Abstract
Readers of the synoptic gospels often become aware that there are small units within the gospels that have striking similarities in the ways that they tell things. The similarities prompt the reader to give names to the units. As soon as a person begins to name materials in this way, that person has entered into the field of gospel research known as form There are three operations typically taken in form-critical work: (1) classification of a unit of according to form; (2) assignment of that unit to a Sitz im Leben ; and (3) assessment of its historical value, which can more properly be called tradition criticism. This chapter attempts to make a general, comprehensive presentation with only a minimum amount of differentiation. Since the work of Bultmann is the most comprehensive and systematic, his outline will be followed and those of Dibelius and Taylor will be incorporated. Keywords:form criticism; form-critical work; gospels; Jesus research; Martin Dibelius; Rudolf Bultmann; Sitz im Leben ; criticism; Vincent Taylor
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