The hermeneutics of evangelical redaction criticism

Abstract

"The question before us is whether "evangelical redaction criticism" is a legitimate expression. To be sure, some evangelicals avow that it is not.' They assert that it is self-contradictory. Others are just as adamant in defending the propriety of the expression.' Reasons for the great disparity between these two viewpoints are twofold. On one hand, "redaction criticism" is not clearly defined. Some see connotations arising from the discipline's historical origination and development.3 If such a framework is part of the signification, it is impossible to exclude the radical presuppositions of redaction critics like Bornkamm, Marxsen and Conzelmann.4 These positions are clearly inimical to an evangelical stance. Yet there are those who plead that redaction criticism can exist apart from the associations of its historical roots.3 Their arguments indicate that the discipline itself is atheological and need not carry the implications attached to it by its originators"