The Nature of Biblical Criticism. By John Barton

Pp.190 , London : Westminster John Knox Press , 2007 , $24.95 . This published version of Barton's Croall Lectures at the University of Edinburgh in 2005 explores biblical criticism through ten theses. In defending these theses, B. explains the roots and boundaries of the critical endeavor in biblical studies and argues the wrong-headedness of criticisms against it. The principal strategy he uses is to describe the critical endeavor in its widest possible scope. Chapters 2–3 argue that biblical criticism and recent literary methods are not opposed since both are concerned with genre recognition (p. 26). B. prefers the term ‘biblical criticism’ to ‘historical criticism’, since history is only a part of the critical operation. In fact, biblical criticism's primary concerns are semantics, genre awareness and bracketing the question of truth in preference for determining the exact meaning of a text. (pp. 38, 58). B. argues that the goal of the critical method is the plain sense which is, however, open to allegory (p. 110). B.'s defence undermines cavils that biblical criticism claims exclusive objectivity, has concern only for history, and is antipathetic to theological readings. B.'s description, however, fits only an ideal form; he accuses critics of not capturing this ‘self-understanding’ (p. 57). However, there is frequently a chasm between how biblical criticism is practiced and how B. re-constructs it. This is evident in B.'s discussion of intentionalism. For B., concern for the author is ‘an accidental rather than an inherent part of the establishment of biblical criticism’ (p. 76). Yet critics point out that authorial intention has been a primary focus; to argue it is accidental does not give sufficient attention to what occurs in practice or what has led to this focus. That said, when biblical criticism operates in the way B. describes, it stands up to this criticism leveled against it. Later chapters explore the theological implications of the critical method. In chapter 5 B. traces the roots of biblical criticism to the Renaissance. He appreciates the current critical endeavor as including a theological contribution, since a theological dimension has not been absent to the critical method from its origins. Chapter 6 takes on claims that biblical criticism is theologically void (Childs, Braaten, Jenson, Moberly and Seitz). B. defends biblical criticism and what he calls ‘advocacy’ readings by offering a two step process: an uncovering of the textual meaning, and a subsequent analysis of this meaning from the perspective of one's belief. He applies this process through an interesting analysis of feminist claims of misogynistic readings. We must first have established what a text actually means before we can claim a misreading (p. 160). A contradiction ensues, for ‘when they insist this must be done from a confessional or committed viewpoint, they are plainly in opposition to the values that criticism stands for’ (p. 174). While this is one of B.'s strongest points, the argument could be strengthened if specific opponents' arguments were taken up. The feminists remain unnamed and only their general position is described. B.'s treatment even of the major critics, though he explores each in some detail, also ends up gathering them into one (p. 147). The final sections consider the role of the critical method for the church. For B. ‘bracketing out’ one's presupposition of truth is essential for uncovering the plain sense of a text. B. claims bracketing out is more theological that other reading methods since without it ‘we have no meaning whose truth value we can even begin to assess’ (p. 171). He parallels this to prayer, where prayer begins with attention to a reality beyond oneself before reflecting on that reality. In other words, both share a first step of admitting an objective reality (p. 181). Even if there remains a gap between how B. describes the critical process in an ideal form and how it is sometimes practiced, this discussion dispels simplistic objections by demonstrating a viable critical process. This study should be read by students questioning what is happening with the critical endeavor, those frustrated with the critical method, and those who need help articulating its contributions.

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