1.  What is Form Criticism?

While the module on literary criticism could be entitled "seeing the trees for the forest," a module concerning form criticism might aptly be entitled "seeing the tree for the tree." While literary criticism focuses on the relation of the part to the whole in order to understand more fully the whole, form criticism focuses on the parts themselves. The purpose of form analysis is to identify the genre (or form) of a specific passage. The reader may ask what is the worth of knowing a passage's genre (or form)? Consider when and where different genres have been introduced. Genres often reflect a particular period's history and cultre. Genres are not accidental abstract literary forms; they can be the expression of a people's experience of being in the world. The genres  that cultures will employ (or develop) can be a relfection of that same culture's "setting in life" or "sitz im leben." Thus, by isolating the genre of a passage we may be able to gain  insight into some or even perhaps all of the following: 1) the historical setting of the passage; 2) the intellectual environment of the passage; 3) the cultural background of that same passage.

2.  Form Criticism for Sale!

Hayes and Holladay use the example of reading a newspaper classified advertisement in order to illustrate how we use form criticism in our daily lives. The example also illustrates the interconnectedness among the setting in life of a passage, the genre of a passage, and the content of that passage. While it may seem that we focus on the content above all else, the  example shows how we do depend on the genre and the setting of any written word in order to make sense of that word:

To extend the illustration, the modern reader also recognizes, although perhaps only tacitly, the importance of "setting in life" in interpreting a document. The life setting of a newspaper advertisement is far different from that of a legal document bound and shelved in a government complex. The life setting of advertising and selling property creates a situation which emphasizes the positive features while deemphasizing or even ignoring the negative features. Exaggeration is a built in ingredient of the life setting of advertising and selling and becuase we know this we tend to allow for this as we interpret advertisements and slaes picthes. In everyday exegesis, therefore, we recognize the interconnectedness of what is said (content), how it is said (form), and in what setting it is said (setting in life), and we integrate all three as we understand and interpret all sorts of statements. (Hayes & Holladay, 84)

Form criticism when applied to reading the Bible allows us to move beyond the content of what is said and to explore the often overlooked meaning of what may be found in the examination of the setting of the passage and the form of the passage. Some of the more common forms as found within the so-called New Testament are:

1.  miracle stories
2.  parables
3.  pronouncement stories
4.  prayers
5.  hymns
6.  kergma (preaching stories)