Form criticism and genre theory1

Abstract

This article reviews the pioneering work in biblical exegesis of the Form Criticism School in the early part of this century. It is suggested that the generic structures identified by this 'school' implied a line of thought that went beyond traditional 'literary criticism' to an approach that has more in common with social theories of language as proposed by Kress, Threadgold, Fairclough, Halliday, Martin and others. There was a focus on texts as dynamic processes, reflecting the life of the community and a concern with the 'conventional', the typical rather than the individual and this was based on an understanding of the various genres that emerge from society as reflecting not just the prevailing ideology of the community, but also the changing ideologies.

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