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Methods of NT Analysis
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When analyzing the New Testament various methods are employed in an attempt to gain a better overall understanding of the original text. It appears to this author that there are two broad categories by which the various methods of analysis can be grouped. First there is external analysis and secondly internal analysis. Scholars, but only when discussing “canonical criticism”, do use these two terms. This author’s usage of these terms should in no way be confused with “canonical criticism”; rather this is simply an attempt to organize the author’s thoughts for the purpose of answering the mid-term question. The Bible, being both an ancient text and a faith-based text, requires a number of methods to identify and understand the “original” text. The cursory examination of only one facet of this book could never do justice to its extremely interesting spiritual and historically significant nature. According to The Anchor Bible Dictionary: “generally speaking the questions asked in biblical criticism have to do with the preservation and transmission of the biblical text.”1 It is important to realize from the start that when one says “biblical criticism” there is no implied value judgment. The word criticism simply comes from a Greek word “Krino” which means, “to discern”2. In other words biblical criticism is no less or no more that a careful examination of the text of the bible. For our discussion we will concern ourselves with the text of the New Testament. It must also be said that while this author has attempted to put the various methods of analysis into two groups the division and grouping is not exact, but more artificial in nature. Often there is a blurring of the two, as each method is dependent upon the rest and no one method can really stand alone.
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