TD	Re: Educated Criticism Will MESS YOU UP
	Hi Farkel, I’m sure you’re speaking tongue-in-cheek, but for those that don’t know, “higher criticism” was a major pet peeve of C. T. Russell. It’s a term that occurs literally hundreds of times throughout Zion’s Watch Tower and Millennial Dawn. Traditionally, “higher criticism” denoted the study of the historic origins, dates and authorship of the various books of the Bible. The book Who Wrote The Bible? by R. E. Friedman is a good modern example of “higher criticism” or “introduction.” This is distinctly different than textual (lower) criticism, which is simply the study of manuscripts and codices. Examples of this latter type of critic would include men like Griesbach, Lachmann, Tregelles, Tischendorff, Scrivener, Westcott, and Hort. Russell and his successors could tolerate men like these even though they didn’t always agree with them. For obvious reasons though, “higher criticism” is scorned by groups like the Witnesses who believe that the Bible is literally the word of God, and likely always will be. Tom
IP: TJNlSEgxErAouKuh