My first encounter with critical theory was the writings of Bart D. Ehrman. The key word critical in academic studies can be applied to a broader range than you mention. What you wrote is not so different from where I'm coming from. A sample:
The approach taken to the Bible in almost all Protestant (and now Catholic) mainline seminaries iβ¦
My first encounter with critical theory was the writings of Bart D. Ehrman. The key word critical in academic studies can be applied to a broader range than you mention. What you wrote is not so different from where I'm coming from. A sample:
The approach taken to the Bible in almost all Protestant (and now Catholic) mainline seminaries is what is called the βπ‘π’π¬ππ¨π«π’πππ₯-ππ«π’ππ’πππ₯β method. It is completely different from the βdevotionalβ approach to the Bible one learns in church.
The devotional approach to the Bible is concerned about what the Bible has to sayβespecially what it has to say to me personally or to my society. What does the Bible tell me about God? Christ? The church? My relation to the world? What does it tell me about what to believe? About how to act? About social responsibilities? How can the Bible help make me closer to God? How does it help me to live?
The historical-critical approach has a different set of concerns and therefore poses a different set of questions. At the heart of this approach is the historical question (hence its name) of what the biblical writings meant in their original historical context. Who were the actual authors of the Bible? Is it possible (yes!) that some of the authors of some of the biblical books were not in fact who they claimed, or were claimed, to beβsay, that 1 Timothy was not actually written by Paul, or that Genesis was not written by Moses? When did these authors live? What were the circumstances under which they wrote? What issues were they trying to address in their own day? How were they affected by the cultural and historical assumptions of their time? What sources did these authors use? When were these sources produced? Is it possible that the perspectives of these sources differed from one another? Is it possible that the authors who used these sources had different perspectives, both from their sources and from one another? Is it possible that the books of the Bible, based on a variety of sources, have internal contradictions? That there are irreconcilable differences among them?
Ehrman, Bart D.. Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them) (pp. 4-5). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
[Clarification addition: Is critical theory pertaining to America's history "historical-critical" vs the history being challenged as devotional history?]
My first encounter with critical theory was the writings of Bart D. Ehrman. The key word critical in academic studies can be applied to a broader range than you mention. What you wrote is not so different from where I'm coming from. A sample:
The approach taken to the Bible in almost all Protestant (and now Catholic) mainline seminaries is what is called the βπ‘π’π¬ππ¨π«π’πππ₯-ππ«π’ππ’πππ₯β method. It is completely different from the βdevotionalβ approach to the Bible one learns in church.
The devotional approach to the Bible is concerned about what the Bible has to sayβespecially what it has to say to me personally or to my society. What does the Bible tell me about God? Christ? The church? My relation to the world? What does it tell me about what to believe? About how to act? About social responsibilities? How can the Bible help make me closer to God? How does it help me to live?
The historical-critical approach has a different set of concerns and therefore poses a different set of questions. At the heart of this approach is the historical question (hence its name) of what the biblical writings meant in their original historical context. Who were the actual authors of the Bible? Is it possible (yes!) that some of the authors of some of the biblical books were not in fact who they claimed, or were claimed, to beβsay, that 1 Timothy was not actually written by Paul, or that Genesis was not written by Moses? When did these authors live? What were the circumstances under which they wrote? What issues were they trying to address in their own day? How were they affected by the cultural and historical assumptions of their time? What sources did these authors use? When were these sources produced? Is it possible that the perspectives of these sources differed from one another? Is it possible that the authors who used these sources had different perspectives, both from their sources and from one another? Is it possible that the books of the Bible, based on a variety of sources, have internal contradictions? That there are irreconcilable differences among them?
Ehrman, Bart D.. Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them) (pp. 4-5). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
[Clarification addition: Is critical theory pertaining to America's history "historical-critical" vs the history being challenged as devotional history?]