A Brief History Of Literary Criticism Of The Bible In The West

Literary criticism of the Bible has grown into a fairly perfect subject over the past several centuries with fruitful achievements, many of which can be used for reference in the future study. Despite all these developments in the West, academics in China are left with little knowledge of what is going on, partially due to historical reasons. This paper therefore is trying to have a survey of the biblical literary criticism with an effort to offer a clue to the people tending to further their researches.This paper is composed of three sections: introduction, body and conclusion.The first section serves as a prelude to the research: the author goes through the difference of literary study of the Bible between China and the West, a comparison that sets the purpose of this paper. To clear the background, this section covers a brief criticism on general concepts such as literary criticism of the Bible and so on.Then the main body covers four parts, each part expounds upon one development phase of literary criticism of the Bible.1. Embryo of literary criticism of the Bible (prior to mid-18th Century). Critics focus initially on vocabulary, grammar, style, authors, and times during this phase with their ideas traceable in works of theology at that time. It is note-worthy that the end of this phase welcomes an outstanding critic Lowth engaged in poetry study who has proposed the Theory of Parallelism.2. Full blossom of the historical criticism of the Bible (mid-18th Centuiy up till mid-20th Century). Historical criticism of the Bible is the one that has developed to the full swing with the most remarkable achievements of all. This phase is featuring the study of the Bible in historical terms that cover three typical criticisms on the Bible, i.e. criticism by source, form, and redaction. For each, the major characteristics, fundamental research methods, significant views and representatives have beenreviewed. Another minor trend represented by Moulton is also touched upon in this part.3. Multi-polarity of literary criticism of the Bible (Post mid-20th Century). After mid-20th Century there sprung up several new literary theories, which have been applicable in literary studies of the Bible. The wide range of new theories results in more comprehensive discussion on the Bible with no mainstream dominating. On the other hand, because of the less developed new theories, this part does not present as detailed a picture as that for the previous part, only a brief introduction to research methods and the situation as a whole included. Main sub-themes are structural criticism, narrative criticism, reader-response criticism, post-colonial criticism, feminist criticism, deconstructive criticism and other ways.4. Comparative study of the Bible and other western literature works. This comparative study is for a better understanding of works with some touch of biblical style or content. The author makes a parallel analysis in this part: one is the comprehensive research of Bible's influence on other literature works as a whole; the other focuses on how the Bible is affecting writers and their works in a more specific sense. Of all, the author lays most emphasis on the relations between the Bible and Shakespeare's works.The conclusion summarizes the author's whole impression on the journey the literary criticism of the Bible has undergone, and points out that the ever-changing development in this regard plays a vital role in keeping the Bible alive. Whatsoever, all boils down to the author's strong belief in the significance of study on literary criticism of the Bible in the west to the academic circle within China.