NEW TESTAMENT CHRONOLOGY 



4189 



NEW TESTAMENT CRITICISM 



career. The fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar 

 may be ascertained approximately. He suc- 

 ceeded Augustus in A. D. 14, but Luke may 

 have reckoned the succession from A. D. 12 or 13, 

 when Tiberius ruled in the East as associate 

 emperor. The date of John's call to the min- 

 istry is therefore somewhere in the neighbor- 

 hood of A. D. 26. As Jesus must have been bap- 

 tized a few months later, He began to preach 

 about A. D. 27. Any of the dates from 25 to 28 

 are possibilities. 



I > stated in all of the gospels that Christ 

 was crucified on Friday, and all but John as- 

 sume it to be the day after the Passover. In 

 the last gospel the crucifixion is said to have 

 occurred on the day of the Passover. If the 

 latter view is correct, Christ was crucified on 

 the fourteenth day of Nisan. The general con- 

 sensus of opinion is that the year of the cruci- 

 fixion was either A. D. 29 or 30. The deter- 

 mination of this date is achieved by detailed 

 calculations involving the Jewish calendar. 



Speculations concerning the dates of events 

 in Paul's life have also engaged the attention 

 of scholars. As to his conversion, it followed 

 the Pentecost, the organization of the Chris- 

 tian Church in Jerusalem, and the martyrdom 

 of Stephen ; that is, it probably occurred about 

 A. D. 34. In Acts XI, 27-30, it is recorded that 

 Paul and Barnabas brought food to the breth- 

 ren in Jerusalem, because of an expected fam- 

 This must have occurred about A. D. 45 or 

 46, as it was in the reign of Claudius Caesar 

 (41-54), and there is historic record of a famine 

 in Judea about A. D. 46. The first missionary 

 journey of Paul soon followed, and took place 

 in 47 or 48. Two other missionary journeys fol- 

 lowed, and then came Paul's arrest in Jerusalem 

 and his imprisonment by Felix, Roman gov- 

 ernor of Judea. After two years Felix was 

 succeeded by Festus, who permitted Paul to 

 plead his cause before King Agrippa. These 

 historic references enable scholars to fix ap- 

 proximately correct dates to several events in 

 the apostle's life ; he was probably in prison from 

 between A. D. 56 and 58, and journeyed to Rome 

 in 58 or 59. While in Rome he spent two yean 

 in prison (about 59-61), and while a prisoner 

 wrote epistles to the Plulippians, Colossians, 

 1'hil. ::;..:, I I phesians. 



A subsequent missionary journey to Spain 

 probably occurred about 61, and another im- 

 nin. nt m Rome about the year 64. Tradi- 

 tion says that he MifTerod martyrdom m 



I if he perished with the Christians 

 red to divert suspicion from 



the emperor at the time of the burning of Rome, 

 he must have died about A. D. 65. 



It will readily be seen that dates for New 

 Testament events cannot as a rule be assigned 

 with absolute certainty. It is possible, how- 

 ever, to infer the approximate time for a large 

 number of important episodes in Bible history. 



NEW TESTAMENT CRITICISM. Critical 

 study of the New Testament is justified on the 

 grounds that we possess no original copies of 

 the sacred writings and that all modern ver- 

 sions are the results of compilation and transla- 

 tion. There are thousands of copies of New 

 Testament writings extant, but these vary so 

 widely that it is impossible to determine the 

 exact form of the original manuscripts. There 

 must be critical examination of the Biblical 

 record to ascertain its spirit and meaning. 

 Criticism is divided into two classes, lower and 

 higher. Another term for the former is textual. 



Lower Criticism. This concerns itself with 

 the genuineness of the written record. Its chief 

 aim is the determination of the correct form of 

 every phrase used, and it entails a vast amount 

 of research and comparison. As a result of 

 many years of labor scholars have compiled a 

 large number of variants for every verse in the 

 New Testament. There are already over 

 twenty different readings for each verse, but 

 even so, the substance of the material has not 

 been materially affected. In most cases the 

 verse may read a number of different ways but 

 still convey the same meaning. 



Higher Criticism. This is broader in scope 

 than textual criticism, and may be compared to 

 what is known as literary criticism in the field 

 of secular writings. The higher critic studies 

 the sacred record to determine its reliability, 

 authenticity and literary form, and he draws 

 conclusions by a consideration of the author's 

 style, references to historical events, allusions 

 to contemporary manners, customs and ideals, 

 etc. This method of ciituism makes use of 

 internal evidence. External evidence is also 

 brought to bear on the subject. Comparison 

 is ina.le with other literary works of the period, 

 and religious and political conditions of the 

 time are studied. 



HIL-IH r ( ntiusm fails of its purpose when the 

 im< -tiirator takes tip his study with a prrju- 

 <ln <1 mind. A man who makes a study of the 

 miracles, for example, cannot hope to give an 

 impartial verdict if he begins with a set 

 ronvirtn.il that the miracles did not ocrur. 

 Inconsist. ulency to read into the rec- 



ord that which is in the critic's mind, and far- 



