Any systematic analysis of a composition. Term used in biblical scholarship in the basic sense of the original Greek, techné kritiké: "a technique of distinguishing."

Unlike literary, art or music critics who evaluate the aesthetic merit of compositions, biblical critics are primarily concerned to clarify the original form & intention of biblical texts by studying features of the primary manuscripts that are generally overlooked in religious exegesis. While exegetes try to determine the meaning of the contents of a document, critics focus on the characteristics of the documents themselves (material, script, literary genre & style). Critics compare biblical documents with each other & with similar literature from other sources, to identify the distinctive traits & history of the biblical textual tradition.

The evidence discovered by careful analysis of the textual data sometimes challenges untested pious assumptions about the origin & character of the Bible, producing controversy between conservative Christians (who defend traditional interpretations of the texts) and those who accept new discoveries by critics. 

But not all biblical criticism is innovative. The primary principle of biblical criticism is that any theory about the Bible must be tested. To be adopted a theory must explain the actual physical evidence of the biblical manuscripts themselves better than other available theories. The theory that accounts for most of the evidence is adopted as the prevailing working hypothesis of the majority of biblical scholars. Scholars engaged in close examination of documents are not easily persuaded to abandon workable hypotheses for unsubstantiated speculation. Thus, biblical critics are more prone to exposing the flaws in novel theories than to launching them.

While elements of some aspects of NT criticism are found in works by scholars of the patristic period (2nd-8th c. CE) & Reformation (16th c. CE), the sustained investigation of the origins of the NT text came to the fore during the Enlightenment a little more than 200 years ago. Since then several methods of analyzing the biblical text have developed. Disciplines with a century or more of application to the Bible are:

• literary-historical criticism (sometimes called "higher" criticism);
• textual criticism (or "lower" criticism);
• source criticism;
• form criticism.

The second half of the 20th c. saw the burgeoning of new approaches to clarifying the biblical text including:

• redaction criticism;
• narrative criticism;
• rhetorical criticism.

These are complementary rather than competing methods, with one often based on developments in another. As in any modern scientific discipline, research in biblical criticism is cumulative & collegial.

Other On-line Resources:

• Using Literary Criticism on the Gospels - Robert M. Fowler lays out the challenge that modern literary criticism poses for gospel interpretation (Christian Century [May 26,1982] posted by Religion-Online).