Source Criticism, as the term is used in biblical criticism, refers to the attempt to establish the sources used by the author and redactor of the final text. It was used first to analyze secular literature. The term “literary criticism” is occasionally used as a synonym. It is the process of evaluating an information source, i.e. a document, a person, a speech, a fingerprint, a photo, an observation or anything used in order to obtain knowledge. In relation to a given purpose, a given information source may be more or less valid, reliable or relevant. Broadly, “Source Criticism” is the interdisciplinary study of how information sources are evaluated for given tasks.
Source Criticism
