Biblical Criticism has long posed a challenge to traditional Judaism, to some people insurmountable and to others less imposing. Reactions to Biblical Criticism have varied from wholesale acceptance to intentional ignorance. I believe the Rambam has something important to say on this subject. I hesitate to suggest what the Rambam would say if he were alive today, putting words into his mouth. However, I believe a nuanced response to Biblical Criticism can be derived from Rambam’s confrontation with the intellectual challenges of his time.
Biblical Criticism is not a single field. It is a cross-section of disciplines that interact with the Bible, including higher and lower textual criticism, linguistics, archeology, ancient history and related disciplines, each of which are also broad terms. In general, by Biblical Criticism I refer to the academic disciplines that, among other things, attempt to shed light on the origins of the biblical texts. While there are some outlying scholars, the general thrust of these fields as they currently stand is a very non-traditional conclusion–that the Bible consists of works of men that were highly edited, often contradictory, politically motivated, written centuries later than previously claimed and often factually and morally incorrect.
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