores the divine revelation couched in the book. It
contrasts the inherit revelations in the Biblical text to illustrate how
shallow and arid Higher Criticism's explanations are. The book
also provides faith-based conclusions for the the criticisms that Higher
Criticism raises as well as pointing out some of its flaws.
But Higher Criticism is more than an academic probe. It
was rooted and powered by cultural dynamics that still exist in the
world. Those cultural dynamics have already produced devastating
results and, although exported to portions of the third world, threaten
Western Civilization today. Despite its record, Higher Criticism
remains the dominant explanation for the Bible's development and
continues to undermine Christian faith.
A Faith Based View of Higher Criticism closes by
discussing how God will complete his work. Higher Criticism has
helped fulfill some Biblical prophecies and prepared the Western
Christianity for God's salvation now ready to be unfolded. |