Biblical Criticism originated with anti-Christian writers who valued reason and logic over faith and revelation. Their goal was to discredit and ridicule the Bible and Christianity. Their analysis techniques were picked up by some liberal theologians and initially used to explain away and discount Biblical accounts of prophecy, miracles, personal demon infestation, etc. 1 Theologians use Biblical Criticism to date when various books in the Bible were written. They look for places in the Bible where the text remains silent.
Absences can often guide the theologian to new understanding of the text.
They look for apparent discrepancies between various accounts of the same event. The 3 synoptic gospels describe the attack near the end of his life. Some interpret these passages as referring to two separate events. Others suggest that the gospel of John makes no attempts to place the events in chronological order Still others, using Biblical criticism, conclude that John described the event out of order for a specific theological reason. The four canonical gospels describe different combinations of women as visiting the tomb of Jesus on Easter Sunday morning.