Yale University Library Research Guides: New Testament Studies: Form Criticism

Introduction to Form Criticism

The Legends of Genesis: The Biblical Saga and History by Hermann Gunkel Though devoted to the book of Genesis, this study precipitated form criticism of the NT.
What Is Form Criticism? by Edgar V. McKnight An analysis of form criticism with a brief historical survey of the development of critical New Testament scholarship from the eighteenth century.

Candid Questions Concerning Gospel Form Criticism by Erhard T. Güttgemanns Offene Fragen zur Formgeschichte des Evangeliums witnesses to the end of form criticism in the 1960-70s as structural linguistic exegesis took hold.
History and Interpretation in the Gospels by Henry Lightfoot In lectures from 1934 Lightfoot declared himself the method's "champion." Importantly, his variation on the approach emphasized what the gospel editors prioritized in arranging their sources, a consideration that spurred several additional methodologies.
New Testament Studies by C.H. Dodd This book contains (pg 1-11) a short article Dodd penned for the Expository Times in 1932, titled "The Framework of the Gospel Narrative." This article made the critical contribution that the arrangement of source units within the gospels was not necessarily arbitrary.
The Formation of the Gospel Tradition: Eight Lectures by Vincent Taylor Lectures made in Leeds (1932) provide further context for NT form criticism's entree into Anglophone scholarship.
The Four Gospels: A Study of Origins, Treating of the Manuscript Tradition, Sources, Authorship, & Dates by Burnett Hillman Streeter First published 1924, this book surveyed the "sources" of the Gospels and made M, Q, L household names. Also an important moment in historical Jesus research.
The Gospel Before the Gospels by Burton Scott Easton This series of lectures (Dec 1927) encapsulate how NT form criticism came to North America.

Der Rahmen der Geschichte Jesu; literarkritische Untersuchungen zur ältesten Jesus-überlieferung by Karl Ludwig Schmidt "The Framework of the Story of Jesus" (ca 1919) arguably launched NT form criticism. While Schmidt examined "units" of the Synoptic tradition, he did not study the gospels' period of oral transmission.
From Tradition to Gospel by Martin Dibelius "Form criticism" in NT studies began with Dibelius and his Formgeschichte des Evangeliums (1919). This book set out to study what traditional material came before the gospels.
History of the Synoptic Tradition by Rudolf Bultmann Geschichte der synoptischen Tradition (1921) made Bultmann a household name in NT studies. His book investigated the traditional units that preceded the Synoptics.
The Gospel Message of St. Mark by R.H. Lightfoot Though conducted as form criticism, this book foreshadowed Anglophone scholarship's major innovation on form criticism. Lightfoot here argued that Mark prioritized doctrine, not history, when arranging his materials. And so redaction criticism was born!