What Does it Mean to be "Critical"?

This post is intended to clarify my earlier statements about apologetics and critical Bible scholarship - here and here. Clarification is necessary because I didn't adequately define my terms in a way that accounted for the diversity of my audience. Note especially the reaction and wide-ranging discussion (still going on several days later) at Nick Norelli's blog.

Some who read the earlier posts knew exactly what I was talking about through shared experiences, similar background, or similar education. (I think I can count Brooke, Jay, Art, and Calvin in this group.) For others, my thoughts were a confusing rant about something they didn't see a problem with, or more accurately, they understand apologetics in a different sense, so they weren't sure what exactly I was talking about. (I think Nick and many of the commenters there might fall in this category.)  And I'm sure a few readers likely fell into a third category - those who perceive my posts as an apologia in favor of "higher criticism" contrived as a deliberate counter-attack against the truth of Scripture.  If you are in this last group (and I can't definitely pin down any commenters as definitely coming from here), all I can say is that such is not the case, though I doubt you will believe me.

My clarification answers two main questions:

1) What type of apologetics am I referring to? Or better, who are the "apologists" in my discussion?
2) Can one engage in apologetics and still be doing critical scholarship?

First, I am not concerned with the apologists out there arguing issues of worldview from a philosophical / theological perspective.  In my mind, that's a different thing to be engaged in arguing over philosophy and belief. It also doesn't apply (directly) to my topic because philosophy and belief can exist apart from any "hard" evidence to support the system. (Yes, I know . . . our philosophy affects how we deal with the hard evidence - that's a separate but related issue.) My comments were aimed at a different sort of apologetics (though I believe those engaged in it similarly think issues of belief and worldview are at stake).

I was referring primarily to those who argue against "liberal" biblical scholars (as though critical Bible scholarship was a monolithic entity) about issues like Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, single authorship of Isaiah in the time of Hezekiah, the early date for the book of Daniel, and the early date of the Exodus.  Their mission statement could read something like this: "We believe Moses wrote the Pentateuch, Isaiah and Daniel predicted the future, and the Exodus happened in 1446 BC. We will defend these beliefs against all attacks and refute all the so-called evidence of the evil empire of higher criticism." Nothing anyone says will convince them that they're wrong because admitting they were wrong amounts to a denial of the truth of Scripture - the Bible clearly affirms that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, etc. The bottom line is that they're always defending the same thing - their doctrine of Scripture. Take the date of the Exodus as an example.

1. 1 Kings 6:1 says it occurred 480 years before Solomon's fourth year.
2. If the Bible is true, then it has to be talking about a literal 480 years. 
3. Therefore, 1446 BC is the only option (unless we have reasonable evidence to tweak the chronology of Solomon's ascension to the throne).
4. All evidence suggesting it didn't happen at all can be dealt with by appealing to our lack of knowledge because absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence.
5. All evidence suggesting it happened later must be refuted or outfitted with a nice harmonizing explanation that allows it to still fit with the conclusion that must be true.

Is it possible to fairly deal with the evidence when one's already committed to an answer?  I'll admit this can be a problem among scholars, too, whether committed to a religious perspective or not, but it seems to show up in a particularly well-developed and dogmatic form among conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists. (And perhaps Nick is right that my problem is more with fundamentalism than with apologetics per se.) In his review of G. K. Beale's The Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism, James McGrath writes:

In the chapter on the question of whether the book of Isaiah could have had multiple authors, Beale purports to be defending the Bible, but he is of course defending his doctrine
of Scripture, and at times it becomes clear that he is determined to
defend his doctrine of Scripture even from Scripture itself. Rather
than allow the contents of this influential and powerful prophetic book
to determine his conclusion, he is determined to force it into a
straightjacket determined by his presuppositions about the Bible in
general, and about the meaning of the New Testament when it refers to
"Isaiah" in particular.

I think this illustrates how the boundaries between apologetics and Bible scholarship are fuzzy.  I'm not familar with much of Beale's work (not being a NT student myself), but I'm willing to recognize his commentaries as Bible scholarship. This latest book appears to have crossed the line to apologetics, defending belief more than offering an understanding of the text of Scripture on its own terms.

Now for the second question (and the title of this post), what does it mean to be "critical"? Can one be engaged in apologetics and still be doing critical scholarship? In my view, the answer is no . . . but I'll admit that one could go back and forth between the two in an otherwise scholarly work.  Once one has crossed from an argument based on evidence to an argument motivated by belief, one is no longer being critical. My opinion is based on my definition of apologetics. I don't consider any defense of one's ideas to be apologetics because there is a huge difference between defending a conclusion derived from one's careful examination of evidence (e.g., defense of a dissertation) and defending a belief or worldview because one is committed to it being right.

Being critical involves evaluating evidence, examining presuppositions, and noticing how interpretation is affected by those presuppositions. I'm not claiming that objective, neutral exegesis is the goal, though I believe some objectivity is possible (despite the fact that it's philosophically fashionable at present to deny objectivity and claim we're all slaves to the presuppositions of our worldviews, whether religious, anti-religious, or philosophical). I believe recognizing those presuppositions and being open to re-evaluating them is a measure of objectivity.

So what does it mean to be "critical" for Bible scholarship? It means continually challenging, questioning, and evaluating interpretations of Scripture, including our own, with a willingness to change our minds if necessary. I don't know many apologists (or fundamentalists) who do that.

Acknowledgments: My thinking is indebted in part to the blog posts and comments not only here but at the various posts linked to above. Some of what I've said here is responding to or affirming what's been mentioned there. Special thanks to the insightful commenters at Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth (no, they're not all insightful but I'm trying to be nice.)