Biblical criticism

the long version

The original texts of the Bible were inspired, down to their actual wording, by the Holy Spirit. But these original texts have become lost and all that is available now are editions made from manuscripts which were produced by copyists during the course of three thousand or more years. For this reason, it has become very important that the text of the Bible be restored to its primitive purity; and these are the tasks of criticism and philology. The author shows the way in which a criticial text is established and why it is needed for a full appreciation of the Bible, and he surveys the whole field of Biblical criticism from earliest times up to the present day.