- Tradition history
Tradition history or criticism is a methodology of
Biblical criticism that was developed byHermann Gunkel . Tradition history seeks to analyzebiblical literature in terms of the process by which biblical traditions passed from stage to stage into their final form, especially how they passed fromoral tradition towritten form . Tradition history/criticism is a sister discipline ofform criticism --also associated with Gunkel, who used the results of source andform criticism to develop the history of tradition interpretation. Form criticism and tradition criticism thus overlap, though the former is more narrow in focus. Tradition history is connected with secularfolklore studies, especiallyAxel Olrik 's analysis ofScandinavian folklore and the "laws" which he established concerning the nature of such folklore. The stories in theBible were then analyzed on the basis of these "laws".Strengths and weaknesses of tradition history
Tradition history forces interpreters to consider the possibility that some texts may have had an oral prehistory. It also notes that past traditions were retold and used for a present purpose; that it was made real, vital, or relevant for each successive
generation .The method also has weaknesses. Tradition history creates highly speculative reconstructions, often built on the speculative deductions from source criticism. Moreover, tradition history may exaggerate the role of oral tradition. If texts were written soon after they were spoken so that there was not a long oral prehistory, then the assumptions of tradition history fall to the ground. The use of Olrik's laws is also dubious: It may be a false analogy to compare
Icelandic folklore with Hebrew folklore since they are very different cultures. Some folklorists question whether Olrik's laws apply even toScandinavian literature much less any other (Gunkel admitted they did not apply to all stories inGenesis ).References
* G. W. Coats, s.v. "Tradition Criticism, OT," "Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, Supplement".
* R. N. Whybray, "The Making of the Pentateuch". Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1987, pp. 133-219.
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