what is historical criticism

Historical criticism is a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts in order to understand "the world behind the text". It is a specific kind of literary analysis that looks at a text in its entire historic context. Historical criticism seeks greater understanding of biblical texts by analyzing the historical and social contexts in which they developed. It involves understanding the events and experiences surrounding the composition of the work, especially the life of the author, and using the findings to interpret that work of literature. Historical criticism comprises several disciplines, including source criticism, form criticism, redaction criticism, and textual criticism. The goal of historical criticism is to try to understand the text’s meaning in its original context and to answer questions about the text, such as who wrote it, when was it written, what else was happening at the time of its writing, and how did it come to be in the form we have it today. Historical criticism is not criticism in the sense of disapproval or the examination of faults and mistakes, but instead is an analysis of the text in the hope of better understanding it.