Introduction
Religion remains one of the most talked topics by humans because of its impact on the lives of people. Many people around the globe have subscribed to different types of religions. Billions of people have subscribed to different religious groupings and in these religions, they have a God or gods to whom they worship, offer to and also subscribe to follow his virtues. Another reason why religion is a great topic to consider is because the different types of religions come with rules and regulations which must be adhered to; in most cases, the followers of the religion are not required to question but just follow the various rules and regulations of that religion to the latter. The various rules and regulations are stored in a number of ways. In most cases, the ordinances that have to be followed by each of the religion are normally stored in a book which is seen to be holly and sacred. Examples of such kind of books include; the Koran which the Muslims’ holy book, the bible which is used by the Christians and the Mahabharata which is used among the Hindu and Tripitaka which is used by the Buddhists. Though these books continue to remain very significant pillars among these religions, they continue to be criticized. The Bible, is one of the many religious books which have received the highest level of criticism from numerous scholars and hence the formation of the Biblical criticism. According to Rowland (19), biblical criticism is a type of literary criticism which analyzes the bible through specific questions concerning the text such as when was the bible written, who wrote the bible, to whom was the bible written, the reasons why it was written, what was the various cultural and historical setting of the text and how well has the original text of the bible has been preserved over the years. This paper seeks to analyze what is really negative and positive about biblical criticism properly understood.
Discussion:
Almost every piece of literacy has found a critique. In most cases, the critics are seen to be always against that piece of literacy. The same case applies to biblical criticism. “Biblical criticism” is often taken by the public to denote a negative attitude towards the Bible which is not normally the case. It is important to note that biblical a lot of positive too to the public despite the many negative things that has been said about it. Biblical criticism is divided into two categories, that is, the lower criticism which is also known as the textual criticism and the higher criticism which is also referred to as source criticism.
The textual criticism normally focusses on the establishment of the original text from the many readings of ancient manuscripts. On the other hand, the high criticism mainly focuses on the identification of such elements of the bible such as the author of the bible, the date, and sources of the text that was used to come up with the bible, and the place or the region where every book in the bible was authored. Even though biblical criticism normally treats the bible as a human book rather that acknowledging it as the inspired word of God, the elements and tools of biblical criticism currently are used by both believers and skeptics alike to ensure better comprehension of the bible scriptures and the way they relate to the spiritual lives of people.
Another importance of bible criticism is that it has been used to discover hidden meanings and puns, or even likely copyist errors. For example, according to bible criticism, the meaning of the word virgin is hidden and does not hold the real meaning that people have subscribed to. According to the bible critics, the word that is normally translated as ‘virgin’ who shall bear a child as it is recorded in the prophesy of Isaiah 7: 14 can be better understood as "young woman," because the Hebrew term does not stipulate virginity(Sonderegger, 18).
Another verse that bible critics have made to be better understood is Mark 10:25 where Jesus talks about the impossibility of a camel entering through the eye of a needle as he compares his kingdom and the rich people. According to biblical critics, the word camel may have been used to mean a likewise-spelled word in Aramaic that means "rope.” These among other pieces help the believers to better understand the bible in different perspectives.
Another benefit of biblical criticism because helps the believers to better understand such elements like when the bible authored and the reason as to why the bible was authored for them and even how the bible came to be accepted by such a large number of people. Though many people have continued to suggest that the bible was authored more than two thousand years ago, this cannot be established without reading the bible both deeply and widely. Since during the early days there were no official writing styles, the origin or the exact authorship of the bible can better understand through linking of various historical events (Biblegateway.com). Bible critics have used this method to better explain the range within which the bible might have been authored hence helping the Christians to better understand the bible, its origin and when it was authored.
Though biblical criticism has many benefits as it helps believers to better understand the bible and realize the different hidden meanings within the bible, it has disadvantages too. One disadvantage of biblical criticism is that it does not recognize the bible as sacred and the inspired word of God. This is against the believe system of the Christians. Christians believe that the bible is the true and inspired word of God that should be followed to the latter and without questioning it. In addition, they do believe that the various ordinances provided in the bible ought to be followed without questioning (Legaspi, 23-24).
On the other hand, biblical criticism takes the bible as a human book hence acting in a manner to belittle not only the bible but also Christianity as a whole.
Another negative aspect of the biblical criticism is because it mostly focuses on the errors among other “bad” things that are found in the bible rather than focusing on the good things that have been mentioned in the bible (Zeitlin, 17). For example, biblical critics normally checks on the deletion and interpolations in the bible in their study. This makes this filed of literacy very limited and therefore unreliable to offer enough insight in the field of religion.
Biblical criticism need to have a wide focus if it has to be respected and followed. It should not emphasize much on the negative side particularly on the errors in the bible rather it should focus on both the negatives and the positives of the various verses presented in the bible.
Moreover, biblical criticism can sway the faith of many Christians and their stand on Christianity. Most of the biblical critics expose Christianity so mightily that most believers start to doubt their reason for having subscribed to that belief system. As the critics expose most of the loopholes in the bible, most believer stand to believe and align to the words of the critics. As a result most of the people who were staunch Christians have lost their faith in the bible and joined other denominations. In addition to this, there is a lot of confusion among many Christians as they cannot establish the truth from the falsehood.
Conclusion
Even though the use of the term “biblical criticism “is frequently taken by the public to denote a negative attitude towards the Bible, it is important to establish what is really negative and positive about biblical criticism. Though taken by public as a negative thing, biblical criticism has many benefits. To note a few, it has helped to unearth several hidden meanings in the bible, has helped the Christians to better understand some elements of the bible such as when the bible was authored. On the other hand, biblical criticism cannot be fully depended upon since it mostly focuses on the negative side of the bible. This makes the field too limited to be depended on.
Work Cited:
Biblegateway.com,. "Biblical Criticism And Study Of The Old Testament - Asbury Bible Commentary - Bible Gateway". N.p., 2016. Web. 7 Feb. 2016.
Legaspi, Michael. "The death of scripture and the rise of biblical studies." (2010).
Rowland, Christopher. Blake and the Bible. Yale University Press, 2010.
Sonderegger, Katherine. That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew: Karl Barth's Doctrine of Israel. Penn State Press, 2010.
Zeitlin, Irving M. Ancient Judaism: biblical criticism from Max Weber to the present. John Wiley & Sons, 2013.
