Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 44:4 (Dec 2001)
Article: Recent Developments In Redaction Criticism: From Investigation Of Textual Prehistory Back To Historical-Grammatical Exegesis?
Author: Randall K. J. Tan

JETS 44:4 (December 2001) p. 599

Recent Developments In Redaction Criticism:
From Investigation Of Textual Prehistory
Back To Historical-Grammatical Exegesis?

Randall K. J. Tan*

[* Randall Tan is a doctoral student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2825 Lexington Road, Louisville, KY 40280.]

I. Introduction

From “scissors and paste” collectors to individual composers or theologians—thus has been the shift in scholars’ perception of the role of the evangelists in the composition of the Synoptic Gospels. 1 Whereas source criticism fragments the Gospels into diverse hypothetical sources and form criticism delves into the oral period behind the text, redaction criticism investigates the theological emphases of the evangelists. Yet, is the transition complete? Has the evangelists’ role in composition ever been sufficiently defined, so that vigorous differentiation of redaction from tradition is possible? Or has the notion that such criticism of the text is possible been no more than an illusion? Is it not better to deal with the completed text as it stands rather than to seek to distinguish what is no longer distinguishable with confidence? Did the authors ever intend for their conveyed meanings to be divined by means of an attempt to go back to their sources? Or did they embody their meaning exclusively (and adequately) in the texts they wrote?

These are but some of the important questions involved in recent developments in redaction criticism. This study will examine these developments and offer a tentative evaluation of them. No attempt will be made to survey the history of scholarship in the field. 2 The first section supplies definitions and pre-understandings necessary for entering into the discussions stirring in the discipline. The second section surveys recent developments under four subheadings: (1) methodological uncertainty in redaction criticism of Mark’s Gospel; (2) abandonment of redaction criticism and its replacement

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by literary criticisms; (3) expansion into composition analysis; and (4) debate over redaction criticism among evangelicals. The third section puts forward tentative evaluations of the discipline and its recent developments.

In the course of this article, I will advocate the cautious adoption of composition criticism as a text-centered approach that represents a welcome return to historical-grammatical interpretation. I will contend that redaction criticism proper, which seeks to separate redaction from tradition, is fundamentally bankrupt. In addition, I will argue that redaction criticism proper and compositi...