Biblical studies

Biblical studies is the scholarly study of the Bible’s texts, languages, historical settings, interpretation, and influence. It uses historical, literary, linguistic, archaeological, and other critical methods.

Biblical Hebrew: The ancient Hebrew language in which most of the Hebrew Bible was written. Its grammar and vocabulary are central to studying the Hebrew Bible in its original language.
Source criticism: The study of sources used by an author or editor in composing a text. It investigates the earlier materials that may underlie biblical books.
Hebrew Bible: The collection of Jewish scriptures written chiefly in Hebrew, with some portions in Aramaic. Its books are a major textual corpus studied in biblical studies.
Julius Wellhausen: A German biblical scholar whose historical model of the Pentateuch shaped nineteenth-century scholarship. His documentary hypothesis became a landmark, contested account of the Pentateuch’s composition.
Biblical theology: The study of theological themes and claims within biblical texts or across the Bible. It overlaps with biblical studies but foregrounds theological synthesis and subject matter.
Biblical Aramaic: A form of Aramaic used in parts of the Hebrew Bible and other ancient texts. Passages in Daniel and Ezra require attention to a language distinct from biblical Hebrew.
Form criticism: The analysis of literary forms and their settings within a community’s life. It classifies biblical units such as parables, hymns, and sayings by form and use.
New Testament: The collection of 27 Christian writings composed in Greek during the first centuries CE. Its texts form the other major corpus within Christian biblical studies.
Hermann Gunkel: A German biblical scholar who helped establish form criticism in the study of the Hebrew Bible. His work made genre and social setting central questions in biblical interpretation.
Exegesis: The close interpretation of a particular text using linguistic, historical, and literary evidence. It is a core activity within biblical studies, often applied to individual passages.

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