Excerpt from The Higher Criticism: Its Assumptions, Methods and Effects; A Sketch
It is not necessary to dive very far into the mysteries of the Higher Criticism before perceiving that. In the pre sent aspect oi the subject. Much more is involved in these modern discussions on the Old Testament than the date, authorship. And mode of compofition of the Books. Partie ularly of the Pentateuch. It will soon be discovered that underlying all these questions is a theory which professes to interpret the history of israel according to the principle oi a continuous natural development. From the lowest stages of belief up to monotheism, and from primitive usage up to the complete Levitical system.
This theory was not always in vogue among Higher Critics. Its adoption marks a remarkable turning point in the history of Old Testament criticism. Before this, the criticism had proceeded mainly on literary grounds. Diction, style, ideas, the connection of paragraphs and sentences, supplied the staple arguments and furnished the criteria from which all conclusions were drawn. And the data being so vague, no sure footing could be found for a common standing ground, and so, speaking generally, every imaginable diflcrencc prevailed among -the critics. But in 1866 Prof. Karl H’. Graf, of Gottingen, published his essay on The Historical Bo fits of the Old Testament, in which he proposed the complete reversal of the main results of the older criticism, by placing the Law later than the Prophets, _ by a big leap. Over the yawning gulf of five centuries. It certainly does not help to inspire cone fidence in the newer critical methods to know that this leap was actually made, and for no other reason than be cause the development theory rendered such an alteration necessary.
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