THIS MIGHT SURPRISE YOU

Hermann Gunkel's form criticism asks where a short piece of the Bible was first used. What is the German term for that setting?

The answer

Sitz im Leben, "setting in life." Form criticism first names the kind of writing a piece is, such as a hymn, a lament or a law. Then it asks where people used it.

Why it’s interesting

Psalm 118:19-20 is a good example. A call to open the gates is followed by "This is the gate of the Lord," and the passage reads like a procession entering the Temple, with someone at the gate, perhaps a priest, answering.

Scholarly consensus

Learn the Bible.

Not just the stories, but the history, authorship, and scholarship behind it.